Elaine Dang

Born and raised in California into a family of refugees, I grew up with a strong sense of gratitude. Education became paramount to my life as I was in my family’s first generation to graduate high school and college. I went to UC Berkeley where I studied Operations Research and Management Science, and Mass Communications. In order to learn more about education inequity, I joined Teach For America where I had the honor to teach amazing high school students on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. Inspired by my student here, I moved to Kenya to learn more about the education status abroad. Here I created my second home and discovered that I thrived in entrepreneurial roles. Following my heart and my stomach, I transitioned to EatOut, a Kenyan internet start-up, to launch our first social driven product and help lead the company to expansion.

On September 21st, I was at the Nairobi Westgate Mall on the same day an extremist militant group stormed the mall. More than sixty people lost their lives that day. Though I suffered trauma, I thankfully escaped the rooftop alive. I am one of hundreds of survivors from this terrorist attack and understand how lucky I am to be alive. I’m passionate about turning this moment into a movement of cultivating health, harmony, and happiness.