Shaku Selvakumar is the founder and ceo of Activateen, a collaborative innovation zone for teenagers. She is a marketing innovation leader with multi-country, multinational and start-up experience having worked for Fortune 500 companies like IBM, Shell, and fast growth companies like CognitiveScale and Webify Solutions. She also currently serves as the Community Impact Advisor at CognitiveScale, a fast growth enterprise AI company.
Prior to this, she was the Vice President, Marketing for CognitiveScale. Here she led the company’s marketing strategy and execution from its inception and was instrumental in positioning it as one of the leading core AI startups garnering awards, influencer endorsement, and driving demand with Fortune 500 customers and partners. A prolific writer, her articles have appeared in various publications globally.
Previously, Shaku was the Customer Advocacy Leader for Social Business. Before this, she was the lead social and content strategist for IBM WebSphere.
Before IBM, Shaku managed the marketing and communications for Webify Solutions and played a key role in building awareness and demand leading to its acquisition in August 2006. She also worked as a brand and corporate communications strategist for Shell in Dubai.
Her work has won various awards including Forrester Groundswell, Hermes, and SIA. Shaku was recognized by IBM as top talent and is an alumni of the company’s Leadership Development Program. Most recently she was named Volunteer of the Year for Innovation by the Austin Chamber of Commerce.
Shaku holds Bachelor’s in Arts in Literature and Sociology, a Post Graduate degree in Mass Communications and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Bradford.
She serves on Austin Chamber’s Programs and Partnership Council. She is passionate about education reform. She is also an avid hiker, and her poetry is often inspired by the trails of Central Texas.
