Lia McBride (Class of 1999)

From Silicon Valley to Style: How Lia McBride Found Balance in Business and Life 

Lia McBride (Class of 1999), is a tech executive and Scottish entrepreneur. 

Born and raised in Edinburgh, she attended George Watson’s College from the age of five to eighteen. She thrived in the drama department and played roles across multiple musicals and plays from the age of 8 to 18. Mr (Hugh) Patterson had a great influence on her life - encouraging her to always strive for better and remind her she could be anything she wanted to be. It was with this confidence instilled that she went onto further study and threw herself into the burgeoning world of tech. 

After graduating in Marketing from University of Glasgow, Lia moved to London, where she became the first Scottish employee at Twitter. She was later promoted to the San Francisco headquarters, working as a global lead and collaborating with some of the world’s most innovative tech companies. Lia led the first Twitter world tour, traveling extensively and working across 8 countries. 

Yet while her career was thriving, she was navigating years of chronic back pain, which ultimately led to ALIF spine surgery in 2020 and anthropic hip surgery in 2022. Through that experience, she realised how everyday choices, including the bags she carried, were adding strain and imbalance to her life. 

Inspired, Lia founded LIAVELLA, a luxury handbag brand rooted in empowerment, balance and timeless luxury design soon after her surgery in 2023. After three years in development, the result is a collection of versatile, travel-conscious bags that empower women to carry less with confidence, and move with balance. With 12–15 ways to style each bag it enables them to effortlessly transition from work to weekend and day to night. 

Now back home in Edinburgh, Lia serves as General Manager for AI Engineer, a global San Francisco-based company connecting and empowering the AI engineering community through experiences that drive real-world progress. However, her deepest passion has always been to empower women, a vision she brings to life with the upcoming launch of LIAVELLA, in November 2025 (www.liavella.com)