Tiffany Shlain

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Honored as one of Newsweek's "Women Shaping the 21st Century," Tiffany Shlain, is an acclaimed filmmaker and speaker, director of The Moxie institute and founder of The Webby Awards.

Tiffany’s career is guided by a passion for unraveling complex ideas — in unorthodox, highly-entertaining ways. Her work ranges from the internet to politics to religion and genetics.

Tiffany’s recent film, “The Tribe “ (Sundance & Tribeca Film Festival Selection 2006), enlists pop icon Barbie to tackle the challenging issue of Jewish identity. Her previous films include: "Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness” (Sundance Selection 2003), a powerful exploration of women’s rights in America, that aired on the The Sundance Channel and won many awards. As a director for both theater and film she has worked with actors including Peter Coyote, Harrison Ford and Alan Cumming. She is currently developing a feature film and art installation work that investigates how changes in sexual reproduction via nature, culture, politics or science have far reaching consequences in the complex global ecology. She will develop this project this fall at The Headlands Center for the Arts where she is an artist-in-residence. As director of The Moxie Institute she creates, develops and distributes films and discussion programs using dynamic and engaging approaches that incorporate emerging technologies.

In addition to her filmmaking, 10 years ago Tiffany founded The Webby Awards, the leading international honors for web sites. Under her leadership and creative direction, The Webby Awards have become a global institution and industry bellwether, attracting entries from more than 40 countries and all 50 states. She has evolved the annual ceremony into a major cultural event thanks to its famous five-word speeches, her original films and an eclectic roster of guests that has included former Vice President Al Gore, Prince, internet pioneer Vinton Cerf, journalist Thomas L. Friedman, satirist Rob Corddry from The Daily Show and artist Bill Viola. In 1998, Tiffany co-founded The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, which today has 550 members and serves as The Webbys’ judging body. The 10th Annual Webby Awards were held in June in New York City.

A sought-after speaker, Tiffany lectures on her filmmaking and the internet’s role in reshaping popular culture, business, and society. Tiffany appears on ABC, CNN, and NPR and has been invited to lecture at conferences and institutions including Stanford, Sundance, MIT, IBM and Apple’s in store theater. Her work has been profiled in publications including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The International Herald Tribune.

Tiffany is being awarded The Victoria Award for ethical leadership by The Woodhull Institute in NYC in this fall. She was a member of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s transition team and has served on the Board of Governors for The Commonwealth Club of California since 2000.

Fascinated with technology since high school, Tiffany co-wrote a proposal for an organization called Uniting Nations in Telecommunications & Software (UNITAS) in 1987, which led to her serving as a student ambassador to the Soviet Union in 1988.

Tiffany is a graduate of the University of California Berkeley (1992) where she was selected as a valedictorian speaker and received the highest award in art, The Eisner Award for her filmmaking. She studied film theory at UC Berkeley and film production at NYU. She lives in San Francisco with her husband Ken Goldberg, an artist and Professor of robotics at UC Berkeley, and their daughter Odessa Simone.