# Decentralized Identity Advocate and Co-founder, IIW

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/experts/kaliya-young/
Last updated: 2026-08-29
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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## Bio

Kaliya Young, known widely as Identity Woman, is a central figure in decentralized identity. She co-founded the [Internet Identity Workshop (IIW)](https://startwithidentity.com/conferences/iiw/), the unconference where much of the field's foundational work is debated, and co-authored a leading guide to self-sovereign identity. Her work spans [verifiable credentials](https://startwithidentity.com/standards/verifiable-credentials/), wallets, and the governance frameworks around them.

Profile built from public IIW and personal-site records.

## Where their work shows up

Young's advocacy shaped the [self-sovereign identity](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-self-sovereign-identity/) framing and the [issuer, holder, verifier](https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/issuer-holder-verifier/) model now being deployed at population scale through the [EUDI Wallet](https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/eudi-wallet/). See [verifiable credentials](https://startwithidentity.com/standards/verifiable-credentials/) and [decentralized identifiers](https://startwithidentity.com/standards/decentralized-identifiers-did/).