About Social Signal

Alexandra Samuel is a sought-after authority on AI and the future of work. She is the author of the forthcoming book, Working Neurosmart: How to Work the Way You’re Wired to Find Focus and Feel Fulfilled, which will be published in April 2027, and co-author of Remote, Inc: How To Thrive at Work….Wherever You Are. Her writing on AI and the new workplace appears frequently in The Wall Street Journal and The Harvard Business Review, and her award-winning AI podcast, Me + Viv, was named one of Apple’s best podcasts of 2026. The co-founder of groundbreaking social media agency Social Signal, Samuel creates data-driven flagship reports and workshops for companies like Discovery, ComPsych and Google. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, and lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Rob Cottingham has more than 30 years of experience helping leaders in government, business and advocacy engage with audiences in both the digital and offline worlds. As one of Canada’s leading speechwriters, he has written for party leaders in national election campaigns, cabinet ministers, CEOs, university presidents, and labour leaders.

My work is about helping people find their voice—whether that means your voice as the president of a university, the head of a company or an advocate for your union. As a cartoonist and stand-up comedian, I know the power of using humour to connect with an audience. The real magic happens when you tell a joke that doesn’t just make your audience laughs; it gets them to let down their guard, so you can deliver a message that is authentic, meaningful and maybe even vulnerable.

Alka Tandan, CAIP is a seasoned employee and customer experience researcher with deep expertise on customer care. Alka works with organizations to develop process and tools to drive sustainable growth with their customer facing teams.

With more than 20 years of experience in private sector and public affairs research and consulting, she has advised startups as a mentor with the BC Tech Hypergrowth accelerator, supported F100 brands to implement customer and employee engagement strategies at Vision Critical and Maritz, and investigated impacts of digital transformation on the labour market with IDC. Alka is an affiliate of the Policy Innovation Lab of Tomorrow (PILoT) at Penn State University, advising academics on industry practices in order to (re)build the technology economy in a sustainable manner, guided by legal and ethical principles.

My analysis is informed by a critical cultural perspective, bridging my background in social anthropology, critical race perspectives, and diversity studies with data-driven research and strategic thinking. That’s how I recognized that organizations only meet their objectives when they remember the human being that is their customer and their employee. Digital transformation gives us the tools to help employees effectively advocate for their work—and their customers.

Emma Chambers is a community advocate who provides frontline community expertise to the Social Signal team. Before joining Social Signal, Emma was a shelter support worker at the WISH Centre, Canada’s first and only shelter for street-based sex workers. They have worked in harm reduction and addiction management, and spent two years facilitating youth sexual education workshops in Montreal, including workshops for incarcerated Inuit youth.

Emma holds an honours degree in Gender, Sexuality, Feminism and Social Justice from McGill University. They are currently enrolled in certificate programs in Addiction Care and Treatment, and Sexual Health & Disability.

Through the work I have done in street-entrenched communities as a trans person, I have seen what it means when people can’t get work or have the kind of skills you can’t put on a résumé. Working with Social Signal has given me a chance to build my own skills, and I look forward to bringing that perspective into my frontline work.