Madison Campbell (businessperson)

Madison Campbell was born in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania in 1995.[3][2] She grew up in a conservative Catholic family in a suburb of Pittsburgh.[3] While attending Chartiers Valley Middle School, she challenged the school's dress code, showing an early propensity to question authority.[3]

Campbell's initial foray into the performing arts was in musical theater, which she pursued at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School.[3] However, a lisp, considered a hindrance for auditions, prompted her to switch to dance.[3] This pursuit was cut short due to a diagnosis of thoracic outlet syndrome, a nerve disorder that impeded her ability to perform.[3]

Following her diagnosis, Campbell delved into medical research related to her condition and subsequently decided to major in public health and epidemiology at Hampshire College.[3] Inspired by Elon Musk's Mars colonization ideas, she explored disease transmission on Mars, coining the term "astroepidemiology" which she discussed during a TED talk.[3]

In college, Campbell's beliefs underwent changes.[3] Initially conservative, she briefly turned to atheism upon entering a liberal campus, although she has since returned to her Roman Catholic roots.[3] During a study abroad period in Edinburgh, Campbell's exposure to the U.K.'s universal health care system compounded with her own sexual assault led her to advocate for the U.S.'s privatized model, and she returned to the U.S. as a libertarian.[3]

Back at Hampshire College, Campbell established a Young Americans for Liberty chapter.[3] She interned at the Charles Koch Institute and Senator Rand Paul's PAC. However, despite previously aspiring to earn a Ph.D. in epidemiology and work at NASA, she left school in her last semester due to NASA budget cuts and having been sexually assaulted at the college in Scotland.[3][5]

Prior to co-founding Leda, Campbell founded Iyanu in 2018, a company designed to address the equity gap in Nigeria by connecting individuals to jobs in the United States.[6][7][3]

In 2019, Campbell founded MeToo Kits, later rebranded as Leda Health after the mythic Greek queen, Leda.[3][8][9] Her decision to start Leda Health was driven by her own traumatic experience.[10][11] As a survivor of sexual assault, she sought to help survivors face challenges in collecting evidence and seeking justice.[3][10][12] She developed an "early evidence kit" in close collaboration with medical and law-enforcement personnel, using blockchain to encrypt data.[13][14] This data, attached to a specific user account, allows sexual assault survivors to collect evidence without the need to visit a hospital or police station.[3][11][14] The company introduced an at-home alternative to standard hospital rape kits, allowing assault survivors to collect DNA evidence themselves in last-resort situations.[3] Collaborating with DNA Labs International, these early evidence kits can be tested in under 48 hours. The kits are available in Florida.[15] Three years afterward, Leda Health expanded its services to include Plan B, STI testing, and raised $7 million in funding.[3][16][13] In 2022, Leda Health was included in Fortune's Change the World list.[17]

In 2023, a significant breakthrough came when a bill was passed in Maryland, acknowledging the existence and potential benefits of self-administered evidence collection kits.[18]

• Forbes' 30 Under 30[3][16]
• CES Award[19]
• Maverick's 40u40[20]