Elissa Shevinsky

{{Infobox person

| name = Elissa Shevinsky

| image = Elissa Shevinsky.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name = Elissa Beth Shevinsky

| birth_date =

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| alma_mater = Williams College, CUNY Baruch College School of Business,

| occupation = Author, entrepreneur, cybersecurity expert

| years active = 1999–present

| boards =

| children =

| spouse =

}}

Elissa Shevinsky is an American technology executive, entrepreneur, cybersecurity expert, public speaker, and author.{{cite news | url=https://money.cnn.com/2015/07/15/technology/entrepreneur-elissa-shevinsky-lesbian/ | publisher=CNN Money | title=I'm a lesbian. Now will you fund my startup? | accessdate=July 30, 2016}}{{cite news | url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/will-a-new-cybersecurity-law-make-us-safer/ | publisher=PBS Newshour | title=Will a New CyberSecurity Law Make Us Safer? | accessdate=July 30, 2016}}{{cite news | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypRrKTDz4Ik | publisher=Talks at Google | title=Elissa Shevinsky: "Lean Out" | accessdate=July 30, 2016}}{{cite news | url=https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Out-Struggle-Equality-Start-Up-ebook/dp/B015JWUC92/ | publisher=Amazon | title=Lean Out | accessdate=July 30, 2016}}

Education

Shevinsky attended Benjamin Cardozo High School, before studying for a Political Theory major at Williams College, where she also took classes in Computer Science,{{Cite web|url=http://ephblog.com/2015/10/20/shevinsky-01-on-williams/|title=Shevinsky '01 on Williams|last=Morley|first=Edward W|date=October 20, 2015|work=EphBlog for Williams College|access-date=2018-03-05|language=en-us}} graduating in 2001.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/technology/technologys-man-problem.html|title=Technology's Man Problem|last=Miller|first=Claire Cain|date=April 5, 2014|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-03-02|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

Early career

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.{{cite news | url=http://ny.racked.com/2010/6/23/7795637/nyt-sues-neighborhoodies-over-logo-tees-but-what-does-this-mean-for | publisher=NY Racked | title=Times Sues Neighborhoodies Over Same Logo Used by Rodarte | accessdate=July 30, 2016}}{{cite news | url=http://www.nbcnewyork.com/blogs/threadny/THREAD-New-York-Times-Sues-Neighborhoodies-Over-Logo-96974309.html | publisher=NBC New York | title=The New York Times Sues Neighborhoodies Over Herald Tribune Logo | accessdate=July 30, 2016}} In 2012, she founded two NYC-focused dating sites, MakeOut Labs and JoinJspot.{{cite news | url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/brooklyn-cupid-hook-up-borough-new-dating-sites-article-1.1232552 | publisher=NY Daily News| title=Brooklyn Cupid Wants to Hook Up the Borough | accessdate=July 30, 2016}}

Shevinsky co-founded Glimpse, an encrypted photo and video-sharing app,{{cite news | url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/03/08/glimpse/| publisher=Techcrunch| title=With An Extra Focus On Security, Glimpse Joins The Ephemeral Messaging Battle | accessdate=July 30, 2016}} with Pax Dickinson in 2013.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/technology/technologys-man-problem.html

| work=The New York Times| title=Technology's Man Problem | date=April 5, 2014| accessdate=July 30, 2016| last1=Miller| first1=Claire Cain}} At Glimpse, Shevinksy served as chief executive of the company.

In 2015 Shevinsky was funded by MACH37 for Jekudo Privacy Company,{{cite news | url=http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/techflash/2015/03/mach37-cybersecurity-accelerator-announces-its.html| publisher=Biz Journals| title=Mach37 Announces Spring 2015 Class of Startups| accessdate=July 30, 2016}} co-organized information security conference SecretCon,{{Cite web|last=Graham|first=Robert|title=Infosec is good people|url=https://blog.erratasec.com/2015/10/infosec-is-good-people.html|access-date=2021-03-05|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=8 Woman-Run Tech Companies You Should Know, Because These Leaders Are Combating Sexism In The Tech Industry|url=https://www.bustle.com/articles/107654-8-woman-run-tech-companies-you-should-know-because-these-leaders-are-combating-sexism-in-the-tech|access-date=2021-03-05|website=Bustle|date=August 31, 2015 |language=en}} and edited Lean Out: The Struggle for Gender Equality in Tech and Start-up Culture.

