Bio
Samala is the Cofounder + Managing Director of Jump Canon, a venture firm offering early stage investment to undercapitalized founders. She's been committed to powerfully inclusive innovation and radically diverse technology since long before it made headlines. Samala built and cofounded America’s first civic tech organization to nationally serve Asian American and Pacific Islander communities: 18MR.org. She was on the Story of Stuff Project's founding team as Director of Strategy & Media, creating capacity to reach and organize over 40 million people globally for environmental justice. Her work and writing in technology, social innovation and new media has been featured at the Obama Administration’s White House LGBTQ Technology & Innovation Summit and in Forbes, The New Yorker, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and Al-Jazeera. Prior to launching 18MR.org, Samala created START Mobile, one of the earliest digital media distribution networks for mobile. The global platform helped more than 500 artists, including Shepard Fairey, Justin Bua, David Choe, and Apex, reach new markets via mobile devices. At peak popularity, START had users and art installations across the United States, Central & South America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, India, China, and Russia. Samala embodies multitudes—a new media expert, Wharton business school grad, and a DJ of renown in the San Francisco Bay Area, a serial creator/founder/entrepreneur, and a believer in the powers of fun, inclusion, and Hyphenated Americans.