Research & Practice
Samantha Radocchia
Publishes and speaks as Sam Rad
Anthropologist and technologist who builds. Four companies, four granted patents, two books, and field research from the Sacred Valley to a QAnon Discord server, all pointed at one problem: perceptual security, or what a society does when it can no longer agree on what is real. I build the systems, then go and see what happens to them.
Focus areas: innovation · AI product and research leadership · open-source intelligence · trust and safety · fraud and financial crime · synthetic media · supply chain provenance
At a glance
NowCo-founder, Illicit Shadows and MISTIC. Founder, RADOC. Keynote speaker.
BuiltChronicled (MediLedger), NYOUM (YOUM.AI), Stunable (Shop with Stella).
PatentsFour granted, first-named inventor.
BooksRadical Next (2025). Bitcoin Pizza (2019).
FieldPeru, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Israel, Second Life, Discord.
DegreesMA New York University. BA Colgate.
Advisory
OECDCounterfeit and illicit market data · Commissioned briefing, March 2026
Content Authenticity InitiativeContent provenance and authentication standards for media · Member, 2023 to present
Federal Reserve Bank of ChicagoDistributed ledger technologies for countering illicit finance · Commissioned briefing, September 2021
World Economic ForumAI, blockchain, and machine learning for supply chain security and provenance · Commissioned briefing, 2018
United NationsFrontier technologies for responsible production and consumption (SDG 12), supply chains, logistics, and countering illicit trade · Member, Working Group on Sustainable Production and Consumption, 2017 to 2018
Current practice
2025 – presentCo-Founder, Illicit Shadows, LLC · Washington, DC
Investigative documentary series on illicit economies, with David M. Luna. Custodian of MISTIC (Illicit Shadows Media, Technology, and Innovation Convergence), an institute mapping the convergence of organized crime, emerging technology, and global threat networks, and home to Project Helix, an AI-based predictive convergence system. Partners: International Coalition Against Illicit Economies and RADOC.Briefings, 2024 to present: MISTIC findings on convergent crime, illicit finance, and synthetic media presented to delegations at the UN General Assembly, the OECD, and INTERPOL.
Investigative documentary series on illicit economies, with David M. Luna. Custodian of MISTIC (Illicit Shadows Media, Technology, and Innovation Convergence), an institute mapping the convergence of organized crime, emerging technology, and global threat networks, and home to Project Helix, an AI-based predictive convergence system. Partners: International Coalition Against Illicit Economies and RADOC.Briefings, 2024 to present: MISTIC findings on convergent crime, illicit finance, and synthetic media presented to delegations at the UN General Assembly, the OECD, and INTERPOL.
2024 – presentFounder, RADOC
Media studio working in narrative futurism. Producer of Illicit Shadows.
Media studio working in narrative futurism. Producer of Illicit Shadows.
2017 – presentSam Rad, Keynote Speaker
Keynotes on five continents to governments, Fortune 500 companies, trade associations, and international organizations. Represented by Executive Speakers Bureau.
Keynotes on five continents to governments, Fortune 500 companies, trade associations, and international organizations. Represented by Executive Speakers Bureau.
Invention and standards
US 11,354,676 B2GrantedOpen Registry for Identity of Things
Granted 7 June 2022. Filed 3 June 2016. First-named inventor. Assignee Chronicled, Inc.
Granted 7 June 2022. Filed 3 June 2016. First-named inventor. Assignee Chronicled, Inc.
US 2018/0108024FiledOpen Registry for Provenance and Tracking of Goods in the Supply Chain
Filed 16 October 2017. Named inventor. Chronicled, Inc.
Filed 16 October 2017. Named inventor. Chronicled, Inc.
US 2018/0032759FiledOpen Registry for Human Identification
Filed 6 October 2017. First-named inventor. Chronicled, Inc.
Filed 6 October 2017. First-named inventor. Chronicled, Inc.
Four granted in total, all first-named inventor, all assigned to Chronicled, Inc. The three not listed above are variants of the same Identity of Things filing: US 11,113,699 B2 and US 11,107,088 B2, continuations granted 2021, and US 10,210,527 B2, Including Social Record Feature, granted 2019. Three further applications were filed and not granted: Including Sealed Materials (US 2018/0019872), Including Item Location Feature (US 2016/0358158), and Including Tamperproof Tags (US 2016/0358184).
