Sophia Kianni

At 23, she’s already advised the UN, founded two companies, and launched a podcast under Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network.

When she was 12, Sophia Kianni was in Tehran and noticed the sky was blanketed in smog.

She asked her relatives what was happening.

They didn’t know.

Why?

Because 80% of the world’s climate-related literature is only available in English.

That’s when she realized the climate crisis wasn’t just real... it was invisible to the people most affected by it.

So she started translating.

First in Persian for her relatives.

Then for the world.

At 18, she launched Climate Cardinals.

Now the largest youth-led climate nonprofit globally, with 16,000+ volunteers translating climate content into 100+ languages, in partnership with Google.

At 19, she became the youngest person ever appointed to the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change.

By 20, she was on stage at COP summits, in Vogue, on the front page of The Washington Post, and had a TED Talk with 2M+ views.

She got into Stanford and met her roommate, Phoebe Gates.

They bonded over climate, fashion and a shared frustration: why does shopping secondhand feel like writing a research paper?

Sophia loved resale. But the experience?

15 tabs. 6 marketplaces. 100 listings.

So she and Phoebe built Phia.

A free app and browser extension that finds cheaper secondhand options while you shop.

Think Google Flights but for your closet.

Phia shows you the price. Then tells you if it’s fair.

If not? It surfaces better resale options instantly across 40,000+ sites and 250M+ listings.

It’s fast. Cuts your carbon footprint by up to 80%. And saves you up to 75% at checkout.

Smarter for your wallet. Better for the planet. With fewer clothes gathering dust in closets.

Because right now, we have enough garments to dress the next six generations.

She recently relocated to New York to go all-in on building Phia and raised money from Kris Jenner and Soma Capital.
Phia hit 150,000+ downloads in its first month.

Every two weeks, Sophia and Phoebe host product dinners where users tell them what they love (and what they hate) about the app.

And they turn that feedback into features.

They also started a podcast, The Burnouts, to document the highs and lows of building a company from scratch.

It has featured female founders like Sara Blakely and Whitney Wolfe Herd.

And through it all, Sophia has been clear on one thing: real change starts with giving people better choices, not just louder messages.