The Advocate Cover Story Feature: Billionaires of AI

The Advocate featured me in their Mar-Apr 2026 cover story on LGBTQ+ tech leaders — and I was direct about something I've navigated my whole career: I don't always lead with my identity, because my focus is on building a global company that scales and living a joyful life. I don't always like to lead with my identity — being a woman, being Black, being LGBTQ — because my focus is on living a very joyful life and building a global company that scales. Sometimes it goes into the search algorithm, and people forget that you built a very great company or that you're an AI leader." As I've pushed through and proven myself more, made more money, gotten more investments and global partners, I've been able to find a better home in that true identity.

What I'm watching right now: "It's almost like it's been good momentum, and then in the past year, people are like 'Let me just put all my different identities to the side and just focus on money.'" And the funding gap hasn't closed — "there's still a tremendous gap between LGBTQ entrepreneurs and non-LGBTQ entrepreneurs. I wish some of the billionaire LGBTQ leaders would funnel them tens of millions.

What I said in this piece that matters most to me: there is still a massive funding gap between LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and everyone else, and it hasn't closed. I sit on the board of StartOut because I believe queer founders deserve the same access, the same rooms, the same checks. I've been in positions where I felt pressure to make myself smaller — to introduce a partner as a colleague, to keep certain things quiet. That era is over for me. I built Journey AI as my full self, and I'll keep building that way. If you're a queer founder figuring out how to do the same, I see you.

📖 Full story: https://www.advocate.com/cover-stories/gay-tech-billionaires-betray-lgbtq

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