Jennifer Brandel

Jennifer Brandel is Co-founder & CEO of the tech-enabled consultancy Hearken. Hearken took home the prize for "Best Bootstrap Company" at SXSW and won the News Media Alliance Accelerator. Brandel received the Media Changemaker Prize by the Center for Collaborative Journalism, was named one of 30 World-Changing Women in Conscious Business, is a Columbia Sulzberger Fellow, an RSA Fellow, a member of the Guild of Future Architects and the National Civic Collaboratory. Brandel co-created and led Election SOS, a $2m collaborative initiative to support journalist’s critical information needs around the 2020 US elections. In 2022, co-created Democracy SOS to support newsrooms making long-term culture shifts in political coverage. Brandel created the ground-breaking audience-first journalism series Curious City at WBEZ Chicago in 2012. In 2016, Brandel co-founded Zebra’s Unite, a global movement and network of entrepreneurs, funders, investors and allies creating a more ethical, inclusive and collaborative ecosystem for mission-based startups.