Trisha Prabhu

Trisha Prabhu is a 26-year-old global responsible technology advocate who is widely recognized as one of the first young, Gen Z voices to rethink our digital status quo—and demand a safer, kinder internet. She is the inventor of ReThink™, a patented anti-cyberbullying technology, and the Founder and CEO of ReThink Citizens, a youth-led nonprofit empowering today’s young people to create the digital world that they deserve.

In the fall of 2013, Prabhu, then just 13 years old, read a shocking news story about a 12-year-old girl who had died by suicide after being cyberbullied for over a year-and-a-half. She was heartbroken and outraged. Immediately, she knew she could not be a bystander to what had become a silent pandemic of online hate—she had to be an Upstander.

In response, Prabhu invented the concept for ReThink™, a technology that aims to detect potentially harmful words online and give users a chance to rethink posting them (“Are you sure you want to say that?”). ReThink started as an idea, but very quickly became a global rallying cry to tackle cyberbullying and redefine internet culture to be kinder and more inclusive. Prabhu brought this movement to “ReThink hate” to youth worldwide, from the UK to Lebanon to India. For her efforts, Prabhu and ReThink received worldwide acclaim. The ReThink app was named one of Google Play’s Most Innovative Apps in 2016. She was invited to present ReThink everywhere from Google headquarters to President Obama’s White House to even ABC’s hit TV show "Shark Tank." ReThink was also an inaugural winner of the Elevate Prize; part of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Adrian Cheng Fellowship; and named a CTIA Wireless Foundation “Catalyst” winner.

Today, Prabhu leads nonprofit ReThink Citizens, which is empowering a new generation of young digital changemakers to realize a better internet. By equipping young people with the education to be responsible digital citizens, giving young digital innovators the resources and community to pursue their ideas to make the internet better, and enabling intergenerational conversations about online safety, ReThink Citizens is building a healthier digital world in real-time. To date, the organization has impacted tens of thousands of youth across the country and been recognized/celebrated by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Prabhu is a passionate public speaker and has delivered 120+ talks in cities around the world about reclaiming our humanity in the digital age. Her TED talk, “ReThink to Stop Cyberbullying,” was celebrated by Indian celebrity Shah Rukh Khan and shared on Star TV in India with 96 million Indian viewers. Her TEDxTeen talk, "ReThink Before You Type," has been viewed over 1 million times on YouTube. Prabhu has also spoken on several other TEDx stages, at the Aspen Ideas Festival, SXSW, MozFest, the All Tech is Human Responsible Tech Summit, La Ciudad de las Ideas, the Family Online Safety Institute Annual Conference, universities, schools, and more.

For her responsible technology advocacy and activism, Prabhu has received many awards, among them the WebMD Health Hero of the Year Prodigy Award, the Princess Diana International Anti-Bullying Award, the Global Anti-Bullying Hero Award from Auburn University, the Upstander Legacy Celebration Award from the Tyler Clementi Foundation, and the Daily Points of Light Honor from the George H.W. Bush Foundation.

She is the author of "ReThink the Internet," which guides 5th-7th grade readers through the how's, what's, and why's of good digital citizenship, showing them how to lead with kindness online. ReThink the Internet was a 2023 ILLINOIS READS pick. Prabh is also featured in the documentary "Your Attention Please," which premiered at SXSW 2026.

Prabhu serves on the Issue One Council for Responsible Social Media, the Sustainable Media Center’s Gen Z Board, and as a Board Advisor to the Carson J. Bride Effect. She previously served on the Steering Committee of the Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund.

When she's not being a girl boss, Prabhu volunteers her time to efforts to empower womxn to innovate, advocate, and make impact. She is a former Girls Who Code teacher and now serves on the Executive Leadership Board of the Congressional App Challenge, which empowers young American youth to explore and use computer science for good.

Prabhu received her BA summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College. She received a Master of Science and MPP at the University of Oxford, both with Distinction, as a United States Rhodes Scholar. She is now a JD-MBA joint degree candidate at Yale Law School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she is a Knight-Hennessy Scholar.