Ambika Samarthya-Howard

Ambika Samarthya-Howard is a communications specialist, video producer and writer who has been creating and teaching at the intersection of storytelling and social good for two decades. She holds a MFA in Filmmaking from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown, and completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Bollywood. 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. She led the content curation and writing for the Medium Publication, Mobile For Good, and has spoken about social good projects and inclusivity at over 20 conferences globally, including the Future of Journalism Conference, Open Source Gallery, NYC Live Arts, Alter Conference, Youth, Tech, & Health, MERL Tech and SXSW.

She was formerly the Head of Communications at Praekelt.org and worked at the advertising agency Havas for several years where she became an Account Director for their luxury division. She has written about a range of times, from inclusivity in the workplace for UX Collective to documentary films for the Gates Foundation’s Bright Magazine. Her writing on technology and data has been featured in Next Billion, Communication Initiative, Data Driven Investor, and US News and World Report.