Jenna Seiden
By day, Jenna Seiden is the VP of Business Development at Niantic Labs., the San Francisco-based brand behind augmented reality mobile games like Ingress and Pokémon Go. By night, she’s co-founder of Zambezi Partners, an investment fund focusing on select businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa — Zambezi’s goal is to reduce poverty, create sustainable jobs and income, and eradicate all poaching from the area. Both roles give Jenna the opportunity to forge positive change in the lives of others. “My whole day is enveloped with working towards optimizing tech for good,” she says.
“At Niantic, we are centered around using our mapping expertise to create experiences that get people outside exploring together; augmented reality is meant to make our physical world more magical and better,” says Jenna. “My other job uses technology to improve the data collection process in conservation so that we can scale the solutions that prevent poaching. Making the planet more fun and biodiverse is a great 'job' to have.”
The Hall of Femme honoree was nominated by Joanna Popper, who praised her for breaking multiple glass ceilings across sports, film, TV, digital, and games. Jenna’s road to success has been paved with support from other women. “The more I surround myself with others who offer up unique experiences, yet the same unconditional support to others, the more I am able to identify how I can best raise up others,” she says. “[Success is] knowing despite being self-reliant, you have a wealth of support from friends, family, or co-workers all cheering you on.”