Sustainable Media Center Expands Leadership With New Trustees, Advisors and Gen Z Board

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, July 16, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Sustainable Media Center (SMC) today announced an expanded leadership team, naming three distinguished senior advisors and welcoming a powerful new slate of Gen Z board members. Together, they reflect SMC’s mission to build a healthier, more accountable digital future—powered by intergenerational leadership and bold new ideas.

New Senior Advisors:
Joy Marcus — A veteran media executive and investor, Joy Marcus is a Venture Partner at Jerusalem Venture Partners, Executive-in-Residence at Princeton University, and former CEO of Bloglovin’ and General Manager at DailyMotion. Marcus joins as a Trustee.

Raffi Krikorian — Raffi is the Chief Technology Officer at Emerson Collective, where he leads AI and digital innovation strategy. Previously, he served as Chief Technology Officer for the Democratic National Committee and as Vice President of Engineering at Twitter, where he oversaw platform architecture. He is also the host of Technically Optimistic, a podcast exploring the social implications of AI and digital transformation. He joins as an Advisor.

Simon Paterson MBE — Simon is the U.S. Head of Counter Disinformation at Edelman’s Crisis & Risk practice. He brings a unique perspective at the intersection of public trust, national security, and digital information ecosystems. He joins as an Advisor.

Emma Lembke, newly named Director of Youth Engagement at SMC and co-founder of Log Off Movement, led the Gen Z board expansion effort.
“This board is a powerful statement that young people are not just participants in tech reform—we’re leading it,” said Lembke. “These new members are activists, inventors, legislators, organizers, and builders. They’re not waiting to be asked—they’re stepping up and reshaping the future from the inside.”
The Sustainable Media Center’s new Gen Z Advisory Board includes eight young leaders whose work spans advocacy, mental health, innovation, policymaking, and digital storytelling. Together, they reflect the values and vision of a rising generation demanding better digital systems—and building them.
Advocates & Organizers

Sam Schwartz, who entered politics after the Parkland shooting, founded the Tour To Save Democracy—a Gen Z–led bus tour mobilizing youth voters in battleground districts.
Nathan Ko, a student at Columbia University, is the Partnerships & Campaigns Director at Design It For Us. His firsthand experience with the effects of social media led him to advocate for stronger policy, youth voice, and platform accountability.

Mental Health & Digital Wellbeing
Seán Killingsworth, founder of the Reconnect Movement, is creating offline, phone-free communities and organizing national support for online safety legislation.
Innovators & AI Ethicists

Neha Shukla, Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Generation AI Youth Council, founded Innovation For Everyone to teach ethical AI to students in 35 countries.
Schuyler Levin, a rising junior at Horace Mann School, is both a varsity athlete and a math and science competitor. She deleted social media at age 13 and now works to organize youth around rejecting unsafe AI tools and pushing for age-appropriate protections.

Policy Leaders & Elected Officials
Isabel Sunderland, a policy associate at Issue One and longtime advocate with Design It For Us, works on platform regulation and youth safety across Capitol Hill and the White House.

Global Voices & Storytellers
Marley Dias, founder of #1000BlackGirlBooks, is a student at Harvard who launched a global movement for representation in literature, produced a Netflix series, and advised national policy on mental health and culture.

Da’Vion Tatum, a Harvard graduate and founder of The A1 Foundation, uses digital storytelling and public health education to foster equity and civic action.

This board isn’t symbolic. It’s structural. These are the builders, ethicists, organizers, and electeds redefining what power looks like in the digital age—and guiding the Sustainable Media Center from the inside out.

“This group represents the best of what’s possible when youth are invited to lead and experts step forward to advise,” added Steven Rosenbaum, Executive Director of the Sustainable Media Center. “From Capitol Hill to classrooms, from global stages to grassroots campaigns—our new leaders are changing how power operates online.”

The Sustainable Media Center continues to expand its programs at the intersection of AI, policy, and youth empowerment—including the Actv8.Media initiative and the development of a social intelligence framework for ethical, human-centered tech.

Emma Lembke
SustainableMedia.Center
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Emma Lembke, ignite talk at NexusGlobal #wearenexus