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Ellen Pao spent the last few years spotlighting the technology industry’s lack of diversity, in court and beyond. Erica Baker caused a stir at Google when she started a spreadsheet last year for employees to share their salaries, highlighting the pay disparities between those of different genders doing the same job. Laura I. Gómez founded a start-up focused on improving diversity in the hiring process.

Fresno, California, is a three-hour drive from Silicon Valley. You’re more likely to find acres of farmland there than you would a glut of smartphone app companies vying for attention. But the state’s fifth-largest city is in the Central Valley and therefore at the heart of something a bit more critical to life than hailing an Uber: Nearly 40 percent of all food consumed in the U.S. is produced there. And innovation is just as important.

Justine Sheu didn’t have any plans of becoming an entrepreneur. The Detroit-based millennial spent her early career educating underserved youth in the area. But with the backing of a funding initiative specifically targeted to boost women and minority entrepreneurs in Southeast Michigan, Sheu cofounded two education-technology startups. Notably, she’s the CEO of Pro:Up, a mobile app that connects high school students with extracurricular and career opportunities via text message.