# Uzoma Orchingwa

> Uzoma 'Zo' Orchingwa is a Nigerian-American social entrepreneur and the co-founder and co-CEO of Emerge Career, an AI-powered workforce development and reentry company that partners with governments to train and place justice-involved and low-income people into high-paying, AI-resilient skilled trades. He previously co-founded Ameelio, a technology nonprofit that broke open the exploitative prison communications industry by offering free letters, calls and education to incarcerated people and their families. A Yale-trained lawyer and Cambridge criminologist who moonlit as a DJ, he has been named to MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35 and Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Emerge Career
- **Organizations:** Emerge Career, Ameelio
- **Nationality:** American (Nigerian-American)
- **Education:** BA, Philosophy, Colby College, MPhil, Criminology (Gates-Cambridge Scholar), University of Cambridge, JD, Yale Law School, MBA, Yale School of Management
- **Known for:** Co-founder and co-CEO of Emerge Career, backed by Y Combinator, Alexis Ohanian's 776, SoftBank Opportunity Fund, Pioneer Ventures, Michael Seibel and Deborah Quazzo, Co-founder and CEO of Ameelio, which surpassed one million users and operates in dozens of correctional facilities, MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 (2022)

## Career timeline

- **2017** — Named a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow for New Americans
- **2020** — Co-founded Ameelio, a tech nonprofit for free prison communications, with Gabe Saruhashi
- **2021** — Named to Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business
- **2022** — Named to MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35; co-founded Emerge Career
- **2023** — Selected for the inaugural Fortune Founders Forum class
- **2024** — Emerge Career partners with NYC Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice on Next Mile NYC

## Achievements

- Co-founder and co-CEO of Emerge Career, backed by Y Combinator, Alexis Ohanian's 776, SoftBank Opportunity Fund, Pioneer Ventures, Michael Seibel and Deborah Quazzo
- Co-founder and CEO of Ameelio, which surpassed one million users and operates in dozens of correctional facilities
- MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 (2022)
- Fast Company Most Creative People in Business (2021)
- Gates-Cambridge Scholar, Harry S. Truman Scholar, and Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow
- Inaugural class of the Fortune Founders Forum
- Ameelio backed by Jack Dorsey, Vinod Khosla, Reid Hoffman, Brian Acton, Eric Schmidt, Mellon Foundation and Arnold Ventures

## Latest updates

- **2024** — Emerge Career partnered with New York City's Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice to launch Next Mile NYC, a cost-free vocational training and job-placement program.

## Links

- Website: https://emergecareer.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uzoma-orchingwa-2346481a3

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/uzoma-orchingwa
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-21