Protocol workEarly protocol work at Chronicled, open sourced into the Ethereum standards, predating and paralleling ERC-721.
Ventures and appointments
2020 – 2022CEO & Co-Founder, NYOUM Ltd · London
Founded and led an applied AI company from zero to product. Built YOUM.AI, an AI-native video communication platform, and the research function behind it: natural language processing, large language models, machine translation, speech and facial recognition, and biometrics. Hired the team, set the research agenda, and took the product to market in the US.Built: an AI research function from scratch · one platform to market
Founded and led an applied AI company from zero to product. Built YOUM.AI, an AI-native video communication platform, and the research function behind it: natural language processing, large language models, machine translation, speech and facial recognition, and biometrics. Hired the team, set the research agenda, and took the product to market in the US.Built: an AI research function from scratch · one platform to market
2014 – 2019Co-Founder, Chronicled · San Francisco
Chief Product Officer, 2014 to 2018 · Chief Marketing Officer, 2018 to 2019
Blockchain protocols letting enterprises enforce cross-organization rules without exposing private data. $30M+ raised; hired the initial team of 50+ designers and engineers. Led product across the application and protocol layers, then the brands and go-to-market for every ecosystem the company incubated. Founded the Blockchain × IoT Laboratory, Enterprise Protocol Lab, and Blockchain for Better; founding member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, Trusted IoT Alliance, and the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI). Educated 250+ Fortune 500 C-suite executives and board members. Acquired an additive manufacturing company to bring hardware in house.Networks: MediLedger, pharmaceutical supply chain and revenue management (Pfizer, Genentech, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, Cardinal Health) · Responsible Gold, precious metalsProducts, 10+: NFC authentication for art, wine, and luxury goods · NFC and BLE for sneakers and furniture · cold chain monitoring · secure IoT sealing · gold and pharma track and traceEcosystems, 20+: pharma · precious metals · automotive · apparel · cosmetics · livestock · food and beverage · wine and spiritsIllicit markets addressed: counterfeit pharmaceuticals and diverted product, counterfeit luxury goods and apparel, illicit precious metals and minerals, gray-market automotive parts, and food fraud.
Chief Product Officer, 2014 to 2018 · Chief Marketing Officer, 2018 to 2019
Blockchain protocols letting enterprises enforce cross-organization rules without exposing private data. $30M+ raised; hired the initial team of 50+ designers and engineers. Led product across the application and protocol layers, then the brands and go-to-market for every ecosystem the company incubated. Founded the Blockchain × IoT Laboratory, Enterprise Protocol Lab, and Blockchain for Better; founding member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, Trusted IoT Alliance, and the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI). Educated 250+ Fortune 500 C-suite executives and board members. Acquired an additive manufacturing company to bring hardware in house.Networks: MediLedger, pharmaceutical supply chain and revenue management (Pfizer, Genentech, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, Cardinal Health) · Responsible Gold, precious metalsProducts, 10+: NFC authentication for art, wine, and luxury goods · NFC and BLE for sneakers and furniture · cold chain monitoring · secure IoT sealing · gold and pharma track and traceEcosystems, 20+: pharma · precious metals · automotive · apparel · cosmetics · livestock · food and beverage · wine and spiritsIllicit markets addressed: counterfeit pharmaceuticals and diverted product, counterfeit luxury goods and apparel, illicit precious metals and minerals, gray-market automotive parts, and food fraud.
