The Founder
Rukayatu “Ruky” Tijani is the Founder, Creator, and Chief Esquire Officer of Firm for the Culture.
Drawing on her extensive experience as an intellectual property attorney in the Silicon Valley office of the top litigation firm in the Country, Ruky provides extensive, detail-oriented and comprehensive trademark education, strategy, and application services to a host of social entrepreneurs and innovative founders at accessible flat-fee prices.
As a Social Entrepreneur herself, Ruky knows what it’s like to seek social change while learning to protect a business’s assets. Ruky is the Founder and Creator of the First Generation Purpose Project ("FGPP"), an initiative designed to help First Generation Professionals and Entrepreneurs navigate life and career by utilizing the grit and tenacity that is already on the inside of them.
As the Founder of the FGPP, Ruky has provided workshops to students, young professionals, and creatives at New York University School of Law, Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, University of Notre Dame School of Law, and Berkeley Law School. Her workshops have been praised as candid, insightful, empowering, and practical. She has been recognized as a California Change Lawyer for Legal Diversity, been featured in XONecole and Above the Law, and taken part in several podcast interviews, including the Happy Lawyers Project and the First-Gen Lounge.
Ruky is a proud graduate of UC Berkeley School of Law, an alum of three nationally ranked top law firms (Quinn Emanuel, Ropes & Gray, and Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton), a member of the California and New York State Bars, a fearless advocate for diversity, a Nigerian food lover, a sister, and a friend.
Combining Ruky’s entrepreneurial experience and network, intellectual prowess, and passion for social change, Firm for the Culture seeks to be your go-to firm as you work to protect your brand.
The Mission
Why we Started...
Because Intellectual Property is a Civil Right
While working in the Silicon Valley Office of my former law firm, I came across a story of a popular video game that took dance moves and other intellectual property from people who have worked so hard to craft artistic masterpieces.
Suffice it to say, the people from whom the dance moves were taken were never compensated, and this pained me greatly. Far too often, we’re told discussions around intellectual property and intangible asset protection are best reserved for the Silicon Valley venture capital firms and patent-heavy organizations.
But intellectual property is more than that.
Intellectual property covers our thoughts, dances, music, innovative expressions, and unique contributions to the culture. As an intellectual property attorney, I wanted to make sure social impact organizations knew the unique and amazing value of their contributions, and that they had an advocate for them for matters before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
We started Firm for the Culture because intellectual property is a civil right.
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