Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change By Ellen Pao


Ellen Pao is an investor who made her way through the tech scene eventually landing at Venture Capital firm Kleiner Perkins. In 2015 she made the news for bringing a case against Kleiner Perkins for gender discrimination. This problem she writes is largely known and accepted across the Venture Capital and tech scene along with many other fields but little is done against to solve the issue. Her case was the first to go head to head against such an established firm. As her case escalated many women began reaching out. Many of them related to her and had similar experiences.

After the lawsuit was over she heard from more women come forward sharing their own experiences, some even started calling themselves Team Ellen. Despite losing the case, as a result of the publicity, she was able to shed light on an issue many thought was no longer an issue. After receiving warranted attention on the suit she decided to write a book detailing her experiences of discrimination and diversity. In the book she writes that she wants to help share her stories so that other women will not feel like they are the only ones. She says that the book also serves as a place for her to propose solutions to the issues she faced.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Born on Third Base: Part 3

For my part of Born on Third Base Chuck Collins describes the realities of privilege. Collins writes whether we choose to acknowledge it or not many of us have been endowed with the  “wind at your back” as Collins calls it based solely on your gender, your sexual orientation and most overwhelmingly the color of your skin. For centuries certain people have been playing a rigged game refusing to accept their advantage which has stopped many others from being given equal opportunities. One of the stories Collins recounts is the time he gave a talk at the Norwood Retired Men’s Club. Most of the men there had served during World War II. His talk addressed the disparity between the rich and the poor. He focused specifically on the way World War II was a direct contributor to the wealth gap between white people and black people. He discusses how many of the men benefited directly as a result of subsidies for soldiers coming home after the war. Collins recounts the various ...
Read more

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Since we’ve been young we always get asked this question. For some people they can answer you without a doubt they’ve always known. Others it’s not as easy they get a little uncomfortable and make a joke saying “not be homeless.” The question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” For me, this has always been a difficult one. I’ve always had interests in lots of subjects but never known if I was passionate enough to pursue just one as a career. So when the decision to choose a college and a major came around it was a particularly daunting choice. I had always been passionate about STEM but I also knew I wanted to work with people. So doctor seemed like a sensible option until I realized I couldn’t see blood without turning away in disgust. So I gave up on that option. Then I decided I wanted to be a biomedical engineer. This I pursued for a long time even doing a summer internship at a gene therapy  company. I loved the possibilities the work I was doing had but I ...
Read more

Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change By: Ellen Pao Post 2

In the first part of her autobiography, Ellen Pao recounts her first encounters with discrimination. She starts by saying that besides a few isolated events her childhood was generally free from any negative experiences and her time at Princeton mirrored this. However, when she enrolls at Harvard Law,  things begin to change. She is finally made aware of the discriminatory opinions that still inhabit Harvard students and professors alike. White male professors would share their beliefs that none of the women or Black professors were qualified enough to teach at Harvard Law. As she graduated and moved on to a top law firm things got more slightly more obvious. She says she saw little things that didn’t seem to mean a whole lot. Events like senior partners taking twelve of Pao’s male peers to a four-hour steak dinner one of Pao’s friends, one of the few Black female lawyers and a graduate of Harvard Law, being mistaken for an assistant. No one interaction was the end of the world,” ...
Read more