Karly Hou

Karly Hou is the founder and CEO of Wave Learning Festival, a nonprofit working to combat long-standing educational inequities by providing free, high-quality, live resources for all students and closely supporting under-resourced schools. She was inspired to launch Wave in April of 2020 after watching the pandemic shut down schools, summer programs, and childcare programs, disproportionately impacting low-income families. In just a year, Wave has served 13,000+ students across all 50 US states, engaging a community of 1,000+ volunteers to provide 3,000+ hours of tutoring, 400+ diverse live courses, college application help and career exploration opportunities, and a vibrant community of students supporting students. They also support low-income/special-needs schools and other nonprofits by providing personalized tutoring and extracurricular services. Wave is quickly growing, with the ultimate goal of creating a world where every student—regardless of socioeconomic background—has all the resources and support they need to excel.

Karly is a sophomore at Harvard studying CS and Math. Aside from her work in education, she is passionate about innovative technologies, public health, gender equity, and space exploration.