Jonah Peretti, founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, began his career as a high school computer teacher in New Orleans in the late 1990s. “It was a time when technology was a new thing in high schools, and we were figuring out how to help kids understand these shifts and use these new tools,” Peretti told TheWrap in a recent conversation at New York-based BuzzFeed’s Hollywood headquarters.
Then, in 2001, Peretti went viral.
While pursuing a master’s degree at MIT’s Media Lab, Peretti decided to take advantage of the NikeID (now Nike By You) offering, which invited shoe shoppers to customize their footwear.