Aerica Shimizu Banks creates initiatives to improve inclusion and equity in tech, the law, and entrepreneurship. She is a champion of women entrepreneurs and an ecosystem builder. Her approach is creative, intersectional, and holistic, combining the expertise she's gained in community organizing, policy, and tech with the perspective she's developed through the arts, spirituality, and service. She believes in the triple bottom line and invests in and advises women of color founders. She was named a Tech Titan by Washingtonian Magazine and a Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur.

Banks is a co-founder of BEACON: The DC Women Founders Initiative, works at Google on the legal team, and served as a political appointee in the Obama Administration. She graduated from Oxford with a MSc. in Nature, Society, and Environmental Policy and from Seattle University with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Public Affairs.

TED, DEI Diversity & Inclusion, Social Justice, Inclusion, Information Technology, Technology, Social Entrepreneurship, Women in Business, Female Leadership, Community Improvement,