Limor “Ladyada” Fried

Limor “Ladyada” Fried. (1979 - ) is an engineer, open-source hardware advocate, and founder and CEO of Adafruit Industries. She studied at MIT, majoring in electrical engineering and computer science. While at MIT, she wanted to create a place online for learning electronics and making the best designed products for makers of all ages and skill levels, so she founded Adafruit in 2005, in her dorm room. Limor designs and manufactures the electronics, and then she gives away the recipes, while enables her customers to purchase kits and supplies: everything from beginning to end, to learn about electronics. She focuses on the fun of making and building. She is grateful for the internet as a tool for sharing and communicating: YouTube, Instructables, and Blogger helped to empower and inspire the community which continues to build and improve upon her designs. She believes customers should be part of their shared community, an “ecosystem of innovation”. She is regarded as a leader of the open-source hardware movement. Adafruit, a 100% female owned company, now has over 100 employees in NYC and a 50,000 square foot factory. Adafruit is ranked #11 in the top 20 USA manufacturing companies, and is #1 in NYC according to Inc. 5000’s “fastest growing private companies”. Limor was the first female engineer on the cover of WIRED magazine, and was awarded Entrepreneur magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year award. She was a founding member of the NYC Industrial Business Advisory Council.