Tara Lemmey facts for kids

Tara L. Lemméy is an American entrepreneur, inventor, and designer. An entrepreneur is someone who starts their own business. Lemméy is known for her expertise in technology and for coming up with new ideas, also known as innovation. She is the CEO (the head of a company) and founder of 'LENS Ventures', a company in San Francisco that helps other businesses grow and create new things.

Lemméy is a very creative person. In 2013, Fast Company magazine named her one of the "100 Most Creative People in Business." She is also a successful inventor and holds over 70 patents. A patent is an official document that gives an inventor the exclusive right to make, use, or sell their invention for a certain period.

She has also worked as an advisor for large companies like Intel and American Express, as well as for nonprofit groups. She helps them understand new trends, plan for the future, and find good opportunities for growth.

Helping the Economy and Creating Jobs

Tara Lemméy is part of a group called Rework America. This group, started by the Markle Foundation, works on finding new ways to help Americans find jobs and be successful in today's economy. She helped write a book called America’s Moment: Creating Opportunity in the Connected Age (2015), which shares these ideas.

Lemméy often speaks at conferences about taking smart risks and creating new things. She has shared her ideas at events like TED India and has been featured in magazines like Wired and the Harvard Business Review.

She was also recognized in a 2010 book called The Power of Pull. The book described how her smart and creative work led to big, positive changes.

Keeping Information Safe and Private

Lemméy has used her technology skills to help with national security. After the September 11th attacks, she helped lead a project for the Markle Foundation. She designed a better way for U.S. intelligence groups to share information to help keep the country safe.

She also served on a committee for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Her job was to give advice on how to protect people's privacy and rights while improving national security. Earlier in her career, she was the president of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that works to protect people's rights online.

Working with Other Countries

Lemméy has worked with the United States Department of State to connect with people in other countries. This is sometimes called public diplomacy. She has traveled to places like Switzerland and Turkey to talk about how new businesses and ideas can help a country's economy grow.

In 2009, she was part of a U.S. technology group that went to Mexico. They looked for ways that technology companies could help the people of Mexico. In 2010, she also took part in a White House conference focused on helping women start and grow their own businesses.

Changing How We Learn

Lemméy is passionate about finding new and better ways for people to learn. She created an initiative called DGREE.ORG to explore new models for education that focus on the student. In 2010, she hosted a summit that brought together leaders from business, education, and universities to discuss these new ideas.

The Global Classroom

One of her most exciting projects was the "Global Classroom." She worked with Harvard professor Michael Sandel to use mobile technology to connect students from all over the world. In 2012, students in Sandel's class at Harvard could have live video debates with students in China, India, Japan, and Brazil. They discussed big ideas like justice and democracy. This project showed how technology can bring people together to learn from each other, no matter where they live.

Health and Healthy Eating

Lemméy is also involved in the field of health. She is part of the leadership team at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. She has worked with Dr. Andrew Weil on public events about nutrition and health. In 2011, she hosted a discussion with health experts like Michael Pollan about how our food choices and public policies affect our health.

Awards and Honors

• Named one of the Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company magazine.
• Named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2013 by Fast Company.
• Received a ComputerWorld Honors award in 2013 for her work on the Global Classroom project.