Mary Spio has a vision of the future—a future increasingly enhanced through virtual and augmented reality. Spio is the founder and CEO of CEEK, an award-winning developer of premium social virtual and augmented reality experiences.
CEEK is described on its website as simulating “the communal experience of attending a live concert, being in a classroom, attending a sporting event, and other money can’t buy exclusive experiences with friends from anywhere at any time.”
According to her LinkedIn profile, Spio was appointed by the U.S. Department of State as a speaker on innovation and entrepreneurship in countries such as South Africa, China, Mexico, Ukraine, and Russia.
“Our mission is empowering creators with the tools needed to generate new revenue streams from their artistry digitally,” states the company’s website. “We pride ourselves on helping music artists, athletes, event creators, and makers create direct-to-fan experiences that delight and drive long-term sustainable engagement within existing and emerging virtual worlds.”
Informally Spio is described as the 6-year-old company’s chief visionary and product architect. “We are reimagining the world as you know it. Through CEEK VR, we are ushering in a new era in entertainment, learning, and social networking,” states Spio on her company’s website.
“We are making exclusive experiences within arm’s reach of everyone no matter where they are on the globe.” A graduate of Georgia Tech and Syracuse University with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, Spio has had a broad range of technical and leadership experiences.
Spio, who was born in the U.S. but grew up in Ghana, is a U.S. Air Force veteran. She started her career as a deep space engineer working with companies such as Boeing Digital Cinema, Intelsat, and Aerospace Corp “developing technologies that have changed media and communications,” according to her LinkedIn profile.
“Through my ventures I’ve provided technical guidance and content solutions for over 200 radio stations, Microsoft Xbox, Tribune, Coca-Cola, Toyota and many more.”
Spio described part of her professional journey this way: “Every once in a while, something comes along with the potential to shift the way we do things. As a digital cinema pioneer at Boeing, I had the rare opportunity to help create the technology that changed the movie distribution paradigm working with Lucas Films, 20th Century Fox, and other major studios. From there I pioneered an online video distribution platform that became the de facto standard for many media companies and brands to distribute their content digitally. And now…here we are again building CEEK VR, a blockchain-based streaming platform for creators to monetize their content digitally via virtual reality worlds, gaming consoles, premium live streaming, and other emerging technologies. Our mission is empowering creators with the tools to directly engage their fans in a whole new way.”
She encourages “music artists, content creators, 3D/4D fanatics, and virtual reality evangelists to contact her to discuss potential mutual opportunities. “We try to create an experience that takes people through time and space,” says Spio in a Wired online article.
Spio holds several patents in real-time streaming and virtual reality technologies. She is also an accomplished novelist and screenwriter as well as a bestselling author (“It’s Not Rocket Science: 7 Game-Changing Traits for Achieving Uncommon Success”), in which she shares inspirational stories meant to spur readers to move beyond their comfort zones to create impact and significance.
She serves on the boards of Oculus VR for Good and Amazon Launchpad. Spio’s work has earned her the Yueh-Ying Hu Memorial National Award for Innovation, the Boeing Outstanding Achievement in Electrical Engineering Award, and Essence magazine’s New Power Generation Award.
Spio also landed on NBC News’s 100 History Makers in the Making. Last year she posted on LinkedIn: “Mom, Dad I made it to Harvard! What an incredible honor to be on the Advisory Board for #HarvardUniversity Center for African Studies.”
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