2011 – 2014Founder & CEO, Stunable · New York
Machine-learning recommendation and inventory-synchronization software for e-commerce, in fashion and direct-to-consumer. Built Shop with Stella, an AI personal shopping assistant, in 2011. Pioneered single-click inventory integration for 10,000+ merchants. Ran product, design, and API engineering, and the company's operations, legal, finances, and fundraising. Negotiated a multi-year docuseries contract with NBC (Bravo).Products: Shop with Stella, AI shopping agent, 2011 · the "fashion genome project", mapping consumer taste with machine learning · a universal shopping cart with inventory-synchronization middleware · a synchronization engine used by 10,000+ merchants
Machine-learning recommendation and inventory-synchronization software for e-commerce, in fashion and direct-to-consumer. Built Shop with Stella, an AI personal shopping assistant, in 2011. Pioneered single-click inventory integration for 10,000+ merchants. Ran product, design, and API engineering, and the company's operations, legal, finances, and fundraising. Negotiated a multi-year docuseries contract with NBC (Bravo).Products: Shop with Stella, AI shopping agent, 2011 · the "fashion genome project", mapping consumer taste with machine learning · a universal shopping cart with inventory-synchronization middleware · a synchronization engine used by 10,000+ merchants
Concurrent Appointments
2016 – 2023Faculty, Singularity University · Santa Clara, CA
Speaking and executive leadership training, held alongside her founder roles and degrees. Designed and delivered executive innovation programs on technological, socio-cultural, and geopolitical convergence. Built workshops and prototyping formats for Fortune 100 leadership teams, and keynoted to audiences of 2,000+.Built: executive program curriculum · prototyping and foresight workshop formats
Speaking and executive leadership training, held alongside her founder roles and degrees. Designed and delivered executive innovation programs on technological, socio-cultural, and geopolitical convergence. Built workshops and prototyping formats for Fortune 100 leadership teams, and keynoted to audiences of 2,000+.Built: executive program curriculum · prototyping and foresight workshop formats
2011 – presentFounder, Radical Next · personal consulting and R&D practice
Started in college and run alongside every role since. An innovation vehicle for work with Fortune 500 companies, startups, non-profits, and governments. Projects: decentralized manufacturing and IP storage with 3D printers for a Fortune 100 industrial manufacturer; values and ingredient-based recommendation with decentralized shopper data for a global consumer goods company; identity and currency deployment in a Venezuelan and Brazilian refugee camp; secure file storage for journalists and sources in conflict zones; tracking of volatile substances and chemicals for a Fortune 50 energy company and a global oil major; autonomous vehicle delivery and authentication; large-scale virtual world architecture and asset protocol for a blockchain gaming platform.
Started in college and run alongside every role since. An innovation vehicle for work with Fortune 500 companies, startups, non-profits, and governments. Projects: decentralized manufacturing and IP storage with 3D printers for a Fortune 100 industrial manufacturer; values and ingredient-based recommendation with decentralized shopper data for a global consumer goods company; identity and currency deployment in a Venezuelan and Brazilian refugee camp; secure file storage for journalists and sources in conflict zones; tracking of volatile substances and chemicals for a Fortune 50 energy company and a global oil major; autonomous vehicle delivery and authentication; large-scale virtual world architecture and asset protocol for a blockchain gaming platform.
Fieldwork
2024 – presentMindo, Ecuador
State actors and infrastructure in illicit economies: how public institutions and physical logistics are co-opted or captured.
State actors and infrastructure in illicit economies: how public institutions and physical logistics are co-opted or captured.
2023Medellín, Colombia
Use of marketplace dating applications by transnational organized crime groups for recruitment and targeting. Platform ethnography and offline follow-through.
Use of marketplace dating applications by transnational organized crime groups for recruitment and targeting. Platform ethnography and offline follow-through.
2022 – 2023Pisac, Peru and the Yucatán, Mexico
Convergence in illicit trade: where human trafficking and forced labor, money laundering, and contraband movement meet in the same corridors and the same local economies.
Convergence in illicit trade: where human trafficking and forced labor, money laundering, and contraband movement meet in the same corridors and the same local economies.
2020 – 2024SamRad.AI · autoethnography
Built a working cognitive, vocal, and visual likeness of herself, trained on fifteen years of her own commonplace books, published writing, and public output, then studied what it was able to do: hold opinions on material it had never seen, and convince colleagues and family on a video call. The most capable version was withheld from release. The project produced the questions that became her work on perceptual security.
Built a working cognitive, vocal, and visual likeness of herself, trained on fifteen years of her own commonplace books, published writing, and public output, then studied what it was able to do: hold opinions on material it had never seen, and convince colleagues and family on a video call. The most capable version was withheld from release. The project produced the questions that became her work on perceptual security.
