Kalimah Priforce

December 2, 2022

At eight years old, Kalimah Priforce held a successful hunger strike against his Brooklyn group home to add more books to its library, which drew the attention of a community of Buddhist monks and nuns who privately tutored him until the age of 14.

He left both the group home and the Buddhist order as a lost teenager, but in Harlem, NY, legendary educator Dr. Lorraine Monroe discovered and mentored his potential to be an education innovator. By 16, Kalimah started his first tech startup that primarily served low income neighborhoods and the elderly. He sold the company at 19. In 2000, his younger brother was shot and killed behind their childhood elementary school, inspiring Kalimah to accept his Bodhisattva path to transform children’s lives towards mindfulness of their path and purpose.

As the Headmaster CEO of Qeyno, an industry leader for the inclusive innovation ecosystem, Kalimah Priforce is just a kid from Brooklyn committed to eliminating barriers to human potential. Qeyno is home to Hackathon Academy, the first pop-up school that prepares youth and their mentors to build web and mobile apps that accelerate college and career pathways in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art Design, and Mathematics) and launched hackathons for Prince at the Essence Festival to Pres. Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper”. From Tech EQuity Week’s multi-city world’s fair to Moonshot Q’s product development school for college students and pre-professionals, Qeyno creates magical opportunity for all.

Kalimah’s brand of inclusive hacktivism has been featured on the cover of USA Today, the MSNBC mini-documentary, “Swimming in Their Genius”, indie award winning film “Code Oakland” and recognized by the White House as a Champion of Change. He is a 2013 Echoing Green fellow and a 40 Under 40: Tech Diversity for Silicon Valley.