The founder and CEO believes the secret to changing democracy is to start small and have the right tools.
“Life is not linear”: Emma Bloomberg’s message to the next generation
Murmuration CEO Emma Bloomberg, one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year, helps communities thrive with data and technology.
Emma Bloomberg is one of USA TODAY’s 2026 Women of the Year, which recognizes women who have made a significant impact in and outside of their communities. Here are this year’s winners.
Every Fourth of July, there was a tradition that Emma Bloomberg did as a child. She and her sister Georgina stood before their father and read the Declaration of Independence.
The document’s elaborate English round-hand script did not make it easy for young readers. “I remember it being really difficult,” she says. Over time, it became more manageable. As I grew older, like any other teenager, I started to develop an eye for exercise. Now she realizes how much it shaped her worldview.
Her parents divorced in 1993. His mother, Susan Bloomberg, is British. Her father is Michael R. Bloomberg, an American businessman and former mayor of New York. The couple remains close, but Emma’s public loyalty is clear, sometimes to the chagrin of her mother.
“I’m a patriot,” says Bloomberg, 46. “When I look back fondly on my childhood and think about all the opportunities I’ve had, there’s this phrase: ‘Only in America.’ I believe in ‘Only in America.’ And I want to make that possible for as many people as possible. ”
Those same ideals drive my work as CEO of Murmuration, a nonprofit I founded to ensure small local organizations have the same data, technology, tools, and insights as large corporations and lobbying firms.
If that mission sounds a little like that of a tech company, here’s an exciting, powerful, but a little amorphous example of how it works in the real world. LEE, a nonpartisan leadership development organization, is a long-time partner of Mamlaration, Inc., specifically dedicated to developing talent to run for local office. To run an effective campaign, candidates need access to voter information, data that helps them knock on registered voters’ doors, find people interested in particular issues, and solicit campaign contributions.
“Typically, that information is controlled by political bosses. New candidates are not in those power circles. They may be young people who have ideas and just want to make a difference on the school board,” says Michael Bouman, executive director of LEE. “The political world will often not be very welcoming to them and say, ‘No, we don’t have this information,’ or charge exorbitant fees.” Tweets allow anyone, regardless of party or affiliation, to access that information and take the same shot.
If it’s David vs. Goliath, “this is the biggest slingshot you can get,” Bouman says.
reluctant CEO
The idea for Bloomberg’s Murmuration didn’t come to us in an “aha” moment. At Princeton, where she majored in medieval literature, her parents questioned her employment opportunities “many times,” she says with a laugh. He went on to earn master’s degrees in public administration and business from Harvard University and worked as a junior planning official in New York City during his father’s administration. “I love civil engineering problems. For example, I love thinking about how trash gets from the kitchen to where it ends up and all the steps in between. Fun and messy problems like that.”
She then spent six years at the Robin Hood Foundation, a charity that fights poverty in New York City through education. The mission weighed on her head and heart. “If we think about how to break the generational cycle of poverty, there is no doubt that providing our children with access to high-quality public education from K-12 is one of the greatest tools we can use to drive this kind of change.”
It has shaped her family’s trajectory. “When I was young, my father would often talk to me about the American Dream and how a poor kid from Medford, Massachusetts, could go to public school, get a great education, and have a career like his.”
In each role, she continued to face recurring problems. It was that community groups were always at a disadvantage. They were parents who organized to survive for their children and their families. They knocked on doors, took notes on legal pads, and mapped the network from memory. They were unruly and committed, but they were up against an established and well-resourced system. “I was just surprised,” Bloomberg said. “They didn’t have access to technology or data, and they were competing with the status quo that did have access to it.”
Still, she hesitated. She didn’t want to ruin her happy life with her two children, Zelda and Tobias. “And I had a little bit of impostor syndrome. Who am I to start something? It took me a few years to feel comfortable enough to take the plunge.”
In 2014, she launched Murmuration, a name inspired by starlings in flight. “Each bird influences the seven birds around it,” she explains. She wanted a similar network for community organizations. Each can maintain their own identity and values, and everyone can move forward and learn together.
Murmuration currently works with 269 organizations in 26 states. The groups range from Rank the Vote, which aims to increase support for ranked-choice voting across the country, to Memphis Lift, which works to improve the city’s failing schools.
For example, when Mumlration first started working with Memphis Lift, its volunteers could fit into a small conference room. Everything was done on paper. More than 14,000 parents have now participated with the help of Murmuration’s tools and training.
“When it comes to education, they are focused on outcomes for children,” Bloomberg said. “But what I love most is that everyone who touches the Memphis Rift knows that there are people out there supporting them.” This is the kind of change that Bloomberg finds most meaningful, one that doesn’t attract attention but is deeply embedded in a sense of belonging to a community.
What is the political solution? act locally
Even at the local level, she’s seen heated politics calm down and real progress made.
She says that while national politics allows people to hide behind screens and scream, things need to be more civil at the community level. “Our kids go to the same school or walk down the same street, and I meet them when I pick them up,” she says. “We don’t agree on everything, but we can build more bridges.”
She is acutely aware that many people are losing faith in the American Dream in which they were raised. She saw data showing that only 39% of Gen Z believe hard work leads to progress. This was researched by Marmulation. Still, she’s optimistic.
“They don’t seem to have lost hope that they can make a difference in their communities,” she says. “We see them showing up, volunteering, and participating in civic activities.” At the local level, democracy feels real, personal, and possible if we can lower barriers to entry.
Ms. Bloomberg’s sunny outlook and calm demeanor belie her intensity. She is focused and determined, which is reflected not only in her work but also in her golf handicap of 11.6. She wants more women to play. That’s because the sport has taught her so much more than just watching the women on the rink. Humble. Business acumen. life skills.
“You can do a super technical swing, or you can just walk and swing,” she says. “Typically, when you’re faced with a problem in life, you can go down one of these two paths. It’s important to be able to flex both muscles.”
When asked what advice she would like to pass on to her children, she didn’t hesitate: You don’t need a life plan. You don’t need to know the destination.
“Life is not linear,” she says. “When you’re given an opportunity, take it. If you’re not given an opportunity, go find it.”
This is a very modern way of talking about life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness.
