Sarah Maria Austin (b. January 1986) is an American author, tech entrepreneur, and

Internet personality An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

. She is the CMO and co-founder of

metaverse In science fiction, the "metaverse" is a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal, and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. In colloquial usage, ...

funding platform, QGlobe, and former CEO at Broad Listening, an artificial emotional intelligence agent. She is the chairperson of the board of directors at Coding FTW, a nonprofit organization that promotes diversity and equal rights in the technology sector.

Early life and education

As a young child, Austin moved with parents from

Rogers, Arkansas Rogers is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. Located in the Ozarks, it is part of the Northwest Arkansas region, one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country. Rogers was the location of the first Walmart store, whose cor ...

Tiburon, California Tiburon (; es, Tiburón, ) is an incorporated town in Marin County, California. It is located on the Tiburon Peninsula, which reaches south into the San Francisco Bay. It shares a ZIP code with the smaller incorporated city of Belvedere (for ...

. In the ninth grade, Austin joined a leadership development and

mentorship Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

program called Summer Search. While in Summer Search, she studied New Media at Stanford University and also attended

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United State ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. In 2004, she graduated from

Tamalpais High School Tamalpais High School (often abbreviated as Tam) is a public secondary school located in Mill Valley, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is named after nearby Mount Tamalpais, which rises almost above Mill Valley. Tamalpais High Sch ...

Mill Valley, California Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and from Napa Valley. The population was 14,231 at the 2020 census. Mill Valley is located on the western and ...

. Upon returning to California, Austin attended film and broadcast classes at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

. later to relocate to

Parsons The New School for Design Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. In 2010, she was a

Dominican University of California Dominican University of California is a private university in San Rafael, California. It was founded in 1890 as Dominican College by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. It is one of the oldest universities in California. Dominican is accredit ...

business management student.

Career

Entrepreneurship

Austin is the founder of Coding FTW, a non-profit organization that provides scholarships for women in computer programming and technology. Austin was the first marketing hire at Kava, a

decentralized finance Decentralized finance (often stylized as DeFi) offers financial instruments without relying on intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks by using smart contracts on a blockchain. DeFi platforms allow people to lend or borrow funds ...

platform, serving as its CMO. She held roles in content marketing at

SAP Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separ ...

, Oracle, and

Ford Motor Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles ...

including its campaigns around the

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event ty ...

and the US launch of the

Ford Fiesta The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car marketed by Ford since 1976 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and has been positioned below the Escort (later the ...

Media

Austin began her career as a tech-news producer and DJ for three years at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

’s radio station,

KALX KALX (90.7 FM) is an FM radio station that broadcasts from the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California, United States. KALX, a community and student-run radio station licensed to the university, broadcasts in stereo with ...

. She moved into video with news segments for D7TV's ''Story Today'' and created her own D7TV series, ''Party Crashers'', in which she filmed

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Count ...

parties. During the spring of 2007, she was chosen as a participant in the closed

beta test A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...

Justin.tv Justin.tv was a website created by Justin Kan, Emmett Shear, Michael Seibel, and Kyle Vogt in 2007 to allow anyone to broadcast video online. Justin.tv user accounts were called "channels", like those on YouTube, and users were encouraged to b ...

and lifecasted for them.

''Pop17''

Sarah Austin at the Intel Insider Kickoff 2008

After extensive tests through the winter of 2007-08 under the name ''PopSnap'', Austin launched a

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

and

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

called ''Pop17'' in March 2008. ''Pop17'' features interviews with tech-oriented business owners and

Internet personalities An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social ...

at tech-related events and parties. It also includes commentary and news on technology and business topics;

Rocketboom Rocketboom was a daily vlog produced by Andrew Baron in the format of a newscast with a comedic slant. Since 2004 Rocketboom has presented oddities, vlog excerpts, social and political commentary. The Rocketboom weblog and Apollo Pony featured ...

and Mekanism contributed to the production of the show in 2008 and 2010. Contributors to ''Pop17'' include

Jesse Draper Jessica Cook "Jesse" Draper (born January 5, 1986) is an American venture capitalist and TV personality. Early life Draper is the daughter of Silicon Valley venture capitalist Timothy C. Draper and Melissa Lee ( Parker) Draper. Her paternal gran ...

and Caitlin Hill.

''Start-Ups: Silicon Valley''

Austin was featured as one of the main cast members on '' Start-Ups: Silicon Valley'', a

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show that aired on

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels * Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compan ...

, that followed the lives of six people who worked for

startup companies A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses t ...

in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. On the show, Austin lives at the Four Seasons Silicon Valley as

entrepreneur in residence An Entrepreneur in residence, or Executive in residence (EIR), is a position most often held by successful entrepreneurs in venture capital firms, private equity firms, startup accelerators, law firms or business schools. The EIR typically lea ...

, producing marketing videos for them on ''Pop17''.

Other media

In late 2011, Austin became a correspondent for TV networks such as

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

and

Logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordm ...

. She worked as an online personality for ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

'' and ''The X Factor Pepsi Live Preshow'', as well as casting their unscripted home-viewing parties via

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, ...

. She hosted and co-produced the San Francisco edition of ''VidBlogger Nation''; a

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

OnDemand TV network with each host sharing stories of people, places and events in their city. She also produces tech reports for Logo's ''NewNowNext''. Austin has been a

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locat ...

for ''Better'', where she explained topics and trends regarding

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...

. Since late 2010, Austin contributes articles and Pop17 episodes to

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

magazine.

Recognition

At age 25, Austin was named to Forbes 30 under 30 in media. Ignite Social Media included her in their ranking of five women covering

New Media New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...

on the Internet. In 2008, she was named one of the 50 most influential female bloggers by North X East. Also in 2008, she appeared on Donny Deutsch's ''The Big Idea''. In the first edition of Dan Schawbel's' book ''Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success'', Austin and ''Pop17'' were profiled in a chapter of "success stories".Schawbel, Dan. ''Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success''. Kaplan Publishing, 2009.
/ref> She was featured on the front cover of the May 2009 issue of ''Personal Branding'' magazine. In 2010, she was selected as one of '' Vanity Fairs "America's Tweethearts".Grigoriadis, Vanessa. "America's Tweethearts". ''Vanity Fair'', February 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Sarah Year of birth uncertain Living people American Internet celebrities American alternative journalists Streaming television Video bloggers Women video bloggers Participants in American reality television series People from Rogers, Arkansas Tamalpais High School alumni Journalists from California People from Tiburon, California American women bloggers American bloggers 21st-century American women 1986 births