As a global serial entrepreneur, Tiffany Norwood has done seven start-ups and two IPOs in a career that spans 30 years and more than 50 countries. She did her first start-up as a teenager and had a patent by the age of 23. Her ventures have ranged from the first onestrap backpack, to the automation technology behind self-install kits for broadband internet, to a healthcare clinic in Ethiopia that has treated thousands of patients.
Ms. Norwood is considered one of the pioneers of digital broadcasting and is the only
successful Black female tech entrepreneur of her generation, with a career that started in the 1980s and continues today. In her late twenties, she raised $670 million to fund WorldSpace, the first global digital satellite radio start-up. WorldSpace launched three satellites covering the globe, bringing digital content to every country on earth. The North American satellite became XM Radio, and both WorldSpace and XM Radio eventually went public. Over 20 years ago, Ms. Norwood also did some of the first ever global digital content licensing deals, starting with Michael Bloomberg (Bloomberg News) and then Phil Kent (CNN International).
Ms. Norwood was an early collaborator with the Fraunhofer Institute on their MPEG technologies. In the 1990s, she spent many nights at their original lab in Erlangen, Germany. MPEG Layer-3 and MPEG Layer-4 are now known as MP3 and MP4 and are global standards in compression technology.
Currently, she serves as the Founder and CEO of Tribetan, an ed-tech company that teaches the skillsets of entrepreneurs and innovators, including persuasive storytelling, collaboration, endurance, and cultivated optimism, which are as critical for future success as literacy was generations ago. The Tribetan Method, also known as the science of turning imagination into reality, is a seven-step process for making ideas and goals real.
Ms. Norwood is a highly respected and soughtafter global speaker on entrepreneurship, innovation, and imagination. She has spoken around the world at venues including the USPTO, the Newseum, the European Parliament, Cornell University, the Italian Parliament, Platform Summit, University of South Carolina, Global Entrepreneurship Week, Dev4Ethic, Howard University, KPMG UK, Center for American Studies, the Creative Business Cup, the Mexican Embassy, NYU, and many others. Her most iconic performances are “The Power of We,” “The ROI of Faith,‘’ and “Hermione Rising.”
Ms. Norwood has an MBA from Harvard and a bachelor’s degree in economics with a concentration in statistics and electrical engineering from Cornell University. Her ultimate dream is that the entrepreneur and innovator skillset of turning ideas into reality becomes as well-known as reading, writing, and math.