As she was finishing up her undergraduate degree at Princeton University, Rebecca Portnoff was trying to figure out what was next: more school, or go work for a tech company?

She studied computer science, doing her dissertation on natural language processing. This was over a decade ago, when artificial intelligence wasn’t the buzzword it is today but still held scores of promise and excitement for those working with it. 

Around the same time, she picked up a copy of Half the Sky, a book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn about human rights abuses against women across the world. The book, recommended by her sister, ended up leading her to the groundbreaking path she’s on today at the nonprofit Thorn.

“I decided that I wanted to make an impact in this space, but didn’t........

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