Tiasia O'Brien

Founder, Seam Social Labs / co:census

New York City

Tiasia O'Brien is a social entrepreneur with a decade of professional experience in leading strategic communications, fundraising, business development, and public-private initiatives. She is the founder of Seam Social Labs, a mission-driven company working to empower disinvested communities. Seam Social Lab's survey tool, Co:census (formerly Synergize Insights) is an inclusive survey and polling software pioneering the collection and analysis of public sentiments for organizations. Our SMS surveys are developed in up to 50 languages and our sentiments analysis provides deep insights on constituent needs, conditions, and experiences to deliver transformational outcomes.

Tiasia's experience in working with community-based organizations and small businesses has given her deep insights into the complex nature of economic development. Academically, Tiasia is a Qualitative Research Scientist with an Advanced Diploma in Data Analytics from NYU and an M.A. in Sociology from The New School, where she researched civic and community innovations to resolve social inequalities. Her research examines how models of civic engagement are working for low wealth communities. She coined the term, Civic Gap, which highlights the correlation between wealth and civic engagement. Her research focused on Harlem in the early 1900s and two different black communities — one wealthy and one low income and how they were civically engaged.