Leanne Pittsford | |
---|---|
Born | 1980 or 1981 (age 42–43)
[1] |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater |
California Polytechnic State University (B.A.) San Francisco State University (M.A.) |
Occupation | Entrepreneur |
Organization | Lesbians Who Tech |
Spouse | Pia Carusone |
Website |
leannepittsford |
Leanne Pittsford [3] is an American entrepreneur. She is the founder of Lesbians Who Tech, a community of queer women and their allies in technology. [1] [4]
Pittsford grew up in San Diego, California. [2] [1] Being from a conservative family, she did not formally come out as a lesbian until the end of college. [2]
Pittsford attended California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, earning a bachelor's degree in political science. She went on to earn a master's degree in equity and social justice in education from San Francisco State University. [2]
Pittsford began her career working for Equality California. At that time, the LGBTQ rights group was working to overturn Proposition 8 in California, which banned same-sex marriage in 2008. [1] She became head of operations for the organization. [5]
Pittsford co-founded the Lesbian Entrepreneur Mentoring Program. She was also the founder and CEO of Start Somewhere, a digital agency helping nonprofits and social enterprises. [5] [6]
Pittsford founded Lesbians Who Tech in 2012, wanting to create more networking opportunities and increase visibility for lesbians and queer women. [3] [1] [7] The organization grew from 30 people at the first happy hour meeting in San Francisco [8] to over 15,000 queer women and allies in 33 cities in 2016. [2] The organization also hosts three annual conferences, and has created scholarships with the help of a grant from Marc Andreessen and Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen and a Kickstarter campaign. [2] [9] [10]
In August 2016, Pittsford organized the third annual LGBTQ Tech and Innovation Summit at the White House. [11] She also co-organized the summit in 2015. [12]
In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Pittsford was part of Nerdz4Hillary, a tech industry group campaigning for Hillary Clinton. [13] [14]
Pittsford was recognized as a "soldier of social change... on the front lines of the culture wars" by San Francisco Magazine in 2015. [15] She was also recognized as one of "40 under 40" young business leaders in 2015 by the San Francisco Business Times. [16]
In 2017 Pittsford launched include.io, a recruiting platform for underrepresented technologists and recruiters. [17]
In 2019 Pittsford was recognised by Business Insider as one of the most powerful LGBTQ+ people in Tech. [18]
On Oct. 6, 2019, Pittsford was featured as a guest on the American LGBTQ+ podcast, Queery.
Pittsford married Pia Carusone in June 2017. [19]