Ambika Samarthya-Howard

From Bollywood to Nigeria, Ambika has been creating, teaching and writing at the intersection of storytelling and social good for two decades. She believes in working with local teams, developing work collaboratively, and taking risks in telling authentic, powerful stories. She has produced content for Current TV, UNICEF, Havas, Praekelt.org, UNICEF, UNFPA, and Save the Children and trained for BBC Media Action, Columbia University, and the New York Film Academy. Recently at WITNESS, she oversaw the first brand refresh in the organization’s 25 year history. While Head of Communications at the South African technology organization, Praekelt.org, she led the content curation and writing for the Medium Publication, Mobile For Good, and spoke at over 20 conferences globally, including co-partnering to launch the MERL Tech Joburg.  Previously, she worked at the advertising agency Havas where she became an Account Director for their luxury division and spoke at SXSW. Bylines include: US News and World Report, Media Diversity Institute, Open and Shut, Media Co-op, UX Collective, Bright Magazine, and Next Billion.