About Jennifer Ybarra
Strategic advisor. Human systems. 25 years at every inflection point.
I help organizations make sense of what new technology will require from the people expected to use it, trust it, and build around it.
For 25 years, that has been the through-line of my work across legacy brands like Nike, early ed-tech companies like LeapFrog, and tech giants like Yahoo, Meta, and accelerators like Google.org, and the mission-driven organizations I advise today.
The Pattern I Kept Seeing
Over time, I kept seeing the same pattern. Organizations invested in the technology, built the right thing mostly, and still struggled to create real movement. The failure point was rarely the technology itself. It was the gap between what was built and what people actually needed to believe in it, use it, and carry it forward.
The Work Today
Today, I work with well-funded nonprofits, big tech foundations, and purpose-driven companies that can feel the gap between what makes sense on paper and what is happening in practice. I help leaders get clearer about where traction is breaking down, what people need in order to move, and how to build for trust, readiness, and participation before momentum is lost.
Jennifer’s Story
My career has moved across brand, product, education, social impact, and emerging technology.
At Nike, I was working on the early edge of how digital platforms were reshaping identity, influence, and community before most organizations knew it would matter.
At LeapFrog, I helped build an early ed-tech community model for parent-child connection, reaching 6 million families.
At Meta, I led work that helped scale social impact fundraising from $25 million to $3 billion for 2 million nonprofits in three years by reimagining how giving could work in the digital space.
In accelerator work with with organizations like Google.org and Young Futures, I helped nonprofits and communities make sense of what AI would mean for the communities they serve before most had the language for it.