Omar Wasow is a Ph.D candidate in African American Studies and Government at Harvard. In 1999, he co-founded BlackPlanet.com, a social networking site. He has appeared on Oprah, Martha Stewart, and the Today Show to explain how to use new technologies. His television work on Oprah led to a 12-part series called "Oprah Goes Online." In 2003, Omar Wasow helped found a charter school in Brooklyn. He is the recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the Rockefeller Foundation's Next Generation Leadership Program. In 1995, Newsweek named him one of the "fifty most influential people to watch in cyberspace."