Rebecca’s work explores how mapping technologies can support communities navigating transitions in agriculture, water, and climate systems. Her projects integrate satellite data, earth observation, and emerging AI tools to strengthen disaster resilience and deepen understanding of environmental change, from watershed management to coral reef monitoring and storytelling for how data creates impact at COP26). She previously developed mapping policy frameworks for The Rurban initiative in collaboration with the Government of India and the World Bank, expanding water and infrastructure planning across the state of Maharashtra (MIT News). Hui began her career as a Fulbright Fellow and National Geographic Explorer, mapping human–animal coexistence in rural India.


Hui maintains a visual art practice rooted in fieldwork and exploration. Often working off-grid, she paints watercolor landscapes and unusual wildlife encountered during expeditions. Her storytelling extends into illustrated books and publications, including Old Enough to Make a Difference, a children’s book about social entrepreneurship published by Abrams.

Rebecca has spent 10+ years leading Rurban (formerly Roots Studio), a platform that reimagines cultural preservation through intellectual property licensing and traceable royalties. For over a decade, Rurban has partnered with more than 50 Indigenous communities stewarding over 350,000 hectares of forested land, connecting their artistic traditions to global design and media industries. Through these collaborations, over five million cultural products, including apparel, films, and design collections have been produced with partners such as Patagonia, Cartier, Chanel Foundation, UNDP, NOAH, A24, and 3.1 Phillip Lim.

“NOAH Taps Roots Studio to Serve Up Bok Joy Collection,” HYPEBEAST (2023)
"An Antidote to Cultural Appropriation," The Business of Fashion Podcast (2023)
"With Roots Studio, Rebecca Hui Is Reimagining the Cultural Marketplace," Cultured Magazine (2023)
"Licensing Tribal Art Globally to Support Creativity Close to Home," MIT Technology Review (2023)
"Fashion Carves Out Space for Indigenous Artists," Vogue Business (2021)
"Meet the Entrepreneur Connecting Indigenous Artists with the Global Art Market," PBS Arts (2023), PBS (2019)
"Roots Studio’s 'Shutterstock for Cultural Art'," TechCrunch (2017)
"Creating New Markets for Tribal Art," Stanford Social Innovation Review (2018)

New Explorer Award, Eric and Wendy Schmidt Visionary Awards, 2026
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s National Design Awards, Nominee, 2026
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts with MIT Fab Lab Resident (2025)
New Museum / New Inc Resident (2020) + Mentor (2024 – 2025)
Vogue Business 100 Champions for Change, 2023
Cartier Women’s Initiative Laureate 2021; Jury 2024
Explorers Club 50, Fifty People Changing the World, 2023
Core 77, Design for Social Impact Jury Captain 2020
Forbes Under 30 Social Entrepreneurship, 2019
Echoing Green Fellow 2016, Jury 2023
Unreasonable Fellow (2018, 2022, 2023)
Immaterial Future Laureate 2021 (Top prize out of 169 entries)
Women Deliver, Chanel Foundation
US Department of State Delegate 2019
TechCrunch SF Disrupt Battlefield, Finalist 2017
MIT Creative Arts 1st Place Winner 2017, MIT D-Lab, Scaleup Fellow 2017, MIT Legatum Fellowship, 2016
Stanford-StartX, 2016
National Geographic Explorer 2013
Fulbright Scholar 2013