Meet the #SMWMagic Speakers!

Before you attend Thursday’s Social Media Week event presented by She’s the First — The New Face of Social Good: How Make Your Own Social Media Magic! — get to know our #SMWMagic speakers!

We’re thrilled Social Media Week gave us the 6pm, Feb 16th, slot inside the Social & Environmental Change Hub at Thomas Reuters, 3 Times Square! If you can’t join us at the crossroads of the world, then tune into our Livestream…you’ll just miss the cupcakes (thanks, @sprinkles!) And remember to tweet with hash tag #SMWMagic, because @thethinkcloud is matching mentions with a $1 donation, till we sponsor Eli’s final year of high school in Tanzania!

Special Introduction by ALEK WEK, @TheRealAlekWek

Elle magazine took a risk by featuring dark-skinned, Sudanese model, Alek Wek, on the cover of their November 1997 issue. However, the result was a monumental number of reader responses and letters-to-the-editor from both women and men who were ecstatic to see different standards of beauty in the fashion industry. Oprah later commented to Alek on her show, “If you’d been on the cover of a magazine when I was growing up, I would have had a different concept of who I was.”

Alek was born in Southern Sudan and raised as a part of the Dinka tribe. At fourteen, she was forced to flee to London to escape the civil war. Alek was soon discovered at a London street fair. She quickly rose to the top of the modeling industry. She has walked the runway for top fashion houses–Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Christian Dior, Gucci, and Chanel–just to name a few.

Alek’s influence extends far beyond the fashion world and societal concepts of beauty. She has also served on the advisory board for the U.S. Committee for Refugees. She speaks in New York area schools to bring attention to the famine in Southern Sudan and to educate children on the importance of nourishment.

Moderated by EMILY BANKS, @emjbanks, of Mashable

Emily is responsible for assigning and editing news coverage, organizing editorial schedules and overseeing Mashable‘s editorial ethics guidelines and style guide. Previously, Emily was assistant news editor. She joined Mashable‘s New York team in October 2010 as copy editor. Emily also has experience working in newspaper, television and corporate communications. She has reported for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, community newspapers in Wisconsin and Georgia, and Georgia Public Broadcasting TV. She also worked for a small communications firm in Minneapolis with Fortune 500 clients. While in college she was the co-publisher and editor in chief of The Minnesota Daily, one of the largest student-run daily newspapers in the country.

ADAM BRAUN, @adambraun
Founder & Executive Director of Pencils of Promise, one of the world’s most impactful new nonprofits as recognized by Nobel peace prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, and active supporter Justin Bieber.

As a college student traveling across the globe, Adam asked a small boy begging on the streets of India what he wanted most in the world. The answer: A pencil. The promise that came in handing out that first pencil led to the sharing of thousands while backpacking through 50+ countries, learning from locals about the need for a nonprofit that built schools based on a model of community ownership and empowerment.

Pencils of Promise was founded in October 2008 with a mere $25 in hopes of building
one school in Laos. Today, that dream has manifested into more than 40 schools in Laos, Nicaragua and Guatemala and over 1 million education hours delivered. In creating the largest social media following out of any nonprofit started in the last four years, PoP has become a leader in social media engagement, sustainable development, youth empowerment and digital innovation.

Adam graduated magna cum laude and played varsity basketball for Brown University,
previously worked at leading consulting firm Bain & Company, and now spends half the year traveling on behalf of PoP and half the year at our global headquarters in New York City.

SUSAN MCPHERSON, @susanmcph1
Susan McPherson was just recently promoted to the first-ever Director of Global Marketing at Fenton, the nation’s leading public interest communications firm, where she focuses on corporate responsibility programs. She regularly writes and speaks on sustainability communications and the value of public/private partnerships.

She has more than 20 years experience in marketing, public relations, CSR communications and business development. Prior to joining Fenton, McPherson was vice president, CSR services at PR Newswire. Earlier roles with the company included assisting in development of the firm’s first bureaus in China (Beijing and Shanghai) and the launch of MediaSense, a media measurement tool. Prior to her career at PR Newswire, she worked in both the editorial and marketing departments of USA Today.

She serves on the board of Bpeace, an organization dedicated to assisting women in regions of conflict and post-conflict start businesses. She also is a member of Echoing Green’s Social Investment Council, Social Media Week’s New York Advisory Council and the New York Leadership team for 85Broads. She serves as an adviser to Plant A Fish, She’s the First, The Adventure Project and The OpEd Project.

MICHAEL RADPARVAR, @michaelrad
Michael Radparvar is the co-founder of Holstee a lifestyle goods company committed to design with with a conscience. At Holstee Mike is the chief storyteller, sharing the story of Holstee and their innovative approach to materials, design and production with the world. Mike’s unique approaches to press, marketing and outreach led to the viral spreading of the Holstee Manifesto, a message that has since been shared over 500,000 times and viewed over 60 million times online, and was prominently featured in this February’s issue of Inc magazine.

TAMMY TIBBETTS, @tammytibbetts
Tammy is the founder and president of She’s the First, a social-media driven and rapidly growing non-profit organization that sponsors girls’ education in developing world countries, so that they can be the first in their families to graduate from high school. In 2011, She’s the First sponsored 161 girls across eight countries, through creative campaigns that included tie-dye cupcake bake sales, the GIRLS WHO ROCK concert during Internet Week, and the efforts of college students who have started more than 20 She’s the First chapters across the country. Tammy graduated as a journalist from The College of New Jersey, and started her career as the youngest web editor in Hearst Digital Media. For the past 14 months, she has been the social media editor of Seventeen, which she led to have the fastest growing Twitter presence in the magazine industry in 2011, and will soon be leading She’s the First full-time.