Jessica Jackley

KIVA, launched in 2005, now channels two million dollars every week to entrepreneurs in the world's poorest communities. So, how do you rapidly scale a global company while staying true to core values? In the midst of intense growth, how do you foster innovation and design thinking while managing risk? What business lessons can be learned from goat herders, farmers, and fishermen in the developing world?  How do you manage increasingly decentralized teams while maintaining a common purpose? Drawing on her eclectic background -- she studied art and philosophy before earning an MBA -- Jackley presents powerful new business lessons, reframing best practices in atypical, thought-provoking ways. Bright, energetic, and unapologetically optimistic about the power of business to change the world, Jackley offers a refreshing keynote relevant to any company, from not-for-profits to Fortune 100s.

From the beginning, Kiva's presence on the Internet has been extraordinary. Its voice in the blogosphere, the Twitterverse, and in far-reaching pockets of the Internet -- anywhere people are online and social -- has been bold, clear, and unique. In four years, with zero marketing budget, Jessica Jackley (former Chief Marketing Officer) helped Kiva reach more than 750,000 lenders, 400,000 entrepreneurs, and millions of supporters in over 206 countries. In this idea-packed talk, Jackley delivers expert lessons for any company, in any sector, non-profit and for-profit alike. How do you maximize your social media initiatives, embrace radical transparency, nurture a culture of trust, and inspire co-creation of your product among a wide user base? By facilitating meaningful connections between individuals, Jackley shows us how to build unstoppable web momentum that translates into positive real world action.

In this talk, Jessica Jackley shares the inspirational path that led her, just after graduation, to create Kiva. It's a story of unorthodox beginnings, surprising growth, and the unprecedented social change that has revolutionized a worldwide microlending movement. Jackley drew on an unlikely background -- studying philosophy and art; seeing microfinance firsthand in Africa; earning an MBA while launching Kiva -- to become one of the world's leading female entrepreneurs. And though Kiva's successes can be measured in many ways, Jackley reminds students that Kiva's most important contribution has been in the minds and the hearts of the thousands of lenders and borrowers who use the site. This connection, based on dignity and respect, is crucial in whatever you dedicate yourself to. Whatever you plan to do after graduation, Jackley provides practical, encouraging lessons from her own journey. Enthusiastic, grounded and very relatable, she helps students realize that they, too, can spend their lives doing meaningful work, that they can synthesize their skills to do what they love, and that they can build an extraordinary career -- a meaningful life -- by helping others.

Reza Aslan and Jessica Jackley know all about the social web's remarkable ability to build communities and incite social change. As the founder of Aslan Media, which is altering perceptions of the Arab world through traditional and online entertainment, Aslan has traced the impact of social media in the Middle East. As the co-founder of KIVA, the world's largest microlending website, Jackley has harnessed the power of one-to-one relationships to triumph over bureaucratic lending models. Together, this husband and wife team explains how social media has irrevocably changed the world, and explores the future of online collaboration. How has social media gone from simple news gathering to revolutionizing the concept of community? What changes must our institutions make--from government to business to education--in order to catch up to our new web-based society? And what can an individual do to ensure that social media reaches its full potential as a force for global change?