Meet Jeff Nelson, CTO and Co-Founder, Blavity Inc.
Before Jeff Nelson was CTO and Co-Founder of Blavity, he was a serial entrepreneur with a professional background as a Software Engineer. Learn more about him and his inspiring work in our newest feature.
For those who don’t know you, tell us a little about your background.
I’m a serial entrepreneur with a professional background as a Software Engineer (I studied Computer Science at Washington University in St. Louis). Currently, I’m the Co-Founder and CTO of Blavity as well as the Founder and CEO of Cinchapi. I was born and raised in Chicago, IL and now live in Atlanta, GA with my wife and two children. I’m the youngest and only boy among nine children.
What are you most looking forward to about reviewing Anthem Awards entries?
I’m excited to discover and help amplify some lesser known mission-driven work that too often gets lost in the endless digital information loop.
What does it take for a project or campaign to cause real-world change?
I believe that local service spurs global change. In my experience, the most impactful and sustainable projects are those that galvanize local communities to work towards a common goal instead of trying to change the world in a centralized or top-down fashion. When the work is distributed, the project doesn’t have a single point-of-failure, more people have ownership, there is greater buy-in and the project’s impact naturally reverberates to benefit more people.
How does your work at Blavity support your mission?
Knowledge is power and being the CTO of a tech company gives me the unique opportunity to spur innovation that democratizes access to information. At Blavity, we build tech platforms to create connections and cultivate conversations that improve the world. We use technology to more efficiently disseminate accurate and relevant content (news, business, travel, entertainment and wellness) to our community so they are empowered to pursue happiness.
Bonus: What’s your favorite purpose-driven project or mission-driven campaign right now, and why?
I’m biased, but I’m excited about Blavity’s launch of Blavity.org and our effort to give non-dilutive grants, resources and coaching to help Black entrepreneurs, journalists and creatives scale their work. It’s easy to “start” a business, but extremely hard to sustain and grow it; especially for Black founders. All the Blavity co-founders have benefited from the generosity of others and Blavity.org allows us to pay it forward so more Black people can sustain entrepreneurship and create generation wealth.
