Matthew Segal

Early life and education

Segal was born in Chicago, Illinois, attended New Trier High School, and graduated magna cum laude from Kenyon College in 2008. He became an advocate for student voting rights in college after his campus polling place experienced the longest lines in the 2004 presidential election.

Career

After the reported 12 hour-long voting lines at Kenyon College in 2004, Segal provided testimony to the US House Judiciary Committee, which was investigating election irregularities, at the age of 19, noting that "It seems almost hypocritical that a society so focused on the importance of the vote did not concern itself more heavily with the actual process of voting."

When a junior in college, Segal founded Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE) with the stated aim of "work[ing] to bring young Americans into the political process by breaking down barriers to electoral participation and encouraging youth-led policy solutions." He founded SAVE at age 21, which expanded to 40 college campuses in more than 15 states, and worked on election protection initiatives as well as expanding voter access through initiatives such as the Student VOTER Act.

After the 2008 presidential election, Segal co-founded the 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs Coalition, the largest campaign of organizations in the United States that addressed youth unemployment and other economic challenges facing individuals under 30. In this capacity, Segal spearheaded a national jobs summit in the U.S. Capitol with hundreds of young leaders, provided testimony to the House Education and Labor Committee, and was the only youth representative invited to attend President Barack Obama’s conference on jobs and economic growth.

Our Time

In 2010, Segal combined SAVE with Declare Yourself, a voter registration non-profit founded by TV producer and director Norman Lear to form Our Time with the goal of bringing economic power to his generation, in the midst of the recession and beyond.

As an initiative of Our Time, Segal and his colleagues also launched Buy Young, an online marketplace of businesses founded and run by entrepreneurs under 30, encouraging Americans to purchase products from young companies and support youth job creation. Segal convened more than 125 young CEOs and executives in Washington, D.C. on July 13, 2011, at the White House, the Chamber of Commerce and Capitol Hill to launch the effort and push for greater job creation and economic opportunities for young Americans.

Media commentator

Segal is a contributing writer to the Huffington Post, is frequently quoted in the press, and appears regularly on MSNBC and other TV networks as a correspondent to discuss the political opinions and attitudes as well as consumer behavior of young Americans. Segal has written many editorials about topics pertaining to young Americans, including unemployment and media misrepresentation. He has publicly called for expanded access to funding for entrepreneurs and increased public service opportunities for young Americans. Segal has been featured on C-SPAN, MSNBC, Fox, and CNN.

ATTN

Segal and Our Time co-founder Jarrett Moreno launched ATTN: in 2014 to create "content that breaks down complex issues, making politics interesting for millennials, and analyzes the world from the perspective of the social media generation."