Two years ago, Fast Company compiled a list of the Most Influential Women In Tech, in part to recognize the challenges that women in technology face--proper recognition being just one of them. We continued in 2010. Our 2011 list highlights 30 women in six categories. All of them bring unique brands of
thought to their industries. Full list »»
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Limor Fried
Founder, Adafruit Industries
Limor Fried was the sort of third-grader who took apart VCRs for fun. Gradually, she discovered that a hobby could become a degree--at MIT, first a bachelor's and then a master's in electrical engineering and computer science.
Prerna Gupta
CEO, Khush Inc.
Most young college grads don't mind putting in long hours to work on someone else's product. Consultant-turned-blogger and musician Prerna Gupta, however, is far too independent for that.
Alexa Hirschfeld
Co-Founder, Paperless Post
Would people use the Internet to send wedding invites? That was the question Alexa and James Hirschfeld's formal digital invitation service Paperless Post hinged on.
Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss
Co-Founders, Rent The Runway
Technology may seem like an unlikely partner to fashion, but Jenn Hyman and Jenny Fleiss couldn't do business without it.
Julia Kaganskiy
Editor, The Creators Project
Julia Kaganskiy wants a revolution. "The arts are primed for some creative disruption by means of technology," she argues.
Kellee Santiago
President and Co-Founder, thatgamecompany
The $20 billion video game industry is littered with independent developers attempting to make their mark. But the co-founder and president of thatgamecompany, Kellee Santiago, stands head and shoulders above the competition.
Jessica Kahn
Vice President of Engineering, Disney Mobile
Jessica Kahn is the brains behind the most popular iPhone game, Tap Tap Revenge.
Veronica Belmont
Host, Revision3
Gaming is in Veronica Belmont's blood--her mom was a vice president at Coleco, the company behind one of the defining home console games systems in the 1980's.
Heather Kelley
Founder and President, Perfect Plum
If you were to read Heather Kelley's profile at her website Moboid, you'd see she calls herself a "Game Designer with a diverse background in both casual and hardcore game development."
Erin Robinson
Independent Game Developer,
Erin Robinson was working as a research assistant in a psychology lab, when one day her supervisor called her into his office. "It's clear to me that there's something else you'd rather be doing," he said.
Jennifer Aaker
Founder, GirlGuru
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Rachel Sterne
CEO, GroundReport
The unfiltered Internet is the fastest news medium on Earth, but it's also a firehose known for producing more bilge than it does reliable scoops. Enter Rachel Sterne's GroundReport.com.
Dr. Robin Murphy
Founder, Institute for Safety Security Rescue Technology
When disaster hits, rescuers today often turn to mini-robots to assess damage, locate survivors, and keep them alive during the long hours and days before the victims can be pulled out.
Cynthia Breazeal
Founder, Personal Robots Group, MIT Media Lab
When you think of the word "robot," you probably picture social 'bots like Rosie, the Jetson's maid and Star Wars' C-3PO.
Natalie Jeremijenko
Director, xdesign Environmental Health Clinic, NYU
Kissing frogs. Eating ice cream. Flying to school. These are just a few ways Australian artist and technologist Natalie Jeremijenko wants you to help the environment.
Telle Whitney
President and CEO, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
Telle Whitney never anticipated that she would keep her position as President and CEO of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology when she first took the role in 2002.
Sona Mehring
Founder and CEO, CaringBridge
Before there was Facebook, MySpace, or Tumblr, there was CaringBridge, an online community that serves up free, easy-to-create websites for people dealing with health crises.
Katrin Verclas
Founder, MobileActive.org
Sure, mobile phones hold the promise to save the world's poor and downtrodden. Grassroots organizations around the world are using the devices for everything from election monitoring to creating mobile payment "layaway" systems to help farmers buy new tools.
Ory Okolloh
Policy Manager, Africa for Google
In 2006, Ory Okolloh co-founded Mzalendo.com ("patriot" in Swahili) to keep an eye on the Kenyan Parliament.
Alisa Miller
CEO, Public Radio International
While hand-wringing over school lunches and Happy Meals continues apace, Alisa Miller's concerned about another kind of nutrition deficiency in America.
Nichole Goodyear
Founder and CEO, Brickfish
In the social media arena, there are loads of social media gurus, evangelists, experts, and strategists --many of them under-qualified, but terribly enthusiastic. And then there's Nichole Goodyear.
Shira Lazar
Host, Partners Project
It all started when Shira Lazar lost her personal video camera. The broadcast journalist and hobbyist video blogger decided she wasn't going to fork over a couple hundred dollars for a new Nokia n95.
Chloe Sladden
Media Partnerships, Twitter
Call her the reigning queen of cross-pollinating Twitter conversations and real-time events.
Heather Harde
CEO, TechCrunch
Michael Arrington earned headlines last year when AOL snapped up his five-year-old Silicon Valley super-blog TechCrunch for a reported $40-50 million.
Rachelle Hruska
Founder, GuestofaGuest.com
Rachelle Hruska planned on becoming a child psychiatrist. But in 2005, she decided to come to New York and became a nanny, then an assistant at a capital management company. And now she's a successful Internet entrepreneur.
Carolyn Leighton
Founder, Women in Technology International
We might not be talking about women in technology if not for the stupendous advocacy of Carolyn Leighton.
Leslie Bradshaw
COO, Jess3
Over the past few years, digital agency Jess3 has received an increasing amount of notice for its creative implementations of interactive media.
Cher Wang
Chairman, HTC
Cher Wang isn't just one of the richest people in Taiwan, she is also one of the world's leaders in smartphone technology. The company Wang founded, HTC, makes more than one out of every six smartphones currently on the American market.
Marissa Mayer
Vice President of Consumer Products, Google
Marissa Mayer is a geek. As the former VP of search product and user experience at Google, Mayer helped launch more than 100 products and features on the site, including Gmail and, most recently, Google Instant.
Mary Meeker
Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Heralded as the Queen of the Net back when we stilled called it "the Net," Mary Meeker has continued to wear the crown long after the dot-com bubble burst in 2000.
