What we collect, and why.

When you apply. Your name, email, an optional university email, phone number, LinkedIn URL, and your written answers about your motivation, skills, idea and team status.

When you book a mentor. Your name, email, an optional phone number, what you are working on, and any notes you add. Both you and your mentor receive a copy of this in the confirmation email, because the mentor needs it to prepare.

On your account page, if you choose to. A photo, a short description, a hometown, and links to your LinkedIn, Instagram or website. All optional. The photo appears on your dashboard and, if you are a mentor, in the directory members see. Change or remove any of it at any time.

If you are a mentor and you connect your Google Calendar, we ask for two permissions: reading your free/busy times, and creating events. We use free/busy solely to avoid offering a slot when you are already occupied. We read whether you are busy, never the titles, guests, or contents of your events. We use event creation solely to place the confirmed meeting on your calendar and generate its Google Meet link.

Innovate Los Angeles's use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. We do not transfer this data to anyone, do not use it for advertising, and do not allow humans to read it except where you explicitly ask us to, where required by law, or for security investigation.

• Render runs our server and database, where applications and bookings are stored
• Vercel serves this website
• Resend sends our email: login codes, booking confirmations, calendar invitations
• Google provides calendar availability and Meet links, for mentors who connect a calendar

Your application is read by Innovate Los Angeles organizers reviewing applications. Your booking details are sent to the mentor you booked. That is the whole distribution list.

We keep applications for as long as we are running the program you applied to, and booking records while they are useful for scheduling and follow-up. Server logs are short-lived and kept for debugging.

Email team@innovatelosangeles.com to see what we hold about you, correct it, or have it deleted. Tell us which email address you used and we will find it. We will not make you justify the request.

Traffic is encrypted in transit, the database connection is encrypted, passwords are hashed with bcrypt, and signing in requires a code sent to your email in addition to your password. No system is perfectly secure, and we would rather say that than imply otherwise.

Questions about anything on this page, or about a specific piece of your data, go to team@innovatelosangeles.com. If we change this policy materially we will update the date at the top of this page.