Tech is one of the fastest-growing industries. Luckily there are plenty of female CEOs using their voices to help get other women into the field.
MyWallSt is celebrating Women’s History Month by discussing female investors, CEOs, and highlighting how women can take control of their financial future through investing!
The technology industry may be male-dominated, but there are still lots of powerful women in this sector. There are many technology leaders who we admire, but here are a few of the female CEOs we think are doing tremendous work in their own field whilst helping other women to rise up the ladder.
Susan Wojcicki — CEO of YouTube
Wojcicki is one of the best-known CEOs in Silicon Valley and tops pretty much every list of influential female tech leaders. She was Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) sixteenth employee, originally working as the marketing manager. The CEO has contributed to the development of Google Images, Google Books, and AdSense. Eventually, she suggested the $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube and has run the site since 2014. YouTube is now estimated to be worth more than $90 billion and has roughly 2 billion monthly users. She also sits on the board of Salesforce.
Wojcicki made bold statements about gender discrimination in her article ‘How To Break up the Silicon Valley Boys’ Club’ which is a great example of how she speaks up for other women in the tech industry.
Wojcicki explained:
“Tech is an incredible force that will change our world in ways we can’t anticipate. If that force is only 20 to 30% women, that is a problem.”
Kimberly Bryant — CEO of Black Girls Code
Bryant is a very inspirational woman who used her 401(k) to launch the company Black Girls Code back in 2011. The organization has seven chapters in the U.S. and one in Johannesburg, South Africa.
She was motivated to start the non-profit when she struggled to find her daughter a computer programming course in the Bay Area. The CEO is dedicated to “changing the face of technology” by introducing girls of color to the technology and computer science space. Bryant’s mission is to teach a million girls of color how to code by 2040 and currently, the company has reached over 3,000 students. The White House has named her a Champion of Change and she was given the Ingenuity Award in Social Progress from the Smithsonian Institute.
A student of electrical engineering, Bryant stated:
“I didn’t want my daughter to feel culturally isolated in the pursuit of her studies as I had as a young girl. I didn’t want her to give up on her passions just because she didn’t see anyone else like her in the classroom.”
Jane Jie Sun — CEO of Ctrip
Sun is the only female CEO in China’s digital travel industry and is also one of the only women leaders in the Chinese tech sector. She joined Ctrip (NASDAQ: TCOM) back in 2005 as its chief financial officer and worked in other roles before rising to CEO in 2016. Sun has been very successful in her role, and with a roughly $26 billion market cap, the company is one of the biggest online travel companies in China.
Sun discussed the role she has played in helping more women progress in the workplace, stating:
“At the year end, the majority of employees who proactively ask for promotions are male, and there are very few females who come and talk with me about career development and advancement. I always make an effort to encourage our female employees to put themselves forward for leadership roles, as a reflection of their invaluable contributions to our company.”
She is also a proud member and leading supporter of Harvard’s Women in Global Health LEAD Fellowship, a program set up to help emerging female leaders around the globe.
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The above article is part six in MyWallSt’s Women In Investing series. Check out the other titles in the series so far.
Closing The Gender Wealth Gap By Investing.
Why Do Women Make Great Investors?
Women in Investing: 3 Famous Women Investors.
What Stocks Support Gender Equality?
3 Female CEOs And What We Can Learn From Them
MyWallSt operates a full disclosure policy. MyWallSt staff currently holds long positions in companies mentioned above. Read our full disclosure policy here.