Meet the Black Woman Who Helped Create Shockwave, Which Led to Animated GIFs

Lisa Gelobter

In the age of social media, cryptocurrency, and video streaming, it's easy to forget the days of old when people lived on dial-up internet and used landlines. However, all of these things we have and take for granted today started somewhere. And much of the services we utilize on our mobile devices are possible thanks to a Black woman named Lisa Gelobter. 
According to BlackPast, Gelobter graduated from Brown University in 1991 with a degree in computer science. Starting her career at the age of twenty, Gelobter focused her talents in the industry on projects including a video gaming platform called Shockwave.

In the time she spent working in Shockwave, Gelobter invented the specific animation used in the creation of GIFs (Graphics Interchange Format), which is now commonly used on social media and other multimedia platforms.

Today, Gelobter is the co-founder and current CEO of tEQuitable, an online resource that is used to resolve bias and harassment in the workplace. On their website, she is even mentioned as one of Inc's Top 100 Female Founders in business.