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Hi, I'm Michael.

I’m currently running for office to fix San Francisco — I could use your help! Learn more at www.votemichaellai.com.

I was born in China, grew up in the US, with family in Taiwan.

I spent the last decade focused on US education innovation — ensuring every child, regardless of background, has the opportunity to become the next Michelle Obama or Warren Buffett.

90% of a child’s brain volume develops before they start kindergarten, but the early education system in America is broken. I was Founder & CEO of a new model of early education at Tinycare. Before that, I was on the Founding Team of Promise Venture Studio, an innovation studio supporting early childhood entrepreneurs, and a volunteer toddler & preschool teacher.

Previously, I was a Director at Minerva, a new university funded with $100MM+ to reinvent higher education. Learn more about Minerva in my TEDx talk here. Before that, I worked on education initiatives at Google.org and Noodle. I graduated with honors from Harvard, where I taught 4th, 5th, and 8th graders, built community at the Harvard Innovation Lab, and competed for the Varsity Men's Golf Team.

My other passion is community. I co-founded the Archive, which was featured on The Today Show, in 2016, am now helping with The Neighborhood, an intergenerational campus for 200+ adults in downtown San Francisco, and am building a community for Chinese American / Asian Americans reconnecting to heritage.

In my free time, I enjoy reading, writing, dancing, and traveling. Occasionally, I've been known to start flashmobs in cafeterias and libraries... 

Contact me at michaeltclai [at] Gmail [dot] com