Name: Laura Weidman Powers
Role: CEO, Code2040
Age: 33
From: New York City
The Disrupter: After two years at a tech startup in Silicon Valley, Powers in 2012 co-founded Code2040, a nonprofit focused on industry diversity. “I would often find myself the only woman, the only person of color, the only woman of color in a room.”
The Pivot: Last year, Google (GOOGL) gave $775,000 to Code2040’s educational programs. “There’s been a shift in the way [diversity is] thought about and talked about that makes me really optimistic that we’re going to solve this problem.”
The Wonk: While still CEO, Powers is also serving as a senior policy adviser to U.S. Chief technology officer Megan Smith in the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. She’ll be in D.C. Full-time for the next six months.
For more on Code2040, watch this Coins2Day video:
The Upgrade: Her next focus at Code2040 is making capital accessible to a diverse pool of innovators and promoting inclusion in tech entrepreneurship. “We’re going down that path, but we don’t know what the answer is yet. We’ll be learning that over the next two to three years.”
Read more: Why the Founders of Code2040 Are Changing the Face of Silicon Valley
A version of this article appears in the September 1, 2016 issue of Coins2Day with the headline “Person of Interest: Laura Weidman Powers, CEO, Code2040.”
