Hey Boss,

So last week, a big thing happened for women in business.  A really BIG thing and I want to make sure that everyone takes it in because we don't get to celebrate wins for women in business, AT THIS SCALE, often enough.

Hundreds of startups go public every year. Only 20 are founded and led by women. ~ Business Insider

As you may or may not know, over the past decade a lot of "people" have gotten super duper wealthy from ownership stakes in tech companies.  The problem is that the majority of those people are men.  To be specific, they are white men.  This means that in the last decade, the explosion in wealth has created even more inequality between the sexes.  If you follow tech happenings like I do, the majority of announcements about large fundraising events and public company listings are from these same group of white men.  To be clear, this is not a post against white men (I am hoping not to get hate mail.)

Last week, Whitney Wolf Herd, founder and CEO of Bumble led the company to its listing on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange thus becoming the youngest woman, age 31, to take a company public!  This is epic.  Not only is she now a self-made billionaire but her board of directors is majority female.  Yes! SHE DID THAT.   She also rang the opening bell with her baby son on her hip!  

Say what?!

Talk about being the change that you want to see in the world. 

What's most exciting about this news in addition to everything else that I said above is her journey and the product that she created.  She was one of the early employees of dating app, Tinder, but left that company with a fair bit of drama and legal issues that resulted in a settlement.  But Whitney didn't let disappointment stop her from pursuing her dreams.  She went on to start Bumble, another dating app, whose core philosophy is empowering women to take the first move!  It's a simple and subtle change but it made ALL the difference and she created a $8 billion juggernaut that will go beyond dating into a host of categories that we are yet to watch unfold.

I felt so strongly about sharing this story because it's so inspiring to see women thrive and soar in spite of the challenges that we face.  The world may be highly skewed to favor men but we can create unique approaches to established practices and come out WINNING.

Bravo to Whitney Wolf Herd and bravo to team #BUMBLE!  Congratulations on your IPO!!!

 

Love,

aisha xxx

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