Independent Thinkers: Celebrating 7 Innovators in U.S. Technology
Let’s set aside the frankfurters and the fireworks for a moment. It’s better to leave those pyrotechnics to the professionals anyway. For this July 4th holiday, we’d like to give a shout-out to some entrepreneurs who have created their big bang in America Tech. Each of these unique innovators recognized a demand that could be met by developing the right technologies and harnessing the right talent. Then, they made it happen.
Join us in celebrating these 7 innovators in U.S. technology. Huzzah!
Tope Awotona
Tope Awotona, a Nigerian immigrant who moved to the U.S. in his teens, worked for several software companies after graduating from the University of Georgia. Following a few unsuccessful business ventures, he hit the jackpot in 2013 with Calendly, a software scheduling tool used by 50,000 companies globally.
Reshma Saujani
Girls Who Code founder, Reshma Saujani, created a global organization to “close the gender gap in technology and to change the image of what a programmer looks like and does.” Centered on three values: bravery, sisterhood, and activism, Girls Who Code supports and encourages girls, women, and nonbinary coders through clubs and educational programming.
Luis von Ahn
Luis von Ahn, a Carnegie Mellon University graduate born in Guatemala, co-invented CAPTCHA, a program to identify machine vs human input to help combat spam and malicious content. In 2011, he co-founded the online language-learning company, Duolingo, which offers free lessons in over 40 different languages.
Madonna Peltier-Yawakie and Mel Yawakie
Madonna Peltier-Yawakie and Mel Yawakie co-founded Turtle Island Communications, Inc in 2001 to offer tech consulting to tribal corporations and governmental agencies. Their mission? To advance and expand broadband throughout Indian Country to “stimulate economic growth and small business entrepreneurship.”
Emma Gua
Former Lyft engineer, Emma Gua, co-founded Offsyte, a “one-stop shop” for virtual and in-person team-building events. Launched in 2020 with the aim “to help teams form and build strong connections,” Offsyte has served over 70,000 team members.
Kelsey Davis
As a content creator in college, Kelsey Davis, CEO and founder of CLLCTVE, saw a need for a better way to connect brands with freelance Gen Z creators. The CLLCTVE platform was conceived to “enable fast and easy connections for paid work opportunities” and now features 3,000 creators.
This is just a sample of innovators who are out there doing their thing.
Coming from a wide range of backgrounds, these independent thinkers are building businesses, fostering communities, educating users, and inspiring tomorrow’s entrepreneurs. That’s something worth celebrating.
