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Showing posts from July, 2017

Sexism and Sexual Harassment in Silicon Valley

An alarming number of women have recently come forward with sexual allegations against reputable VCs in Silicon Valley. I published this video on Youtube to describe my own experiences raising funding in Silicon Valley for my fashion startup and the sexism I personally experienced during the process.  T he shocking thing is that I had started to internalize the inappropriate treatment I received and wondered if there was something I was doing that led males to not take me seriously. I often wondered if I came across as ditzy and unintelligent - perhaps it was my own fault that people felt it was okay to make a pass at me during a business meeting or graze my thigh suggestively. I started to forget that I was an articulate, ambitious, smart woman with a degree in Neuroscience from Stanford (and it is even difficult for me to write this very sentence because a small part of me still wonders if I'm a fraud). I feel as though my credentials need to be excavated from layers of...

Why This is Not the Solution

As a female living in Silicon Valley, this is often the message I'm getting. Get Shit Done. Work Fucking Harder. Lean In. Women Who Work! Whole 30. Be Amazing. And to all of that I want to say, Shut the Fuck Up.  I don't think the solution is to "Lean In" to a system that is stacked against you. In fact, I am all for leaning out.  My friend Crystal and I are starting this blog because we are tired of working fucking harder after a lifetime of making this a philosophy. Both of us went to Stanford, both of us work in technology. Crystal is a software engineer and I am a software product manager. The Woman Who Don't Lean In Blog is a place for us to vent our problems and really explore what we believe to be deeply rooted systemic problems. This blog isn't just limited to sexism in the tech industry, but will explore mental health, wellness, social norms, the economy, the housing bubble and other problems that plague millennials. I'm all for leaning ou...