2020 – 2021Discord · virtual
Cognitive and narrative attack vectors through perceptual communities of practice. Case study on Pastel QAnon.
Cognitive and narrative attack vectors through perceptual communities of practice. Case study on Pastel QAnon.
2009 – 2010Israel
Independent research on the role of national myth in establishing collective consciousness and identity.
Independent research on the role of national myth in establishing collective consciousness and identity.
2009 – 2010Second Life · virtual
Constructing Identity in Virtual and Simulated Landscapes: an ethnography of Second Life. Among the first anthropologists to conduct sustained participant observation inside a persistent virtual world.
Constructing Identity in Virtual and Simulated Landscapes: an ethnography of Second Life. Among the first anthropologists to conduct sustained participant observation inside a persistent virtual world.
Publications
2025Radical Next: Reclaiming Your Humanity in a Post-Human World · Amplify Publishing · #1 Amazon bestseller
2019Bitcoin Pizza: The No-Bullshit Guide to Blockchain · Lioncrest · #1 Amazon bestseller on release
2017 – 2021Contributing writer, Forbes. Over fifty pieces on emerging technology and society. Also Fast Company, Worth, HuffPost, Inc., IBTimes, CoinDesk.
OngoingCurated primary-source guides on AI-driven fraud, clinical AI, and provenance.
Cited in
RegulatorUS Securities and Exchange Commission · Commissioner Hester M. Peirce, remarks before the Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee, 8 May 2020.
Reference workThe Routledge Social Science Handbook of AI · edited by Anthony Elliott · Routledge, 2021
Academic pressRegulation of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technologies · Rosario Girasa · Palgrave Macmillan, 2018
Case studyRethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business · Andi Simon · Chapter 10, “Myth 10: Women Don’t Belong in IT” · 2021
Education
2013MA, Media, Culture, and Communication: Technology & Society · New York University · summa cum laude
Thesis: iCreated a Monster: Consumer Alienation and the Corporate Alien-Nation in the Digital Age
Thesis: iCreated a Monster: Consumer Alienation and the Corporate Alien-Nation in the Digital Age
2011BA, Anthropology and English (Linguistics) · Colgate University · magna cum laude
Anthropology thesis: Constructing Identity in Virtual and Simulated Landscapes: Ethnography of Second Life
English thesis: Laundering Utopia for May 1968: The rhetorical switch from revolution to desire in 1960s–1970s Utopian and Science Fiction
Anthropology thesis: Constructing Identity in Virtual and Simulated Landscapes: Ethnography of Second Life
English thesis: Laundering Utopia for May 1968: The rhetorical switch from revolution to desire in 1960s–1970s Utopian and Science Fiction
Awards
2019Newsweek Blockchain Impact Award · to Chronicled for MediLedger
2017Forbes 30 Under 30 · Enterprise Technology
Training and certification
2025Cybersecurity · Google
2024Open-source intelligence · Bellingcat
2013Software engineering · Flatiron School
2012Organizational behavior · King's College London
Skills and methods
TechnicalAI and large language models · agentic design · natural language processing · distributed ledgers and applied cryptography · content provenance (C2PA) · Python, Ruby, Solidity, JavaScript · IoT and hardware design · additive manufacturing
DomainsArtificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) · blockchain and distributed systems · cybersecurity · supply chain security · trust and safety · fraud and financial crime · synthetic media
Research and methodAnthropology · ethnography and participant observation · open-source intelligence (OSINT) · intelligence analysis · foresight and strategic forecasting · scenario work · research and development (R&D) · product and protocol design
BusinessEntrepreneurship and early-stage startups · product development · marketing · innovation management · business strategy · negotiation
CommunicationKeynote speaking · public speaking · storytelling
CertificationsEMT-B and remote EMT · skydiving license · student pilot · advanced open-water diver
EarlierCompetitive skydiver, 2006–2010. Assistant Director, Othello, Theatre for a New Audience, 2009.
Speaking and commercial inquiries
This page covers research, publications, and institutional work. For keynotes, Sam is represented by Executive Speakers Bureau.
Speaking and booking →Last updated: September 2026