RISING ICON #97: Ruthe Farmer
photo credit: Isagora Lithgow Creations
An interview with Ruthe Farmer, Founder and CEO of Last Mile Education Fund:
What name do you prefer to be called?
Ruthe (the e is silent)
What are your pronouns?
She/Her
Where did you grow up?
On the road, but mostly up and down the West Coast of the US. I moved countless times as a child and can’t even count the number of schools I attended in K-12.
What city are you currently based in?
Lafayette, CO
How do you typically introduce yourself to new people?
I’m a professional feminist rabble-rouser, tech inclusion entrepreneur, and proud childless cat-lady.
What’s one thing you wish more people knew about you?
Though not obvious, I truly have had lived experiences of poverty and scarcity, which is what drives my passion for this work.
Who do you help?
I invest my time and brain power in solving the diversity and talent crises in tech and engineering, with the aim of building the innovation workforce needed to move us ALL forward.
What are you building now?
My latest project is the Last Mile Education Fund, a disruptive approach to getting underrepresented, lower-income students over the finish line to graduation and into careers in tech.
What were you building ten years ago today?
Aspirations.org – one of the projects about which I am most proud. It is a community, recognition and support program aimed at all girls and young women aspiring in tech. The program continues and the alumni number well over 20K.
What do you predict of yourself 10 years from now?
I am a serial social entrepreneur, so I imagine working on the next big challenge that needs my attention.
What’s a fact or statistic you wish everyone knew about your industry?
It has been proven time and again through research that diverse teams are more innovative, yet the US continues to leave 75% of the potential innovation talent on the bench (women/non-binary, people of color, people with disabilities, first-generation and low-income). This is a global competitive advantage for innovation we are failing to leverage.
Why do you believe the work you do matters?
We are getting people out of poverty, building the innovation workforce, and making sure the technology innovations that serve us all are made by all of us.
Who is your mentor and what is the best advice they’ve given you?
Shoutout to Linda Lagoy, who hired me at Girl Scouts. She approached everything with “how can we work to the yes”. That has stuck with me and informed my approach to virtually every challenge I’ve met.
What piece of content about you or your company are you most proud of?
This NYT article based upon our work: For Lower-Income Students, Tech Internships Can be Hard to Get
What publication do you hope to appear in next?
I’d like to see the major tech publications talking about us, so Wired would be top of my list.
Who would you love to be interviewed by?
I really admire Rachel Maddow, but also would love to see John Oliver do a deep dive on the cost of our failures to properly resource high-potential low-income talent.
If you had to give a TEDTalk tomorrow, what would the title be?
The Economic Wins of an Abundance Approach
What award would mean the most to win?
The Presidential Medal of Honor (depending on who is president at the time)
What makes zero sense to you?
A scarcity mindset.
What’s a word in your industry you hope gets re-evaluated?
Merit
What game are you changing?
Talent
What’s the next thing you’re a part of that you want to invite more people to participate in?
Contributing policy ideas to the next administration. Anyone can do it and should. www.dayoneproject.org
Where can we follow you online?
@lastmilefund or on LinkedIn: Last Mile Education Fund & Ruthe Farmer
What’s one thing that makes every leader better?
The team and network they enlist.
To learn more about Ruthe’s work, visit any of the following websites:
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We’re grateful to each RISING ICON for their transformative work. Thank you, Ruthe, for sharing your story!
LAUREL is a media relations partner for bold leadership. For nearly a decade, we’ve helped leaders build effective strategies for scale and growth specializing in key opinion leadership and go-to-market strategy for emerging brands. To follow along with the RISING ICONS series, nominate a leader or subscribe to our weekly email newsletter. To accelerate your own rise, get our free guide to elevating your leadership profile, FIT(lite). RISING ICONS is made possible by grant funding from Knight Foundation.
“It has been proven time and again through research that diverse teams are more innovative, yet the US continues to leave 75% of the potential innovation talent on the bench.... This is a global competitive advantage for innovation we are failing to leverage. ”
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