Leanne Pittsford is an American entrepreneur. She is the founder of

Lesbians Who Tech A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

, a community of

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

women and their allies in technology.

Early life and education

Pittsford grew up in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. Being from a conservative family, she did not formally

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

until the end of college. 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 San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

Career

Pittsford began her career working for

Equality California Equality California or EQCA is a non-profit civil rights organization that advocates for the rights of LGBT people in California. It is the largest statewide LGBT organization in the United States and the largest member of the Equality Federation ...

. At that time, the LGBTQ rights group was working to overturn Proposition 8 in California, which banned

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

in 2008. She became head of operations for the organization. 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. Pittsford founded

in 2012, wanting to create more networking opportunities and increase visibility for lesbians and queer women. The organization grew from 30 people at the first happy hour meeting in San Francisco to over 15,000 queer women and allies in 33 cities in 2016. The organization also hosts three annual conferences, and has created scholarships with the help of a grant from

Marc Andreessen Marc Lowell Andreessen ( ; born July 9, 1971) is an American entrepreneur, investor, and software engineer. He is the co-author of Mosaic, the first widely used web browser; co-founder of Netscape; and co-founder and general partner of Silicon ...

and

Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen (born 1969/1970) is an American philanthropist, educator and author. She is the founder and president of the Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Foundation, a private operating foundation that describes itself as a philanthropi ...

and a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign. In August 2016, Pittsford organized the third annual LGBTQ Tech and Innovation Summit at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. She also co-organized the summit in 2015. In the

2016 U.S. presidential election The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial United States presidential election, presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican Party (United States), Republican ticket of businessman Donald ...

, Pittsford was part of Nerdz4Hillary, a tech industry group campaigning for

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

. Pittsford was recognized as a "soldier of social change... on the front lines of the culture wars" by

San Francisco Magazine ''San Francisco'' is an American monthly magazine devoted to the people, culture, food, politics, and arts of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published monthly by Modern Luxury publications. History There have been two separate ''San Francis ...

in 2015. She was also recognized as one of "40 under 40" young business leaders in 2015 by the San Francisco Business Times. In 2017 Pittsford launched include.io, a recruiting platform for underrepresented technologists and recruiters. In 2019 Pittsford was recognised by Business Insider as one of the most powerful LGBTQ+ people in Tech. On Oct. 6, 2019, Pittsford was featured as a guest on the American LGBTQ+ podcast, ''

Queery ''Queery'' is an American podcast created and hosted by comedian Cameron Esposito. As the name suggests, the podcast is centered around queerness—the facets of the LGBTQ experience—and self-identifying queer guests. Guests range from widely k ...

''.

Personal life

Pittsford married Pia Carusone in June 2017.

Selected publications

References

External links

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Lesbians Who Tech
web site {{DEFAULTSORT:Pittsford, Leanne California Polytechnic State University alumni Lesbian businesswomen American LGBT businesspeople Living people San Francisco State University alumni American women company founders American company founders LGBT people from California Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women