Tiana Tukes

Professor Tiana Tukes is a lecturer in entrepreneurial management within the economics department at Spelman College, a premier women's liberal arts college and the top HBCU in the United States for the past seventeen years.

Before her current role, she served as co-chief executive officer of LGBT VC, a global nonprofit created with the goal of advocating for and supporting LGBTQ investors. Before founding LGBT VC, she held positions in investment, operations and partnerships at various firms, including Silicon Valley Bank, Plume Clinic, Sequoia Capital, Accenture, and Spotify. Tiana co-founded LGBT VC in December 2022.

Tiana earned her Bachelor of Arts degree with high Latin honors from Morehouse College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, awarded the Oprah Winfrey merit scholarship, and designated an HBCU All-Star by The White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges & Universities.

Tiana has been recognized as one of Forbes 30 under 30 in venture capital. Most notably, she is regarded as the first transgender woman to work in the venture capital industry.