Women, Tech and LGBTQ
Leanne Pittsford (center) and attendees at summit.
Denise Restauri, contributor of Forbes Magazine, reported about a woman named Leanne Pittsford, an entrepreneur and founder of a community called Lesbians Who Tech.
When asked why there is an organization for lesbians in tech, Leanne told Denise women in tech were under-represented in all of the communities. Leanne spent a decade being involved with gay and lesbian community. She said in Forbes that she noticed LGBTQ communities “miss the mark with queer women.”
The first Lesbians in Tech took place in San Francisco in December 2012. Leanne stated that their event went from 30 people to over 200 people. At the end of 2013, they launched their event across the globe from New York to Toronto. That same year, they launched the Lesbians Who Tech website.
“By the end of that year, we had nearly 4,000 people in our community,” Leanne said to Forbes.
February 2014, Leanne hosted a first-ever summit event for Lesbians Who Tech in San Francisco. According to Forbes, over 800 queer women in tech including speakers and 30% of women in color had attended the event. It was such a success that some of her friends on the East Coast requested there be a summit “closer to home.” Leanne headed the request and ran an Indiegogo campaign, in order to raise money for a New York summit. The end result was a success. Not only did they raise over $20,000 in five days, but they had brought 400 “queer women together.”
Leanne has made a very big difference for her community that the White House requested she help organize a summit there.
Denise got to speak with a revolutionary women all because of an e-mail she received one morning. A very grand opportunity.
To read the full story, go to Forbes.com.
