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Title: Co-founder and
Chief Experience Officer

Birthday: July 17

College: Sam Houston State University

Degree: Bachelor of Fine Arts with a specialization in Advertising

Favorite Quote: “It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”

                               – Machiavelli 

Amy cut her creative teeth in the fast-paced advertising world at one of the largest ad agencies in the Southeastern part of the country. After moving back to her native Houston home in 1982, Amy found herself with a stellar portfolio of agency experience but unable to get fulltime work thanks to the first 1980’s oil boom, bust and subsequent recession. She jumped in for an eat-or-die entrepreneurial venture, founding her first private company by breaking a continual sweat and delivering exceptional customer experiences.

In 1997, she parlayed her design and marketing firm co-founded with Beth Carls, into founding partner equity in a Web 1.0 start-up.  Amy was part of the team of ten co-founders that steered Align Solutions to a staggering 8,164% growth in less than three years. (Yes, those heady days when you could get money for an idea sketched out on a napkin!) Align pioneered the first Internet consulting firm to fully converge two industries into a “technology-meets-design-company.” After becoming Houston’s Fastest Growing Company, Align (just shy of their third birthday) became the largest of eight companies to merge forming Luminant Worldwide, the largest, mid-cap IPO in the tech sector (September 1999) with a $158 million valuation. The celebrations that ensued gave new meaning to, “party like it’s 1999!”

Enthused by the powerful potential online platforms offered for delivering captivating, personalized interactions, Amy continued her entrepreneurial passions, but this time around dedicating her business acumen to becoming a social venture entrepreneur.  In the summer of 2000, Amy, Beth Carls and four others co-founded MindOH!. Amy was the creative and visionary driving force behind MindOH!, an evidence-based character education company dedicated to revamping the in-school discipline process into a meaningful, learning experience for students.  With well over 1 million youth responses and two third-party, evidence-based, research studies as proof, MindOH! capitalized on technology and ingenuity to reach out and give a voice to kids typically muted in traditional, school discipline models. 

Having benefited from working with thousands of kids across the country, Amy has been evangelizing the potential of youth social-networking (since before there was name for it). Now, as a co-founder of OneSeventeen Media, Amy is once again leading the vision and developing the comprehensive user experience behind the company’s first product launch, PlumbBrain, a next generation social community for kids. Creating OneSeventeen is the culmination of her philanthropic dream to lead a company dedicated to helping kids avoid and work-through the challenges she overcame during her growing up years.  She tries to lead her life as an example that being bullied (she was actually hung on the playground with a jump rope by a bully), repeating two grades in elementary school, losing a parent and struggling academically are not excuses for youth failure, but opportunities to not only survive but thrive. Having caring adults in her life to help her through, Amy now calls on adults to accept the call to action to be mentors, facilitators and partners with kids in creating the resources youth need to navigate their increasingly challenging lives, discern their strengths and discover their passions as a pathway to personal success.

Amy has never met a stranger and enjoys opportunities to advocate for technology’s responsible usefulness in kid’s lives.  She’s been interviewed by the likes of CNN, CourtTV, People Magazine, USA Today, TIME , A&E Networks and has been a panelist at Ypulse and South By Southwest (SXSW) Interactive. She’s been featured on radio shows across the country and named one of Houston’s Women in Technology. Amy is an enthusiastic, humorous and highly motivating public speaker who believes in the importance of giving back and thrives on community involvement.   She’s donated countless hours to non-profits such as the Special Olympics, Women’s Home, Human Rights Campaign, FotoFest, United Way, Lafitte’s Cove Nature Society, Women In Technology International, Inspired Legacies and Women’s Foundation of California. Amy is also the proud co-founder of the MindOH! Foundation and now KidThrive.org

In the 2008 election cycle, Amy dove right into the historic event by serving as a voting delegate for her local district and met some interesting characters in the process. Amy’s co-authored an anthology book of youth stories about bullying, I Wish I Knew What To Do To Get Bullies To Leave Me Alone, and has been a contributing author and co-author to several best selling business, youth and philanthropy books. She’s also a regular contributor to the OneSeventeen Media Blog. Amy enjoys the gift of spending time with her two stepsons, and she loves to spend any free time on, in or near beautiful bay, lake or river waters.

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Copyright 2009  |  OneSeventeen Media, Inc. | Austin Houston Raleigh San Francisco |  Advisory Board