Data Science Institute

How do we define “future” while we are engaged in the act of creating it?

Yeshimabeit “Yeshi” Milner is the Founder & CEO of Data for Black Lives. She has worked since the age of 17 as a movement builder, technologist, and data scientist. She founded Data for Black Lives in 2017 during the emergence of AI as a force multiplier of both progress and inequality, to harness the power of data to make concrete and measurable change in the lives of Black people. In eight years, Data for Black Lives has transformed policy, research, and culture around big data and technology globally, reclaiming data as protest, accountability, and collective action.

Yeshi has received significant recognition for her work. She is an Echoing Green Fellow and an Ashoka Fellow, and was named to the Forbes Under 30 list for her pioneering work as a social entrepreneur. In 2020, Data for Black Lives received a New York Times Good Tech Award for its COVID-19 database, and she is among the inaugural awardees of the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award, which recognizes leaders under 40 who have made significant contributions to politics and public service.