Amanda Quraishi: Fighting Homelessness and Poverty With Social Media

Occupation: Web and database administrator, Loaves & Fishes, Austin, Tex.

Charitable venture: After watching the role Twitter played in the Arab Spring in 2011, Ms. Quraishi left her job in corporate marketing to help fight problems like homelessness and poverty. At Loaves & Fishes, a nonprofit in Austin, Tex., Ms. Quraishi takes an activist’s approach to social media, often embedding herself in the world of the people her nonprofit serves. For instance, she recently spent 48 hours living among the homeless in Austin and chronicled the experience on social networks. She also works to promote religious tolerance and has created an iPhone app called 365muslim that provides facts about Islam.