As a child, Sarah had spent summers in a tight-knit Cape Cod community where kids could stop at any house in the neighborhood for lunch and ride their bicycles in the street until midnight. Conversely, as a seasoned professional, Sarah observed how technology created global networks of individuals while simultaneously disconnecting us from those right outside our front doors.
Concerned about this, Sarah -- then an Entrepreneur in Residence at Benchmark -- longed to reconnect neighbors and build stronger, safer communities. This passion led her to co-found Nextdoor, the free and private social network for neighborhoods.
Sarah began her career at Microsoft as a product manager on the teams that launched the first three versions of Microsoft Office. In 1997, Leary left Microsoft to attend Harvard. She earned her BA and MBA and went to work as an associate at Greylock Partners. Later she served as VP of Product and Marketing at Epinions (relaunched as Shopping.com, subsequently acquired by eBay).
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
