Leila Janah Made It Her Mission to Give the Impoverished Dignified Work
A tribute by a friend of the recently deceased founder and CEO of Samasource
Editor’s note: Leila Janah, a social entrepreneur and the founder of Samasource, LXMI, and Samaschool, died on January 24, 2020. She was 37 years old. In this post, her friend Silvia Console Battilana remembers Janah’s vision and drive to improve the lives of people around the world by giving work.
I first met Leila in 2008. We were both speakers at a Women in Tech conference. I remember when Leila walked up on stage and started talking with passion about how the only dignified solution to ending poverty was by giving work, not aid. Within two minutes, I recall telling my neighbor, “She is going to change the world, and I want to help her.” It was an event aimed at venture capitalists, and at the end of the speech Leila said, “Of course no one will give us funds, we are a nonprofit.”
After her speech, I walked up to her, and being new to the Valley and not knowing much about etiquette, I asked, “Are you single?” She smiled and said, “Yes, why?” I answered, “Well, I run auctions, we could auction off a date with you and raise funds for your mission.” At the time, Samasource was still a dream, there was only one engineer and zero funds.
