Stacey Ferreira

Stacey Ferreira
Born (1992-09-11) September 11, 1992
Scottsdale, AZ
Residence San Francisco, California, U.S.
Nationality American
Education NYU's Gallatin School (2011-2012), (2014-2015)
Occupation Co-Founder & CEO of Forrge
Co-Founder of MySocialCloud
Co-Author of 2 Billion Under 20
Relatives Scott Ferreira
Awards Thiel Fellow 2015
Forbes 30 Under 30
Website staceyferreira.com

Stacey Ferreira (born September 11, 1992) is an American entrepreneur, speaker and author.[1][2] She is the co-founder and CEO of Forrge, an ondemand labor marketplace that empowers companies to give their hourly workforce the ability to work when and where they want.

Ferreira is also known for co-founding MySocialCloud.com with her brother Scott Ferreira. MySocialCloud is an online bookmark vault and password manager, and its investors include Sir Richard Branson, Jerry Murdock, and Alex Welch.[1][2] She has been featured on and contributed to several news outlets, including The Huffington Post, Women 2.0, Business Insider, TechCrunch. And in 2016, she entered the Forbes list of 30 under 30, as part of the 600 brightest young entrepreneurs and leaders in the USA.[3]

Early childhood and education

Ferreira was born on September 11, 1992 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her mother, Patricia Ferreira, worked in accounting for IBM and then later became an accountant at the State of Arizona. Her father Victor Ferreira, is a Vice President of Sales at IBM.

She attended Xavier College Preparatory, an all-girls Catholic high school in Phoenix, AZ, to complete her high school degree. At the age of 11, she served as a Board Member for a nonprofit, Open Table, which her brother cofounded.[4] She also spent her high school summers getting involved in media by working at a local Phoenix educational TV station and pursuing her passion in music through GRAMMY Camp.[5]

After founding MySocialCloud, Stacey proceeded to attend New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she designed her own interdisciplinary program that meet her specific career goals. However, after one year she took a leave of absence to pursue MySocialCloud fulltime.[6]

At the event they met Branson, were able to speak with him one-on-one, and after two months of discussing the business proposal, he and his business partner Jerry Murdock agreed to fund the venture.[7][8]

After founding MySocialCloud, Stacey proceeded to attend New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development to study Music Business.[9] However, after one year she took a leave of absence to pursue MySocialCloud full-time.[6]

MySocialCloud

Main article: MySocialCloud

Ferreira co-founded MySocialCloud with her brother, Scott Ferreira, and programmer, Shiv Prakash, while she was still in high school.[7] The idea originally stemmed from a computer crash that left Scott without the spreadsheet he used to store usernames and passwords for his online accounts.[10]

MySocialCloud is a cloudbased bookmark vault and password website.[7][10] The website securely stores passwords from a user’s online accounts, and auto-populates password fields, letting the user log into all of the sites at the push of a button.[8]

After graduation, the siblings moved to Los Angeles, where they developed the company while supporting themselves and living in a small apartment in South Central LA.[6][7][8]

The pair decided to approach Sir Richard Branson when Stacey saw a Tweet inviting Branson’s Twitter followers to a two-day charity banquet in Miami.[10][11] She and her brother flew to the event by borrowing the $4,000 charity donation they needed to attend, from their parents.[11][12] At the event they met Branson, were able to speak with him oneonone, and after two months of discussing the business proposal, he, Jerry Murdock and Alex Welch agreed to fund the venture for $1.2 million in seed funding.[6][10][13]

In 2013, the siblings sold MySocialCloud to Reputation.com and moved from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area.[14]

2 Billion Under 20: How Millennials Are Breaking Down Age Barriers & Changing the World

After selling MySocialCloud, Ferreira worked with Jared Kleinert to co-author 2 Billion Under 20: How Millennials Are Breaking Down Age Barriers And Changing The World. Inspired by the Thiel Fellowship, an educational alternative to college that encourages young people to pursue an individual path to self-sufficiency, the two decided to highlight stories of 75 young people from across the globe who were not afraid to challenge the status quo of education in America.[15]

2 Billion Under 20: How Millennials Are Breaking Down Age Barriers And Changing The World was published by St. Martin's Press in the summer of 2015 and rose to be the #1 New Release in the Business Leadership category on Amazon.[16]

During the process of writing the book, Stacey spoke to hundreds of young kids about their ideas for the future. She noticed was that all her peers in the “Millennial generation” had an inclination and bias towards entrepreneurship.

