Elissa Shevinsky

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Elissa Shevinsky
Born
Elissa Beth Shevinsky

New York City, U.S.
Alma materWilliams College, CUNY Baruch College School of Business,
Occupation(s)Author, entrepreneur, cybersecurity expert
Years active1999–present

Elissa Shevinsky is an American technology executive, entrepreneur, cybersecurity expert, public speaker, and author.[1][2][3][4]

Education[edit]

Shevinsky attended Benjamin Cardozo High School, before studying for a Political Theory major at Williams College, where she also took classes in Computer Science,[5] graduating in 2001.[6]

Early career[edit]

In 2010, Shevinsky defended her company against The New York Times, as co-owner of Neighborhoodies, over the use of the "New York Herald Tribune" logo on T-shirts. Shevinsky argued that the trademark had been abandoned.[7][8] In 2012, she founded two NYC-focused dating sites, MakeOut Labs and JoinJspot.[9]

Shevinsky co-founded Glimpse, an encrypted photo and video-sharing app,[10] with Pax Dickinson in 2013.[11] At Glimpse, Shevinksy served as chief executive of the company.[6]

In 2015 Shevinsky was funded by MACH37 for Jekudo Privacy Company,[12] co-organized information security conference SecretCon,[13][14] and edited Lean Out: The Struggle for Gender Equality in Tech and Start-up Culture.[14]

In 2016, Shevinsky joined Brave as Head of Product.[15]

Current career[edit]

Shevinsky has spoken and written on enterprise security policy.[16][17] She spoke on the potential for social media to influence election outcomes at HOPE XI.[18] Shevinsky continues to be an organizer of SecretCon.[19]

In 2018 Shevinsky spoke on information security at universities and infosec conferences.[20][21][22] She served as chief operating officer of SoHo Token Labs, building developer tools for smart contracts.[23]

In 2019 Shevinsky started serving as CEO at Faster Than Light.[24][25] Shevinsky taught a course titled "Introduction to Tech Entrepreneurship" at the Computer Science Department of Williams College."[26]

Honors[edit]

Lean Out: The Struggle for Gender Equality in Tech and Start-up Culture was listed by Inc. Magazine as one of the 100 best business books of 2015.[27]

In 2018, Shevinsky was named "Woman of the Decade" by Williams College in a speech where she announced she wanted to lead the way for the development and protection of privacy for the following decade.[28]

Personal life[edit]

Shevinsky advocates for niceness and inclusivity in the workplace, especially within the tech and security industries.[29] In a 2015 post on harassment and trolling in Silicon Valley, Shevinsky wrote: "I'd like to see less harassment. That's my position. Less harassment, for everyone. I do hope this isn't a controversial statement."[30] When James Damore was fired by Google, Shevinsky was widely quoted saying that speech "questioning the technical qualifications of people based on race or gender" was potentially within the purview of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.[31] As a Press Lead for the 2018 HOPE conference in NYC, Shevinsky called for stronger enforcement of the Code of Conduct.[32]

Bibliography[edit]

Film[edit]

Shevinsky appears in the documentary CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap.[33] She is also a cast member in the documentary Silenced.[34]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "I'm a lesbian. Now will you fund my startup?". CNN Money. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  2. ^ "Will a New CyberSecurity Law Make Us Safer?". PBS Newshour. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  3. ^ "Elissa Shevinsky: "Lean Out"". Talks at Google. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  4. ^ "Lean Out". Amazon. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  5. ^ Morley, Edward W (October 20, 2015). "Shevinsky '01 on Williams". EphBlog for Williams College. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  6. ^ a b Miller, Claire Cain (April 5, 2014). "Technology's Man Problem". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  7. ^ "Times Sues Neighborhoodies Over Same Logo Used by Rodarte". NY Racked. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  8. ^ "The New York Times Sues Neighborhoodies Over Herald Tribune Logo". NBC New York. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  9. ^ "Brooklyn Cupid Wants to Hook Up the Borough". NY Daily News. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  10. ^ "With An Extra Focus On Security, Glimpse Joins The Ephemeral Messaging Battle". Techcrunch. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  11. ^ Miller, Claire Cain (April 5, 2014). "Technology's Man Problem". The New York Times. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  12. ^ "Mach37 Announces Spring 2015 Class of Startups". Biz Journals. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  13. ^ Graham, Robert. "Infosec is good people". Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  14. ^ a b "8 Woman-Run Tech Companies You Should Know, Because These Leaders Are Combating Sexism In The Tech Industry". Bustle. August 31, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  15. ^ "Mozilla co-founder Brendan Eich's startup Brave launches Browser". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  16. ^ "Securing Your Company's Data". Midwest.io. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  17. ^ "I'm a CEO, and This Is What CISA Will Do to My Business". Mic. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  18. ^ "The Eleventh HOPE Schedule". Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  19. ^ "Infosec is good people". Errata Security. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  20. ^ "Building Defenses Like You Mean It". ShakaCon. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  21. ^ "Recap: Aptible January 2018 Quarterly Product Update Webinar". Medium. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  22. ^ "Recap: LinkedIn". LinkedIn. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  23. ^ "Advancing Smart Contract Security". TokenDaily. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  24. ^ "Application Security PodCast – Elissa Shevinsky — Static Analysis early and often on Stitcher". Stitcher. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  25. ^ "Faster Than Light". fasterthanlight.dev. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  26. ^ "Winter Study courses give insight into world of entrepreneurship". williams.edu. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  27. ^ Haden, Jeff (December 21, 2015). "The 100 Best Business Books of 2015". Inc.com. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  28. ^ "Shevinsky named Woman of the Decade". WilliamsCollege. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  29. ^ "Be Kind, Security People". Security Journey. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  30. ^ "Trolling is Trolling even When It's Feminism". Medium. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  31. ^ "Google's New Diversity Chief Criticizes Employee's Memo On 'Women Unsuited For Tech Jobs'". Huffington Post. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  32. ^ "When hackers target a conference code of conduct". The Parallax. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  33. ^ "When Women Code". Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  34. ^ "Cast / Crew". Silenced. Retrieved July 30, 2016.