Join & Connect

Knowing the latest celeb break-up or wardrobe malfunction is only a Twitter search away, but what if our digital activity had a positive impact instead? Former showbiz reporter Melissa Rowley wanted to do just that and gave up her career as a successful Hollywood journalist to join a tech start-up focused on social change. She shares her story with Hub Dot…

‘I was adopted when I was five months old, and the story I was told as a child is that my mother left me on the police station’s steps the day I was born. So the fact that I've led a charmed life is in many ways a miracle. But while the stories we're told are important, it’s the stories we tell about ourselves that mean everything. That’s why after years of working as an entertainment journalist for CNN, which meant I did things like hang outside Paris Hilton's house at 6am, I left Hollywood. I left because I didn't enter journalism to lose my soul to the devil. I was put on this planet to be the kind of journalist who spreads good throughout the world.

After learning about technology and science miracles like smartphone apps that can detect malaria, I decided to dedicate my career to the storytelling around the intersection of technology and social change. A year ago, I met a developer building a site called The Toolbox, which features mobile apps and digital tools to help people become everyday activists. Tools include an app that allows you to scan the barcodes of products to see if human trafficking was involved in the supply chain, a soccer ball that generates electricity, citizen journalism apps, financial inclusion tools for women and more. I thought, wow, if people all over the world had access to these tools, think of the collective impact that could transpire.

The site currently features 700 pieces of technology that aid social change. Developers, activists, educators, and entrepreneurs can submit tools they've created or are currently using. We have a growing community of technologists and founders we call APP-tivists, and we want to connect them to schools, non-profits, and activism groups in need of their own special technology. We’re now looking for funding to grow and ultimately provide tech training to communities across the globe.

And all of this means that now, I get tell stories that make a difference.’

Melissa Rowley, executive director of The Toolbox