Kayode Ezike

About Kayode Ezike

My name is Kayode Ezike, but you can call me Ayo! I was born to two Nigerian Igbo immigrants in the Bronx, NY, where I spent the better part of a decade before moving to New Rochelle, NY in the early These days I live in Yonkers, NY. When I am not developing software, I enjoy writing, singing, and lifting.\"Kayode\" is Yoruba for \"He Who Brings Joy.\" I try to live by this name everyday through my interactions with others, but I am not perfect. My governing mission in life is to provide individuals with the tools they need to realize their full personal and professional potential on their own terms. Simply put, I am an advocate for systems that advocate for people.At this point, I have been in school for the majority of my life. I have always had a wide diversity of scholastic interests. While I have embraced Math and Science as my primary focus throughout my academic journey, I also love to write and find joy and inspiration in reading creative literature.In 2013, I was admitted into MIT, where I spent my undergraduate years studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science before continuing on to acquire my Master of Engineering degree between the Fall of 2017 and the Winter of 2019. I could say a lot about my time at MIT, but to summarize, it was simultaneously the most challenging and enriching half-decade of my life. I expanded my library of mental models, I stretched my vocals in new ways on the stage, and I learned how to lead a community in a demanding environment. Because - and in spite - of all of this, I met some amazing people that are still with me to this day!Throughout and beyond MIT, I experienced an interesting cross-section of the technical professional world. Summer internships exposed me to the industries of social media, finance, and microprocessors. My final internship was a brief stint at a decentralized cloud computing startup led by a close friend called Conduit. That summer, I had also caught wind of Sela, an impact measurement platform for development projects in the emerging world.Upon completion of the MEng program in February of 2019, I joined Sela full-time as the Director of R&D. In this position, I led the development of various streams of theoretical innovation and empirical prototyping in the realms of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT), Digital Identity, and Mechanism Design.These days, I work on projects and systems that reduce the barrier of understanding within and between people. This is a core driving purpose for my work and my life.

Experience

1. Co-founder CTO

   Gobekli.Io

   May 2022 — Present

Education

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

  2013 — 2017

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  Master of Engineering - MEng, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

  2017 — 2019