This social movement continues to fight against discrimination and in favour of the normalisation and recognition of the rights of people in the LGBTI+ community, and in recent years several diversity initiatives aimed at LGBTI+ people in the technology sector have emerged.
Groups like Lesbians Who Tech, StartOut, and TransTech Social Enterprises have worked to improve tech companies’ office culture, connect LGBTI+ entrepreneurs with venture capitalists, and make resources more easily accessible to the queer tech community.
With the intention of contributing a grain of sand to this social movement and giving visibility to people from the LGBTQ+ community, I present to you 12 women who are leaders in the technological world, who have managed to highlight a sector that is mainly led by men.
1. Ana Arriola, partner and product designer at Microsoft
Ana’s official title at Microsoft is currently cayman islands phone number list Partner and General Manager for the company’s work in artificial intelligence and research, and serving as the search engine for Bing. Since July 2018, she has worked on human-centered and ethical product design.
Previously, Arriola worked in product design in executive roles at Facebook, Samsung and Sony.
2. Angelica Ross, Founder and CEO of TransTech Social Enterprises
Angelica runs TransTech Social Enterprises , a little and sometimes completely company that helps trans and gender-nonconforming people find jobs and prepare for their careers. In an interview, Angelica explained why she started TransTech.
“Most trans people are violently ostracized or unwelcome in many educational and work spaces,” she said. “We give people a place where they don’t question that they belong and that they are valuable.”
3. Ann Mei Chang, former USAID Chief Innovation Officer
Ann Mei was the Chief Innovation cnb directory Officer for USAID , an independent federal agency for the delivery of foreign assistance. Within two years, Ann Mei became the first Executive Director of the US Global Development Lab, a USAID innovation hub that looks to Silicon Valley for global solutions.
He published a book on social innovation titled Lean Impact: How to Innovate for Radically Greater Social Good.
Previously, she held executive positions at Mercy Corps and the State Department, where she was a senior advisor on women and technology. She has also worked as an engineer in product development for Apple, Intuit, and Google.
4. Arlan Hamilton, co-founder and CEO of Backstage Capital
Arlan is a managing partner at Backstage Capital , a venture capital firm she founded in 2015 when she was homeless. Backstage invests in companies led by underrepresented founders, women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals.
5. Claudia Brind-Woody, Vice President of IBM
Claudia is IBM’s Vice President and General Manager of Intellectual Property Licensing. She is also the Co-Chair of IBM’s LGBT Executive Working Group, a position she uses to advocate for LGBTQ+ diversity at work.
She serves on the board of directors of Out & Equal , an organization that advocates for equality in the workplace.
6. Gina Trapani, Managing Partner of Postlight
Gina is a managing partner at Postlight , a studio that is building digital platforms and products. She is a co-founder of the software platform ThinkUp, and also founded Lifehacker , the website launched by Gawker and now owned by Univision.
7. Leanne Pittsford, Founder and CEO of Lesbians Who Tech
Leanne has founded three tech-focused diversity initiatives: Lesbians Who Tech , include.io , and Tech Jobs Tour .
Since 2012, Lesbians Who Tech has offered programs and opportunities to give visibility and opportunities to LGBTQ+ women and non-binary people in the tech sector. The other two initiatives aim to mentor and recruit underrepresented groups in the tech space.
8. Lynn Conway, pioneering designer at IBM
Lynn, 81, is known as one of the most important pioneering engineers in supercomputing technology and microprocessor design. In the 1960s, she worked at IBM on supercomputer design and, a decade later, on chip design at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center.
However, Lynn’s work at IBM went largely unrecognized. She was fired when she began to undergo her gender transition in 1968.
Starting over with a new secret identity, Lynn quickly advanced to become a computer architect at Memorex, but also spent decades living in fear of being ‘found out’ and losing her job again.
She came out publicly as trans in the early 2000s, and has used her position to become an advocate for the trans community.