In 2016, Shevinsky joined Brave as Head of Product.{{cite news | url=https://venturebeat.com/2016/01/20/brave-browser/| publisher=VentureBeat| title=Mozilla co-founder Brendan Eich's startup Brave launches Browser | accessdate=July 30, 2016}}

Current career

Shevinsky has spoken and written on enterprise security policy.{{cite news | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cofMh4eMpdA | publisher=Midwest.io| title=Securing Your Company's Data| accessdate=July 30, 2016}}{{cite news | url=https://mic.com/articles/127718/why-tech-ceo-elissa-shevinsky-of-jekudo-privacy-and-secretcon-hates-cisa#.3LFGPM2cD | publisher=Mic| title=I'm a CEO, and This Is What CISA Will Do to My Business| accessdate=July 30, 2016}} She spoke on the potential for social media to influence election outcomes at HOPE XI.{{cite news| url=https://xi.hope.net/schedule.html#-censorship-social-media-and-the-presidential-election-| title=The Eleventh HOPE Schedule| accessdate=July 30, 2016}} Shevinsky continues to be an organizer of SecretCon.{{cite news | url=http://blog.erratasec.com/2015/10/infosec-is-good-people.html | publisher=Errata Security| title=Infosec is good people| accessdate=July 30, 2016}}

In 2018 Shevinsky spoke on information security at universities and infosec conferences.{{cite news | url=https://www.shakacon.org/building-defenses-like-you-mean-it-by-elissa-shevinsky/ | publisher=ShakaCon | title=Building Defenses Like You Mean It | accessdate=July 25, 2018}}{{cite news | url=https://medium.com/@elissabeth/a-internal-post-went-viral-at-google-and-is-now-dominating-the-news-cycle-in-tech-feminism-f9fbe3e5d2eb | publisher=Medium | title=Recap: Aptible January 2018 Quarterly Product Update Webinar| accessdate=March 26, 2018}}{{cite news | url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/elissashevinsky | publisher=LinkedIn | title=Recap: LinkedIn | accessdate=March 26, 2018}} She served as chief operating officer of SoHo Token Labs, building developer tools for smart contracts.{{cite news | url=https://www.tokendaily.co/p/introducing-soho-token-labs-advancing-smart-contract-security#comment-4571 | publisher=TokenDaily | title=Advancing Smart Contract Security | accessdate=July 25, 2018}}

In 2019 Shevinsky started serving as CEO at Faster Than Light.{{Cite web|title=Application Security PodCast – Elissa Shevinsky — Static Analysis early and often on Stitcher|url=https://www.stitcher.com/show/application-security-podcast/episode/elissa-shevinsky-static-analysis-early-and-often-63303324|access-date=2021-03-05|website=Stitcher}}{{Cite web|title=Faster Than Light|url=https://fasterthanlight.dev/|access-date=2021-03-05|website=fasterthanlight.dev|language=en}} Shevinsky taught a course titled "Introduction to Tech Entrepreneurship" at the Computer Science Department of Williams College."{{Cite web|title=Winter Study courses give insight into world of entrepreneurship|url=https://williamsrecord.com/23133/features/winter-study-courses-give-insight-into-world-of-entrepreneurship/|access-date=2021-03-05|website=williams.edu}}

Honors

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.{{Cite web|last=Haden|first=Jeff|date=December 21, 2015|title=The 100 Best Business Books of 2015|url=https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/the-100-best-business-books-of-2015.html|access-date=2021-03-05|website=Inc.com|language=en}}

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.{{cite news |url= https://magazine.williams.edu/2015/summer/feature/williams-women/ |publisher= WilliamsCollege |title= Shevinsky named Woman of the Decade |accessdate= July 25, 2018}}

Personal life

Shevinsky advocates for niceness and inclusivity in the workplace, especially within the tech and security industries.{{cite news | url=https://podcast.securityjourney.com/elissa-shevinsky-be-kind-security-people-5-minute-appsec/| publisher=Security Journey| title=Be Kind, Security People | accessdate=March 12, 2021}} 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."{{cite news | url=https://medium.com/elissa-shevinsky/on-building-rather-than-dismantling-silicon-valley-f91dc767bfac| publisher=Medium| title=Trolling is Trolling even When It's Feminism | accessdate=July 24, 2018}} 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.{{cite news | url=https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/08/07/googles-new-diversity-chief-criticizes-employees-memo-on-wome_a_23068070/ | work=Huffington Post | title=Google's New Diversity Chief Criticizes Employee's Memo On 'Women Unsuited For Tech Jobs'| accessdate=March 1, 2018}} As a Press Lead for the 2018 HOPE conference in NYC, Shevinsky called for stronger enforcement of the Code of Conduct.{{cite news | url=https://www.the-parallax.com/2018/07/24/hope-hackers-code-of-conduct/| publisher=The Parallax| title=When hackers target a conference code of conduct | accessdate=July 24, 2018}}

Bibliography

Film

Shevinsky appears in the documentary CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap.{{cite news | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/04/when-women-code/391074/ |work=Atlantic Monthly| title=When Women Code| accessdate=July 30, 2016}} She is also a cast member in the documentary Silenced.{{cite news | url=http://www.silencedmovie.com/elissa-shevinsky/| publisher=Silenced.| title=Cast / Crew| accessdate=July 30, 2016}}