Irene Koo is driven by her love for connecting the dots across different disciplines, driving impact, and promoting entrepreneurial thinking. Since writing textbooks for students in Uganda in the 6th grade, Irene believes that education and community are powerful tools to tackle societal problems. 

Irene recently graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University, with courseworks in economics and computer science. During her time at Columbia, she served as the president of Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE), led global trips to startup ecosystems, and published her research in Nature Geoscience. 

Upon graduation, Irene co-founded Building Blocks, through which she organized and taught social entrepreneurship workshops to 200+ students across 4 continents