Kyle McKitty didn’t just pirouette his way through dance school — he grand jeté’d right into the tech industry and made it queer. The London-born entrepreneur, who once trained in ballet, jazz, and tap, turned down an $18 million offer from Samsung for his early dance app. Why? Because sometimes the bag isn’t big enough if it means giving up your vision. Now, he’s the CEO of The App Kit, a tech firm building digital tools for LGBTQ+ venues and events — and he’s making waves in a very straight, very white tech world.
“I am Black, and I am gay, and I can move within so many different spaces,” Kyle said. “I present myself well and I’m good at what I do.” And he’s proving it. His work powers events like Everyday People — a global queer-friendly series — and nightlife staples like Sweatbox Soho. The mission? Amplifying voices that the tech world still manages to overlook, one QR code at a time.
No Code? No Problem
Despite being surrounded by code, Kyle is quick to admit: he doesn’t know a line of it. “You just have to bring the right people into your company who are great at what they do,” he explained. It’s a savvy CEO move that’s propelled The App Kit into relevance, even while the broader tech industry is crawling when it comes to LGBTQ+ inclusion. According to recent data, queer representation in tech barely scrapes 3%. But Kyle isn’t just beating the odds — he’s redefining them.
His journey is part PR glam, part underdog hustle. After a stint with Rihanna’s team — yes, that Rihanna — Kyle created a dance app that caught major attention. The $18M deal that almost was? It disappeared when Samsung’s leadership changed. But he still flipped that code into a solid payday and used it to launch something of his own.
The Power of Queer Visibility
Beyond the apps, Kyle is pushing a broader message about authenticity. Coming out at 18 in New York, he says the community he found there gave him the strength to be himself — something that still drives his work. “We need to love who we love and be proud of everything we stand for,” he said. And in a time when over 570 anti-LGBTQ+ bills are being tracked across the U.S., that message hits harder than ever.
“I hope things will change, and that will only happen if people start making the change,” he said, quoting Oprah along the way. His take? We don’t wait for the culture to shift. We are the shift.
Kyle McKitty’s success is a bright, glittery slap in the face to anyone who thinks queerness is a liability in business. It’s also a reminder that in an industry so often allergic to diversity, bold, unapologetic visibility is not just radical — it’s profitable.