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
The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Hitting x on X. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo called X a “gigantic global sewer” on Monday. She announced she has left the platform as controversy mounts over antisemitism and misinformation, which Hidalgo said is “destroying our democracies.” Reuters
- Moms can't win. Women across different professional fields spoke to Fortune about their experiences with the so-called motherhood penalty in which working moms are perceived as less ambitious and generally overlooked for career growth opportunities. One mom said that simply asking about parental leave policies and childcare benefits can open the door to discrimination, while another described how disappointed and unsympathetic coworkers were when juggling both responsibilities slowed her down. Fortune
- No goal. Mercury 13, a firm looking to invest in women's soccer, was set to acquire a majority stake in the women's team of U.K. soccer club Lewes FC. Now the deal is off because club management bristled at the idea of the firm backing the women's team and not the men's. Lewes FC is one of the few clubs in the world with equal budgets for its men's and women's teams, though its women's team plays full-time and at a higher level. Bloomberg
- Plea to Putin. A growing movement of Russian women are combatting the country’s strict rules on anti-war sentiment by protesting a policy that forces mobilized troops to remain in combat indefinitely without replacement. Some women are receiving home visits from the Russian police warning them of the consequences of public protest. New York Times
- Donor disparity. A new study out of India found that, between 1995 and 2021, 80% of organ donors in Asia were women though 80% of recipients were men. The authors of the study argue that patriarchal norms that position men as all-important breadwinners and women as less essential are one reason for the disparity. South China Morning Post
ON MY RADAR
Will gains from the spectacular ‘she-covery’ last? Washington Post
‘Manahatta,’ Mary Kathryn Nagle’s play about the Lenape, comes home New York Times
Monica Lewinsky: We the people…demand more amendments! Vanity Fair
PARTING WORDS
"I give up, really. I just say, take me, have me, make fun of me, criticise me, whatever."
—Rosamund Pike, who plays Elspeth in the recently released Saltburn, on dealing with public criticism.
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