From Scratch with Jessica Harris

City Year is an organization focused on addressing the national dropout rate; one million American students drop out of high school annually. City Year’s corps members serve as tutors, mentors, and role models in America’s most challenging schools. City Year also played a role in the national service movement, helping to establish youth service programs, such as Americorps. Prior to starting City Year in 1988, Michael clerked for then Judge, later Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Michael speaks with Jessica Harris about how he launched City Year, from scratch. Jessica Harris interviews Michael Brown of City Year

Infosys is a leading global information, technology and consulting company with more than 150,000 employees and $7 Billion in revenue. Nandan started Infosys in 1981 in Bangalore, India with 6 colleagues. Nandan then served as the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which through its project Aadhaar is seeking to provide unique identification numbers to close to a billion Indian residents. This biometric ID system aims to revolutionize the distribution of social benefits and financial services. In March, 2014 Nandan resigned from UIDAI to join the Indian National Congress. Nandan speaks with Jessica Harris about how he helped to transform India’s technological landscape— and India’s social sector— from scratch. This interview was recorded before Nandan joined Congress. Listen to the interview

Naif is the creator of The 99, a comic series that features superheroes based on Islamic archetypes. Coming from a background in clinical psychology, Naif earned his PhD and aided war victims with post traumatic stress disorder. Deciding to take a different path, Naif went to business school and developed an idea that would eventually […]

TaskRabbit is an online service that allows users to outsource small tasks to individuals known as TaskRabbits. These TaskRabbits are freelance workers who have been background checked, and they perform small jobs ranging from grocery shopping to furniture assembly. Leah started the company in 2008, and the service is available in leading cities including Boston, Seattle, New York and San Francisco. Leah is a software engineer who formerly worked at IBM. Leah speaks with Jessica Harris about how she launched TaskRabbit, from scratch. Listen to the interview

NJOY is an electronic cigarette company that produces the flagship product NJOY King. E-cigarettes are non combustion cigarettes that contain nicotine and strive to have the look and feel and plume of a traditional cigarette. Craig’s brother Mark discovered ecigarettes in China, and the family started the company in 2006. Craig is a patent lawyer and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. Craig speaks with Jessica Harris about his family’s pioneering role in the e-cigarette industry, from scratch. Listen to the interview

Year Up provides a one year intensive job training and internship program to young urban adults, 18-24 years old. Year Up enrolls close to 2,000 students per year, and roughly 400 organizations have hired Year Up students as interns or permanent employees. Prior to launching Year Up in 2000, Gerald was an internet entrepreneur. Gerald speaks with Jessica Harris about how he is helping to narrow the Opportunity Divide in the United States, from scratch. Listen to the interview

Kevin is an internet entrepreneur who has led innovation in the online advertising and e-commerce space since the late 1990s.  Kevin was the CEO of DoubleClick, the advertising serving company that was eventually sold to Google for $3.5 Billion.  Kevin has since founded a number of internet companies including Gilt Groupe, a luxury e-commerce community, 10Gen, an open source database company, and Business Insider, an online news site for the technology and media industries. Kevin speaks to Jessica Harris about how he has built a career around internet innovation, from scratch. Listen to the interview

Interfaith Youth Core is an organization that promotes service and religious pluralism among youth on college campuses. Eboo is a member of President Obama’s advisory council for the White House Office for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He is the author of Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, and Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America. Listen to the interview

Albert cofounded Maysles Films with his brother David in the 1960s. Together they pioneered the documentary film genre cinema verite, which captures reality spontaneously as it unfolds in front of the camera. Albert has made more than three dozen films featuring the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Truman Capote. Other films include Salesman and Grey Gardens, which became a Broadway show and fiction feature film decades later. Albert speaks to Jessica about how he launched his documentary career, from scratch.

Since growing up on an American compound in Saudi Arabia, Fadi Jaber developed a sweet tooth for American desserts. He later moved to New York City where he enjoyed gourmet cupcakes from shops such as Magnolia Bakery and Crumbs. Fadi opened his first American-inspired cupcake shop in Jordan, his home country, and has since expanded to other locations throughout the Middle East. Jessica speaks with Fadi about how he's exposing American sweets to the Middle East, from scratch. Listen to the interview

Paul has been committed to disease and poverty reduction since his early twenties. Partners in Health, started in Haiti in the 1980s, provides health care to the world’s poorest communities. Paul launched the organization while he was a student at Harvard Medical School. Jessica Harris speaks with Paul about how he has helped to reshape the public health landscape, from scratch. Listen to the interview

SecondMarket is a private market place for buying and selling alternative assets including private company stock, bankruptcy claims, and restricted public stock. If you are an investor in a startup or an employee who wants to sell your company’s stock before the IPO, SecondMarket facilities this transaction. Companies trading on the SecondMarket exchange have included Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In. Barry became a registered trader at 17 years old. He speaks with Jessica Harris about the state of international capital markets, and how he launched SecondMarket, from scratch. Listen to the interview

Stephen Hannock is a contemporary painter whose works hang in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, The National Gallery in Washington DC and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among others. He is known mostly for his landscape paintings, and his collectors include the singer Sting and Tom Brokaw. Fortune Magazine called Stephen "probably the most accomplished and well connected painter you've never heard of." Stephen speaks with Jessica about how he launched his art career, from scratch.

"Turning life into a game" has always been of interest to Dennis Crowley. Dennis applies game dynamics to Foursquare, a popular social networking application that helps users get to know their city better. Foursquare was launched at South by Southwest in 2009 and has a following of approximately 10 million users. Dennis speaks to Jessica about how he launched Foursquare, a recent online social phenomenon, from scratch. Listen to the interview

Jessica meets Stephen McDonnell, the founder of Applegate Farms. Applegate is a natural meat company that has been a leader in the natural meat movement since the mid 1980s. Applegate supports over 200 family farms, dedicated to the humane treatment of animals, and the company's meat is sold in delis and markets such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's across the United States. Listen to the interview