Amy Chiou, the new executive director of Queen City Forward, is a Charlottean you need to know
Amy Chiou marks her time in Charlotte by presidential campaigns. She came to Charlotte to work on Hillary Clinton’s first campaign and stayed through both of Barack Obama’s, with a stint on Anthony Foxx’s mayoral campaign thrown in there — so about eight years in the Queen City.
Along the way she launched an app, Ballot, that helps people figure out who to vote for. Then she left the city in January to serve as the staff director and deputy director of the convention complex at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Now she’s back in Charlotte, and she’s doing something a little different. On Aug. 15, she started work as the second executive director of Queen City Forward, “a hub for entrepreneurs who have business ideas that address social needs.”
Charles Thomas, QCF’s first executive director, left about eight months ago after five years at the helm to become the Knight Foundation’s Charlotte Program Director.
I talked to Chiou, who grew up in Texas, for about an hour at Hygge on her first day about her background, her goals and Charlotte’s role in the startup world.
(Note: The interview has been minimally edited for clarity and not-so-minimally edited for length, because we had an awesome conversation that lasted way longer than I expected it to.)
How did you first get involved with Queen City Forward?
“I’m friends with Charles (Thomas) and he was doing an event and he emailed all of the volunteers and he copied the wrong Amy, so he put me on the list. … So I showed up and it was pitch day for one of the innovation challenges and he was like, ‘What are you doing here?’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean what am I doing here?’ And then I got hooked. … I just kept coming back for more.”
Do you see an intersection with Queen City Forward and your political background?
“The first campaign that I did fully in Charlotte was for Anthony Foxx. He was running for mayor and we were getting the opportunity to choose a new mayor after 14 years. So as a campaign team we knew intuitively that whoever was elected to mayor would chart the course for Charlotte for the next 10, possibly 20 years. So we really thought about what we put on a platform for that purpose. We wanted it to be ambitious because it was an opportunity to have that conversation Charlotte hadn’t had in awhile. … So we put out big things, one of which was entrepreneurship. … To see how it has unfolded over the last eight years has been really rewarding.”
You also have a background in entrepreneurship with Ballot, the app you launched.
“Yeah, so Ballot is a mobile app that makes it easier to vote down ballot. We ask a bunch of questions and you swipe yes or no, similar to the user interface of Tinder. But then we take you answers and match you up mathematically similar to OK Cupid, so what you get is your local ballot with a percent compatibility to candidates on the ballot. …
“But as we were navigating this, I started to run into challenges. Like, when you first talk to your first VC fund and they’re like, ‘So you’re going to make voting better? Why does that matter?’ Somebody asked me that. That was one of the questions that completely threw me for a loop. … I realized that that’s what separates social entrepreneurship and civic tech from traditional startup world, is that you need people who understand both the passion and also that this purposeful, intentional, life-changing stuff could make revenue.”
When you left Charlotte did you plan to come back?
“I didn’t plan to come back. I went to Philadelphia to work on the convention and the natural next step is to join the campaign where most of my friends are currently dispersing to. But this opportunity was really attractive. … As I’m sitting there listening to speech after speech about how we do our part to make America what it is and continue to remake it and what not, they talk about innovation, they talk about talent. They talk about all the things that happen in an organization like Queen City Forward, and so for me I was just like, this is like just the next thing.”
So what do you want to accomplish in the coming days, months and years with QCF?
“I would love to see Charlotte be a leader in the social entrepreneurship movement. I know that we’ve had lots of conversations as a community about what is our space in terms of entrepreneurship, and, you know, all of the startup media, they’re talking about government, institutional-level technology being the next wave. All of the people who’ve been successful in the last wave, they’re going to find serious challenges in the next wave … so we can get ahead of that and be like, we’re the place where you can learn how to navigate those things.”
What’s your favorite Charlotte hangout?
“I spend a lot of time at Earl’s Grocery, mostly because you can walk there and because I just like how bright the windows are. And I probably should get my own corner of the bar at Not Just Coffee.”
Who do you look up to in Charlotte?
“I’m going to go with Susan Patterson. She used to be the Knight Foundation director, but she’s the one that I call (and say) ‘I have an idea,’ and she’ll be like ‘Go do it, talk to these three people.’ And she’s always like kind of nurtured all of the crazy ideas that I have and I appreciate that.”
Photo: Courtesy of Queen City Forward
This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 12:02 AM with the headline "Amy Chiou, the new executive director of Queen City Forward, is a Charlottean you need to know."