Last June, International Pride Day was celebrated, also known as International LGBTI+ Pride Day. 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.
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Jul 11, 21 | 6 min read
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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 list of martinique consumer email currently 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 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 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 success of cloud solutions drives esker’s growth 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.
Arlan has been named by Fast Company as the only gay African-American woman to have successfully started a venture capital firm from scratch.
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 bz lists & Equal , an organization that advocates for equality in the workplace.