Featured Image Credit: Lester Cohen/Getty Images for City of Hope / Adam Taylor/Disney Channel via Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Disney, Film and TV
Emily Brown
Topics: Celebrity, Disney, Film and TV
Bridgit Mendler was a familiar face for many Disney Channel fans growing up, but she's come a long, long way since then.
You might not even recognize Mendler by name, but I'm pretty confident you'll know her face.
Now 31 years old, the actor appeared on Disney Channel shows including Good Luck Charlie, Wizards of Waverly Place and Jonas between 2009 and 2012.
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Medler was in her late teens at the time, but she was already growing her resumé in another industry: music.
Mendler has released multiple songs throughout her career, including tracks for her 2011 movie Lemonade Mouth.
More recently, the singer has released songs in collaboration with other artists, including her song 'Diving' which she released in 2017.
Between acting and singing, Mendler is clearly a woman of many talents. But that's not where her impressive career path stops.
In 2017, Mendler began her education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was a student and researcher with the MIT Media Lab.
After earning a PhD from MIT, she went on to attend Harvard Law School.
Sounds like she's earned herself a rest, right? Well instead, Mendler is launching a startup called Northwood Space which aims to change the way satellite data reaches the ground.
In an interview with CNBC, Mendler explained that she 'completely fell in love with space law' during time she spent at the Federal Communications Commission’s new Space Bureau.
Through her startup, she hopes to mass produce ground stations to connect to satellites in space.
Discussing her new startup, Mendler explained: "The vision is a data highway between Earth and space.
"Space is getting easier along so many different dimensions but still the actual exercise of sending data to and from space is difficult. You have difficulty finding an access point for contacting your satellite.”
After news of Mendler's startup came to light, fans praised her incredible achievements and shared their shock at how far she's come since Disney Channel.
"bridgit mendler has the most incredible resume ever seen," one X user wrote as they shared pictures of her various achievements.
Another impressed fan commented: "Not going to lie, going from Disney channel to a space data startup is insane. And Harvard of course since we’re at checking all the boxes haha."
"Not enough people are talking about how disney star Bridgit Mendler launched a satellite data startup and graduated from harvard law and mit phd," a third wrote. "Bridgit is THE female founder showing us you can reinvent yourself and build cool things along the way."
With so many achievements already under her belt, it will be interesting to see where Mendler goes from here!