Sarah Sharif

Event Director
ATX Hack for Change

Sarah Sharif currently lives in Austin, Texas, but she is a global child. Sarah was born in Pakistan and raised in both the U.K. and California. Sarah’s goal has always been to simply change the world for the best. Whether it was walking around her childhood neighborhood in the U.K. collecting large phone books for recycling to starting her own rainforest club when she was 11 to save a crocodile she’d fallen in love with; she’s always said that she would leave this world better than she found it.

With a background in biology, she’s dabbled in engineering research to environmental nonprofit work to now human-centered business design. Sarah directs ATX Hack for Change, a feel-good, civic hackathon here in Austin that launched in 2013. In 2016, the hackathon was one of the largest gatherings in the country setting new records and quickly became a viable model for other cities from Seattle to Barcelona.

Sarah is dedicated to bringing all voices and ideas to the table and facilitates the conversation about how DO we: save the bees, conserve our water, protect the Texas environment, innovate in transportation or save the lives of premature babies. Sarah feels strongly that there needs to be a tremendous surge of creativity on a global scale for meaningful change and it all starts with playfulness. And she’s here to play.