TOBI OGUNNAIKE
Writer, engineer, event hostTobi offers a creative and playful reckoning of San Francisco city life, exploring street life, food culture, and our relationship with artificial intelligence.
STEM FUTURESDISTRICT 2
ABOUT TOBI
Tobi is a writer, engineer, and experience creator who has spent the last decade falling in love with San Francisco, and the last few years fighting to keep it human. Since 2023, he has been hosting sensory events designed to pull people off their screens and into genuine, playful connection with each other. His vision for the city is communal and deliciously analog: neighbors who know each other by name, local spots that feel like home, and a culture that celebrates the full diversity of people and food and music that makes San Francisco unlike anywhere else. Tobi's activation brings that same spirit to the festival, creating a space where attendees can reconnect with themselves, each other, and the kind of city worth staying for.
INTERESTSSocial Connection, Analog Connection, Multi-Sensory Experiences, Writing
VISIONCommunal: where we know our neighbors, where we have regular local spots, where it's easy for adults to make new friends, where we're outside off our screens, where night owls and morning birds both thrive, where we reclaim our humanity from algorithms, where we all eat from the diversity of cultures present in San Francisco.
Wet Paint
An immersive, multi-station activation that invites attendees to pause, reflect, and reimagine three pillars of modern San Francisco life: how we inhabit our streets, the flavors of SF, and our relationships with AI. Through vibrant visual installations of cities pulsing with street energy, a crowd-sourced "Missing Menu" of dishes and flavors people can't find in SF, and a living heat map of where AI has quietly taken over daily life, participants are prompted to name what they want to keep, what they'd leave behind, and what they'd dare to build differently.
July 8, 2026 • TBD Location
Tobi’s Picks
Check out some of the materials and resources that have helped shape Tobi’s visions for what could be.
Book / Podcast / Movie
Monet is a lifelong educator with a passion for creating accessible, engaging learning experiences. Known for a calm, encouraging teaching style, Monet believes that growth happens when learners feel both challenged and supported.
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Emmett is a detail-oriented instructor who’s spent the past decade helping people develop new tools, habits, and mindsets. Their approach is clear, practical, and always infused with curiosity and care.
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Eleanor's background spans education, coaching, and creative development. With a strong focus on process and progress, Eleanor helps learners move from where they are to where they want to be—one step at a time.