Leanne Pittsford

Leanne Pittsford is an American entrepreneur. She is the founder of Lesbians Who Tech, a community of queer women and their allies in technology.

Early life and education Pittsford grew up in San Diego, California.

Pittsford founded Lesbians Who Tech 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.

In August 2016, Pittsford organized the third annual LGBTQ Tech and Innovation Summit at the White House. She also co-organized the summit in 2015.

In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Pittsford was part of Nerdz4Hillary, a tech industry group campaigning for Hillary Clinton.

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

Personal life Pittsford married Pia Carusone in June 2017.

Selected publications