Omar Wasow

Omar Tomas Wasow (born December 22, 1970)[1] is an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University.[2] He is co-founder for the social networking website BlackPlanet.

Omar Wasow
Wasow in 2007
Born
Omar Tomas Wasow

1970 (age 50–51)
Nairobi, Kenya

Life

Wasow grew up in a multi-ethnic family. His father is of German Jewish heritage, and his mother is African-American.[3] Wasow's paternal grandfather was the mathematician Wolfgang R. Wasow. Both Wolfgang Wasow and Omar Wasow's paternal grandmother are of German Jewish heritage.

Education

Wasow is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School in New York City, where he was president of the student union. He then graduated from Stanford University in California with a BA degree in race and ethnic relations.[4]

Wasow earned a PhD in African-American studies, an MA in government and an MA in statistics, all from Harvard University.[5] Wasow is currently assistant professor of politics at Princeton University.[6]

Career

In 1995, Wasow was proclaimed by Newsweek as one of the "fifty most influential people to watch in cyberspace."

In 1999 he created BlackPlanet, one of the first major social networking sites.[7] In 2008, the company was sold for $38 million.[8]

Personal

In 2012, Wasow married Jennifer Brea, a documentary filmmaker he met while they were both Ph.D. students at Harvard.[9] He appears in her documentary film Unrest about her experience living with myalgic encephalomyelitis which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

Further reading
  • Browning, Lynnley (2001-05-13). "Silicon Alley's Philosopher-Prince". New York Times.
  • "Omar Wasow". People. 54 (20): 100. 2000-11-13.
  • "The Net 50". Newsweek. 126/127 (26/1): 42–46. 1995-12-25.

References
  1. "The Identity of Young, Black Men". www.chronicle.com. 1997. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  2. University, Princeton. "Display Person – Department of Politics at Princeton University". www.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  3. "Private Sector; Silicon Alley's Philosopher-Prince". Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  4. Phelan, J. Greg (1994-09-18). "Sound Bytes; Where Hipness is On-Line". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
  5. "About – Omar Wasow". www.omarwasow.com. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  6. University, Princeton. "Display Person – Department of Politics at Princeton University". www.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  7. "Interview: BlackPlanet's Founder Talks Myspace, Why He was Skeptical of Twitter, And If Facebook May Have Peaked". Complex. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  8. "The Protesting of a Protest Paper". www.chronicle.com. 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  9. "Jennifer Bréa, Omar Wasow – Weddings". The New York Times. 2012-09-02. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-12-17.
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