Anima has always been fascinated by understanding people; what motivates us, how we make decisions, why we act the way we do toward one another.

Prior to Oxford, Anima brought her background in psychology to high-leverage ventures in climate change and political organizing. She is the founder of Swing Semester, a political semester abroad program that operated in the swing states of Ohio and Colorado during the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections. In the program, participants lived with host families and worked with progressive campaigns, eventually knocking on nearly 400,000 doors, all while studying a syllabus focused on political psychology, framing, and understanding why Americans vote the way they do.

Anima’s love of people stayed with her at Oxford, where she immersed herself in organizing a thought leadership series which eventually resulted in the first TEDxOxbridge: Business as Unusual.

After completing her MBA, Anima moved to San Francisco and co-founded Connect, a consumer technology start-up focused on helping people see more of the people who matter to them in the real world. She now runs product at the company, which will be releasing a new product this fall.

Over the last few years, Anima has witnessed the early signs of an important movement in the technology space, one driven by a recognition that those building social tech are stewards of human attention, as well as constructors of human identity and meaning. Over the next few years, Anima hopes not only to see Connect grow as a good example in this field, but to see many more thoughtful, social-change minded people enter this extremely influential space.