If women don't participate in tech, with its massive prominence in our lives and society, we risk losing many of the economic, political, and social gains we have made over decades.
— Susan Wojcicki
My daughter was 10 years old when she told me she hated computers. As someone who has spent her career helping build one of the largest tech companies in the world, I was in shock. Suddenly an issue I faced repeatedly at work - the lack of women in tech - hit squarely at home.
YouTube has so much great content. And it really has something for everybody. And people come up to me all the time and talk to me about how YouTube has changed their life, how they've been able to learn something they didn't think they could learn.
In the old world, people used to have to go to focus groups and ask people what they thought. Now, people are writing all over the Web what they think about things.
Suddenly, when you have kids, you become responsible for these other people - like if something's not working out at school. I learned to speak out.
CEOs need to say, 'We're going to make sure this is a great environment for all types of people.' I was a beneficiary of that. I got support from the leaders of Google - all men.
Growth is always essential. Running any tech company, you want to make sure you're growing. Putting in place all of the right structure to be able to ensure growth.
I love creating. I had been really into photography when I was in college.
I see tech as... a force that is changing pretty much all parts of our society. It's really sad for me that we don't have enough women that are part of that.
Don't overplan your life. Joining Google when I was four months pregnant was a bit of a leap, but sometimes you have to do the right thing for you right now.
After my kids go to bed, I check email. It's about having that balance.
Coding is like writing, and we live in a time of the new industrial revolution. What's happened is that maybe everybody knows how to use computers, like they know how to read, but they don't know how to write.
In every organization, there are many people, from senior leaders to first-time managers, who have the power to elevate women in the workplace. I wouldn't be in the position I'm in today without several key people in power believing in me and giving me a chance to succeed.
I have had a lot of setbacks that I have learned from.
I have tried in my role of being one of the first women at Google, let alone the first woman to have a baby, to really try to set the tone that this is a great place to work for diversity reasons.
People don't understand the logistics of advertising.
Google is a business that gets paid when users want to see - want to click on - the ad. If we show ads that no one wants to see, we don't generate revenue.
The fact that women represent such a small portion of the tech workforce shouldn't just be a wake-up call - it should be a Sputnik moment. The tech industry is not America's future; it is our present.
Paid leave is a not just a mother and child issue, it's a societal issue we have.
Unless we make computer science a priority, we risk making gender, class, and racial disparities worse as jobs flow to those with a computer science background.
Advertising is a very fundamental need, so I don't think it's going to go away.
YouTube has moved culture forward in attitudes - on refugees, on LGBT issues - especially trans issues. There was untapped demand there; a lot of our users would still be under-served without us. We're a platform that enables everyone to have a voice.
If you are working 24/7, you're not going to have any interesting ideas.
I've seen all of these decisions that have been made by all these great leaders who have been part of Google, and this has been an opportunity for me when I'm running YouTube, is to be able to take advantage of all of those memories.
You see a lot of powerful women on the Internet, but I wish there were more. I think the Internet really could use a lot more women.
YouTube is growing up, is basically my view of it. Growing up means our creators are growing up; they're getting more well known. We're providing programs for them to generate more revenue so they can generate even better, high-quality shows, and then also connecting them with the advertisers.
On YouTube, women are not just users; they're creators. They're learning about business and technology, and having a voice.
I don't feel like I'm a perfect mom, and then there are times at work where I feel like maybe I wasn't perfect here because of constraints on my time. But having the sum of both of those things going on in my life makes me a better mom at the end of the day, and I think gives me really important perspectives in the workplace as well.
Underrepresented employees already have to overcome discriminatory barriers in their careers; they shouldn't be expected to volunteer their time to help their companies do the same.
Employing more women at all levels of a company, from new hires to senior leaders, creates a virtuous cycle. Companies become more attuned to the needs of their female employees, improving workplace culture while lowering attrition.
People at different stages of their lives are doing different things, and they're all using Google.
I have this desire to create things and build things, and Google has enabled me to build and create things and to build products that are used by people all over the globe.
Engineering is a jeans and hoodie culture, and sales is more formal.
Right now, offline and online are coming together because of smartphones.
Girls are being left out of the conversation when it comes to technology, led to think of tech as insular and antisocial without ever being given a chance to correct those perceptions.
I think about my own career, and when I graduated from college, the Internet didn't really exist yet. And so not having a specific plan, being able to be opportunistic at the end, is what enabled me to make some of my best decisions, which is to go to places that were growing but that I didn't plan to have happen.
Whether it's salary or a promotion or a job, I think it's important for women to ask for what they think they deserve.
If a third of Americans' time is being spent online, why is only a quarter of ad dollars spent there? It's not proportional.
People complain when ads aren't relevant, and they complain when ads are too relevant.
If everybody has to take biology and chemistry, they can take computer science. Computer science is a more useful skill right now than a lot of other things that people are learning at school.
I think I've always been able to see what's coming, and when I was joining Google, people always said, 'Why are you joining this company?' It was so small at the time. I could see the importance of Google. I could see the way it was going to grow; it was going to become a big company.
One of the things that I'm trying to do is use the position that I'm in... to encourage the next generation of girls to think about the Internet as a career opportunity.
I've been, like, the mom of Google.
Having a child is a big life change, but the really hectic period is relatively short. You can get through it.
Your kids get something from your career, and your career will get something from your kids.
As someone who's been lucky to have a great career in tech, I know how creative and fulfilling a career in this industry can be for women. And I want to make sure we continue to recruit and retain great female hires.
Even in a culture where people are well meaning, there are sometimes 'microaggressions.' People who will just cut you off. You'll be talking, and someone will interrupt you. That's become a big pet peeve of mine.
My kids know I'm home every night for dinner.
Generally, our approach with products at Google is to first develop the right user base and then to figure out what's the right experience for the ads.
Mobile is an incredibly fast-growing market and will continue to be.
