Laura Weidman Powers
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Laura Weidman Powers 2013 fellow
Bold Idea
Close the achievement gap for African American men by creating pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology fields through programs that provide industry experience, job training, and networking.
Organization
CODE2040 aims to close the achievement, wealth, and skills gaps for blacks and Latinos in the United States by creating pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in the innovation economy. We run a summer fellowship for top technical talent, create online and in-person resources to help students prepare for and obtain internships and full-time employment in the tech sector, and work with industry leaders to develop new initiatives that create opportunities for those most underrepresented in the innovation economy.
Biography
Laura Weidman Powers is the co-founder and executive director of CODE2040, a nonprofit that creates access, awareness, and opportunities for minority engineering talent to ensure their leadership in the innovation economy. Laura has a background in entrepreneurship, nonprofit management, youth development, and technology. Prior to CODE2040, she started two organizations in the education space: one nonprofit arts education organization in West Philadelphia that is approaching its tenth year of operation, and one for-profit tutoring company with offices in New York and Los Angeles that gave rise to a book. Before founding CODE2040, Laura served as vice president of product at a consumer web startup based in Los Angeles, redesigning the product development process to be inclusive of engineers. Laura's work has been featured in Forbes, the New York Times, the Huffington Post, BloombergWest, TechCrunch, and more. She is a recipient of the 2013 Stanford Social Innovation Fellowship, and was named one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs in 2013 by Goldman Sachs. Laura is a graduate of Harvard College, Stanford Law School, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She was deeply involved in public service at each of her alma maters.
