Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo lashes out at X, working moms talk about the "motherhood penalty," and Ancestry.com's Deborah Liu explains how she rose through the ranks in Silicon Valley. Have a pleasant Tuesday!
- Finding her voice. Deb Liu often felt like an outsider. Now the CEO of Ancestry.com, Liu was the daughter of immigrant parents. Growing up in South Carolina, she was one of the only Asian students at school, making her the victim of pranks and endless bullying.
“I was made fun of a lot, and I became quieter and quieter and smaller,” she says.
But Sheryl Sandberg helped her come out of her shell, she told Fortune’s Alan Murray and Michal Lev-Ram on the Leadership Next podcast last week. Sandberg hired Liu at Facebook in 2009 and became something of a mentor to her, giving her valuable career advice and helping her come into her own.
All these years later, Liu is still grateful and still very aware that the challenges that she and Sandberg faced over a decade ago—that led Sandberg to write Lean In—are still prevalent in tech today. She’s no longer an outsider, but she acknowledges that all too often, women are treated as such in the industry.
Her journey led her to write Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work, a leadership book for women in business. It stemmed from years of speaking to young women at Stanford, where she received her MBA, and offers advice for how to lead effectively in the world outside the classroom.
One of the biggest lessons she’s learned is that “you get to be the victim or beneficiary of your own history,” she says. “And for a long time, I just felt like a victim. I felt like it was not fair.”
Now, Liu is firmly in control of her narrative. She’s embraced who she is, but also worked to improve her leadership style and interpersonal skills. She’s not the quiet kid shirking away from raising her hand anymore.
She’s hopeful that her story, at least, can inspire some women until the industry is more equitable.
“My daughters are 14 and 12. Now, what if it's 20 years before the system is fair? What do they do?” she says. “I think sometimes we…wish for what is possible, but it's gonna be a long time. [Meanwhile], a lot of women are coming of age and coming into the system. How do we help them succeed? How do we actually build more bridges so that they can get across the water as well?”
Liu also discussed her rise to CEO and what’s next for Ancestry on the podcast, which you can listen to here.
Alicia Adamczyk
alicia.adamczyk.com
@AliciaAdamczyk
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