Susan Wojcicki
Susan Diane Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube, is a Polish-American business executive with over 20 years of experience in the tech industry. She not only made contributions to the technology industry, but she also campaigned for a variety of social problems.
Background:
Susan Diane Wojcicki was born on July 5, 1968, in Santa Clara, California. Her mother, Esther Wojcicki, is a Jewish teacher, and her father, Stanley Wojcicki, is a Polish-American physics professor at Stanford University. She practically grew up on Stanford’s campus.
Her aspirations to pursue a Ph.D. in economics and a career in academia changed when she discovered her fascination with technology. Later she obtained her Master’s degree in economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Master’s in Business Administration from UCLA, Anderson School of Management.
She was one of the many people who were involved in finding Google. She also served as the company’s first Marketing Manager in 1999. She then suggested that YouTube be purchased. She was in charge of two of Google’s most significant investments, YouTube and DoubleClick. Wojcicki was selected as the CEO of YouTube in February 2014.
Social Impact:
Under the tenure of Wojcicki, Since becoming The CEO, the percentage of female employees at YouTube has increased from 24 to roughly 30 percent. YouTube also strengthened policies on videos that may violate its hate speech policies and are particularly violent.
Wojcicki has supported a number of issues, including increasing paid maternity leave, eliminating gender discrimination in software companies. She is also an inspiration for many young girls. She encouraged girls to prioritize coding in school and enhance their interest in computer science.
Wojcicki penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal about the necessity of paid maternity leave on December 16, 2014, just before embarking on her fifth maternity leave. She is well-known for emphasizing the importance of achieving a balance between family and career.
Accolades:
In 2013, she was ranked first on the Adweek Top 50 Execs list, honoring the top media executives. She has been labeled as the “Most significant person in Advertising”. She was labeled as “The Most Powerful Woman on the Internet” in a subsequent edition of Time in 2015. Later, she placed in the 10th position on Fortune’s list of the “World’s Most Powerful Women” in 2018. Wojcicki is now ranked 41st among “America’s Self-Made Women” by Forbes.
-By Ritika Behera
– sophomore of Chemical Engineering at NIT Rourkela, Odisha.
I am from Balasore, Odisha. I have interests in reading books, painting, creative writing, playing badminton, volunteering, and teaching small kids.
