Yoxi: A New Media Platform for Social Innovation Rockstars

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Yoxi: A New Media Platform for Social Innovation Rockstars

Forbes
January 10th, 2012

Credit: WikiMedia

By Rahim Kanani

Recently, I interviewed Sharon Chang, Founder of Yoxi—a media platform to discover and develop Social Innovation Rockstars (SIR)’s. Chang is a media executive, social entrepreneur, and impact investor, and prior to founding Yoxi was the Chief Creative Officer of 19 Entertainment, the company behind popular TV shows American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. She has also worked as a brand strategist and creative director in a number of prestigious global agencies, with over 16 years of experience leading major branding and design initiatives for clients such as Pepsi, Ford, Sony, Motorola, Cadillac, Estée Lauder, P&G, TED, Starwood Hotels, Universal Music, CNN and Hulu.

Sharon is the Managing Trustee of TTSL Charitable Foundation, and sits on the Board of Trustees of New York University. She holds a BA in Studio Art from New York University and a Master’s in Interactive Telecommunications from Tisch School of the Arts. Her alma maters also include The Royal College of Art in London and Columbia University’s School of Architecture.

Rahim Kanani: What was the spark that led to the launch of Yoxi?

Sharon Chang: Sometimes when you immerse yourself in a diverse range of challenging and seemingly unrelated projects you will suddenly recognize patterns and see powerful connections. As I worked alongside the creator of American Idol, engaged in stimulating debates with teams from Google and Zynga, jokingly compared my own experience in advertising with episode after episode of Mad Men, I was inspired to put the best of Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and Madison Avenue into a hybrid model – Yoxi, a media organization that takes the most popular and relevant cultural cues to engineer social change.

Changing the world should be fun.