Christie Pitts is VP of Operations at Mahmee, a maternal healthcare company on a mission to make the US the best place in the world to give birth. She co-founded the VCs for Repro initiative, focused on the intersection of the economy and reproductive justice, and hosts the Moms at Work liveshow to build community, raise awareness, and advocate for better experiences for working moms.
She is also an experienced early-stage investor formerly at Backstage Capital having invested in more than 200 companies led by underrepresented (women, people of color, and LGBTQ) founders. Christie led company sourcing, diligence, portfolio management, and investor relations for the firm. Additionally, Christie led the launch of the first global accelerator for underrepresented founders. Backstage Capital’s Accelerator operated in London, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Detroit.
Christie is a high-achieving mom, and hosts the live show Moms at Work, where she speaks on a weekly basis with people who are achieving amazing things while raising amazing humans. Christie is motivated by representation, and is dedicated to amplifying unheard stories in her work.
Previously, Christie had a multifaceted career at Verizon. She began as a part-time retail customer service representative and worked her way up through the company, becoming the Associate Director of Marketing and Sales Operations for the Northern California – Nevada – Hawaii region of Verizon Wireless. In this role, Christie led operations and marketing teams, supporting more than 5M wireless customers with annual revenues in excess of $4B. From that role, Christie identified a passion for working with early-stage companies, which led her to work on the Verizon Ventures team as a Principal.
Christie is an inventor and has a patent for a connected IoT device. She has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, BBC, and TechCrunch. She concepted and launched the Verizon Ventures podcast, appears regularly on Backstage’s The Bootstrapped VC podcast, and is the co-host of 0G: A History of Forgotten Phones, with fellow VC and phone aficionado Peter Rojas.
