
Tristan Higgins
Tristan has a Bachelors of Art in Theater from the University of California, San Diego and went to California Western School of Law to become an entertainment lawyer. She began her career as a prosecutor for the San Diego City Attorney, and went on to practice entertainment law for the Screen Actors Guild (now, SAG-AFTRA) in Los Angeles. After advising SAG in its video game contract negotiations, she joined Sega of America in San Francisco, where she oversaw Sega’s legal needs for North America. She left Sega to join Sony Electronics in San Diego, where she helped establish the Digital Cinema business worldwide. Tristan now advises the component sales division in Silicon Valley, California, Novi, Michigan, Tel Aviv, Israel, and San Diego, and works frequently with Sony’s headquarters in Tokyo on high tech licensing and sales. She has a passion for the rapidly emerging area of ethics in artificial intelligence, drones, and robotics.
Tristan co-founded Sony’s LGBT employee resource group, has organized Sony’s participation in the San Diego Pride Parade and Festival, and spearheaded Sony’s participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. In 2012, Tristan received the National LGBT Bar Association’s Out & Proud Corporate Counsel Award and was named one of the 10 Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz by POWER UP, a lesbian filmmaking group. In 2014, she was honored with the Gender Diversity Lawyer of the Year Award by Chambers USA Women In Law.
Tristan has been working on breaking through barriers her whole life and about 6 years ago began writing a blog about that journey. Tristan is married and has two children. She loves writing, traveling, polar bears, musicals, kayaking, bow ties, lattes and craft beer.