Sumaya Kazi, 25, was recognized by BusinessWeek Magazine as one of America's Top 10 Entrepreneurs Under 25 and the only solo woman featured in its Global Top 70 Entrepreneurs list.
Sumaya was also spotlighted as an 'Innovator to Watch in 2008' by ColorLines Magazine and by CNN as a 'Young Person Who Rocks'. She currently serves as the Executive Director and Founder of TheCulturalConnect.com, a burgeoning media publishing company that publishes five weekly e-magazines dedicated to young, driven and forward-thinking adults around the world. The CulturalConnect has been widely regarded as a refreshing and important young professional destination.
Additionally, she works full-time as a Social Media Manager for the Global Communications group at Fortune 500 Company Sun Microsystems, the youngest in her division. In her spare time she is a Business mentor for Businesses United in Investing, Lending and Development (BUILD.org), a non-profit social venture that empowers underprivileged high schools with an education in entrepreneurship. Sumaya has been recognized as a Silicon Valley Woman of Influence, South Asian American Leader of Tomorrow, a Who's Who of Global Emerging Leaders, and has won State Senate recognition as an Outstanding Young Woman as well as the IndUS Business Journal 'Women in Business' award in the New Media category. She frequently keynotes at top Universities and Professional Conferences around the nation on topics around Young Entrepreneurship, Non-Profit Advocacy and Young Professionals in the Corporate Workplace.
She has received International print, radio, TV and online media recognition in over 100 outlets for her young professional, non-profit and entrepreneurial endeavors including BusinessWeek Magazine, CNN, Newsweek, Washington Post, ABC News, Voice of America, Los Angeles Times, Silicon Valley Business Journal, and several ethnic press outlets. Sumaya graduated from the University of California-Berkeley in Marketing and Strategic Planning in 2004. She resides in the San Francisco, Bay Area.
