21 Facts About Leila Janah

Leila Janah was the founder and CEO of Sama and LXMI.

Leila Janah was the daughter of Indian immigrants, who came to the United States with nothing.

Leila Janah described her childhood as being difficult, often due to a lack of financial security.

Leila Janah attended the California Academy of Mathematics and Science.

Leila Janah won a scholarship at 17 through American Field Services, and convinced them to let her spend it teaching in Ghana where she spent 6 months during her senior year of high school.

In Ghana, Leila Janah taught English to young students in the village of Akuapem, many of whom were blind.

Leila Janah has cited this early experience as sparking her passion for working in Africa, and she continued to visit the continent during her time in college.

Leila Janah attended Harvard University, graduating in 2005 with a degree in African Development Studies.

At the call center Leila Janah met a young man who traveled each day by rickshaw from Dharavi, one of the largest slums in South Asia, to work at the center.

Leila Janah has cited this experience as sparking the inspiration for Samasource, the non-profit she founded in 2008.

Leila Janah left Katzenbach Partners in 2007 to become a visiting scholar at Stanford University with the Program on Global Justice, founded by law professor Joshua Cohen.

In 2008, Leila Janah launched Samasource, an idea that was inspired by her time spent in Africa and her experience managing a call center in Mumbai.

In 2013, Leila Janah founded Samaschool, a program that moves people out of poverty by providing digital skills training and a connection to internet-based jobs that pay a living wage.

Leila Janah founded Samahope in 2012, the first crowdfunding platform that directly funded doctors who provide life-changing medical treatments for women and children in poor communities.

Leila Janah spoke about the decision to merge with Caring Crowd in a LinkedIn post, citing efficiency and branding as the two biggest factors.

In 2015, Leila Janah co-founded LXMI, a for-profit luxury skin care brand.

Leila Janah was a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, a Director of CARE USA, a 2012 TechFellow, recipient of the inaugural Club de Madrid Young Leadership Award, and the youngest person to win a Heinz Award in 2014 when she received the 19th Annual Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy and Employment.

Leila Janah received the Secretary's Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls from Hillary Clinton in 2012, and was a former Visiting Scholar at the Stanford University Program on Global Justice and Australian National University's Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics.

Leila Janah was a recipient of the Rainer Arnhold and TEDIndia Fellowships, and served on the San Francisco board of TechSoup Global and the Social Enterprise Institute.

Leila Janah was included as one of Elle Magazine's "Women in Tech" in 2016 and The New York Times T Magazine's Five Visionary Tech Entrepreneurs Who Are Changing the World in 2015.

Leila Janah died on January 24,2020, from epithelioid sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.