about emma
An 12th grader, 16-year old Emma is the Founder of Timeless, a mobile app that helps Alzheimer’s patients stay engaged and connected to loved ones.
Hailed by former US Attorney General of New York Preet Bharara as one of 100 extraordinary change-makers and by Susan Cain of Quiet Revolution as one of the great writers and thinkers of her generation, Emma Yang is a 3-time Carnegie Hall Performer, MIT-Solver, TEDx Speaker, and the Founder of Timeless, a mobile app that empowers Alzheimer’s or Dementia patients stay engaged and connected to loved ones. Since its inception in 2016, Timeless has garnered many awards and media attention around the world, including Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, BBC, CBS, CGTN America. In 2017, Timeless was selected as the winner of the MIT-Solve Brain Health Challenge. Emma was designated as one of the 38 MIT-Solvers out of nearly 1,000 teams from 103 countries. In 2018, Timeless was named the Grand Prize Winner of the Women Startup Challenge hosted by Women Who Tech and Google. Most recently, Timeless was the recipient of Bayer Foundations' Aspirin Social Innovation Award.
An avid coder, Emma is passionate about Computer Science, Music, History, and Languages. In 2015, Emma won first place in the US and second place globally in Technovation Challenge, a global technology entrepreneurship competition for girls, out of 400 teams from more than 60 countries. Emma believes that technology can be used to help solve problems and make the world a better place. She is a strong advocate for STEM and would like to encourage all girls to explore their interests in science and technology. In 2016, Emma was named one of New York’s 10 Under 20 Young Innovators to Watch and Crain’s New York’s 20 Under 20 2016. In 2017, Emma was selected as one of the 100 Faces of Impact globally. In 2019, Emma was selected as one of the thirty World Science Scholars in the world.
Emma excels academically and is a Davidson Young Scholar, a member of Johns Hopkins University Julian C. Stanley Study of Exceptional Talent (SET), and Wolfram Research’s youngest and first ever middle school mentee of the Wolfram Mentorship Program. In 2016, Emma was the youngest participant of the White House’s Opportunity Project, representing Wolfram Research in bringing the power of the Wolfram Language to solve problems using Open Data.
A frequent speaker at national and international forums, Emma recently spoke at the Asian American Community Development Conference – The Power of Possibility, TEDxFoggyBottom 2017– Changing the world with code, Talks at Google - The Power of Social Entrepreneurship, Misk Talk, and Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai, Alibaba Jumpstarter Conference in Hong Kong, and Women Who Code Conference to name a few.
Aside from her school and entrepreneurship life, Emma is contributing writer for Quiet Revolution’s Quiet Diaries, a space for young voices to post their perspectives on life.
Fluent in English, Cantonese, Mandarin and learning Latin and French, Emma’s goal is to speak as many languages as possible. In her free time, Emma enjoys listening to podcasts, music, reading, biking, and going to the movies.