With a background in media, business, and analytics, Sandy Wu currently runs a tech startup and studies at the University at Buffalo School of Law. Her startup aims to help creatives of all ages find deeper meaning in today's social and cultural landscape through tools that facilitate the creative process. At law school, she serves as a teaching fellow, chairs Leaders for Philanthropy, and explores social movements in relation to technological innovation.​

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Previously, Wu earned her B.A. in Political Science from UCLA, where she also mentored middle school students from low-income households as Bruin Partner's Director of Mentee Relations. Before graduating, she conducted independent research at UCLA's Center for American Politics and Public Policy in Washington, D.C., where she studied the relationship between mindset, sustainable behavior change, and messaging tactics in mass media health campaigns. After graduating, she gained business experience in small administrative roles until she was able to break into the media industry. Since then, she has had the honor of working alongside some of the industry's best at NBC and CNN. Most notably, she served as the business coordinator for Anderson Cooper 360, overseeing all business affairs for Anderson Cooper's primetime show. She also supported network executives and managed business operations for special projects, such as CNN's New Year's Eve Live Hosted by Anderson Cooper and CNN Films' The End: Inside the Last Days of the Obama White House. Ever grateful to her colleagues and mentors at CNN, she left to care for a loved one with terminal cancer.

 

Since then, she has managed business affairs for a professional painter, worked with local police and a nonprofit as a volunteer victims’ advocate, and earned her M.S. in Crime Analysis from Arizona State University. Her capstone project analyzed ten years of NYPD data on gun violence to identify non-fatal shooting hotspots, peak shooting periods, and high-risk populations. Her thesis paper and recorded presentation (delivered live) were selected by program faculty to serve as a model for future students. Through her studies, Wu learned how to work with complex datasets and deliver actionable, data-driven solutions. She carries these skills forward into her work and philanthropic projects. By collaborating with those in her community, she hopes to abide by the golden campground rule: Always leave a place better than you found it.