Thiel Fellowship

In 2015, Stacey became a part of the Thiel Fellowship, a two year program for 20 young individuals who drop out of college to build the future. Stacey began working on Forrge as a part of her Fellowship.[17]

Forrge

In 2015, Stacey Ferreira teamed up with Scott Ferreira, Lloyd Jones and Talulah Riley to cofound Forrge. She now serves as CEO for the ondemand labor marketplace that empowers companies to give their hourly workforce the ability to work when and where they want. [18]

In November 2015, the team raised up to $1.5M in venture funding. The company is backed by some of the most seasoned and respected investors in the world including those at the forefront of the ondemand economy and retail such as Social+Capital, Sherpa Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Inevitable Ventures, 1517Fund, as well as a group of strategic angels. They share investors with Uber, Tesla, Slack, Box, and SpaceX. [19]

Awards and recognition

Ferreira is a speaker with the United States State Department, and has spoken across the globe about entrepreneurship and its impact on economies, Millennials and the future. She occasionally speaks at popular conferences, including TechCrunch Disrupt, GetInTheRing, We Are the Future’s Startup Summit, NextGen Summit, TEDxNYU, TEDxYouthSanDiego and GRAMMY Media Week to name a few. She has been a guest contributor to Virgin Entrepreneurship, Inc., Forbes, and Women 2.0.[5][7] She has also received recognition for her achievements, including:[12][20][21]

References

  1. 1 2 "Teens turn $4K from parents into $1M from Richard Branson". MSN Now. July 12, 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  2. 1 2 "MySocialCloud.com Profile". Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  3. ↑ Nina Vir (February 11, 2012). "Spotlight on Stacey Ferreira: Teen Entrepreneur". MSN Now. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  4. ↑ Benjamin F. Kuo (May 25, 2012). "Interview with Scott Ferreira, MySocialCloud". Socaltech. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  5. 1 2 "GRAMMY Camp — Basic Training Set For Feb. 6". Grammy. February 1, 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "18 Year-Old Gets Investment from Richard Branson: On Dropping Out and Leaning In". Women2.com. March 18, 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Building My World on a Cloud: Stacey Ferreira at TEDxYouth@SanDiego 2012". January 25, 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 Andrea Huspeni (June 29, 2012). "Richard Branson’s Tweet Scored An 18-Year-Old's Startup $1 Million In Funding". Business Insider. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  9. ↑ "NYU Steinhardt Student Tech Start-Up, My Social Cloud, is Social Media Users’ Sanctuary and Sir Richard Branson’s Youngest Investment". New York University. March 12, 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Sarah Perez (March 16, 2012). "Sir Richard Branson & Flipboard Investor Jerry Murdock Put Nearly $1M Into MySocialCloud". Techcrunch. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  11. 1 2 Britney Fitzgerald (August 27, 2012). "MySocialCloud's Founders On Starting A Company When You're Too Young To Drink (Q&A)". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  12. 1 2 "Twenty-year-old Stacey Ferreira turned a tweet from Richard Branson into an investment.". Business Insider. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  13. ↑ Dinah Wisenberg Brin (July 12, 2012). "Young entrepreneurs turn a Tweet from Richard Branson into $1 Million". Yahoo Small Business Advisor. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  14. ↑ Strauss, Karsten. "Richard Branson-Backed Brother And Sister Team Bought Out By Reputation.com". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  15. ↑ UTC, Matt Petronzio2015-07-27 18:18:05. "Who needs college? Two young entrepreneurs start a movement". Mashable. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  16. ↑ "2 Billion Under 20: A Unique Initiative That's Changing The World". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  17. ↑ "Thiel Foundation Announces 2015 Thiel Fellows, Expands Fellowship Program" (PDF). thielfellowship.org. June 5, 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  18. ↑ "Advice from Stacey Ferreira".
  19. ↑ Forrge. "Mobile App for the On-Demand Workforce, Forrge, Raises $1.5M Seed Round to Let Hourly Workers Set Their Own Schedule". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  20. ↑ Gabrielle Karol (March 27, 2013). "Teenager-Turned-Millionaire Success Stories". Fox Business. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  21. ↑ "30 Female Entrepreneurs To Watch In 2013". The Jane Dough. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  22. ↑ O'Connor, Clare. "Stacey Ferreira, 23 - In Photos: 2016 30 Under 30: Retail & E-Commerce". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  23. ↑ "Stacey Wins Pretty Amazing!". Seventeen. 2013-09-23. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  24. ↑ "The Most Successful NEW College Dropouts". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-01-23.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, April 17, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.