Kathryn Kosmides

Kathryn Kosmides is the Managing Director of Helping Survivors alongside an incredible team of individuals who believe individuals who have experienced sexual assault, abuse, or harassment deserve to know their rights and options.

She is also the Founder and CEO of Garbo — a tech nonprofit on a mission to help proactively prevent harm in the digital age through technology, tools, and education. She spent her early career helping early stage technology startups scale their sales and marketing, grew up on the internet, and is a multitude survivor of gender-based violence — all of which she brings to her work at Garbo.

In 2018, Kosmides founded Garbo, recognizing the urgent need to help people and platforms protect themselves and their communities from known repeat offenders of gender-based violence by making it easier and more affordable to know if someone has a history of causing harm alongside resources and education about safety tips and healthy relationships in the digital age. Drawing from her personal experiences and profound understanding of the challenges faced by victims when reporting harm, she set out to develop a novel safety system that bridged the gap between detecting and reporting perpetrators.

Garbo has made a profound impact, positively influencing the lives of millions of individuals through its technology, tools, and educational initiatives. The organization was previously known for their new kind of online background check platform in partnership with the dating industry but chose to shut that technology down in August 2023 due to ongoing problems with public records, threats from bad actors, and a lack of real support from technology platform partners.

After shutting down the technology, Garbo released their digital guidebook “The Essential Guide to Online & IRL Safety” available for free on their website.

Kathryn has published op-eds in TechCrunch and Fortune about safety in the digital age, she serves on the Advisory Board for Marketplace Risk, was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business in 2021, and Garbo was named one of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas for 2023.

Her unwavering dedication to centering survivors and advocating for accountability has shaped her work, revolutionizing the way we approach safety in an increasingly interconnected world. Through her visionary leadership and unwavering dedication, Kathryn Kosmides is paving the way for a future where survivors are supported, perpetrators are held accountable, and make the internet a safer space for all.