
From Google’s only girl engineer to Yahoo’s CEO, Marissa Mayer.
Marissa Mayer has made a history of achieving despite expectations. The former ballerina (she danced in The Nutcracker at Stanford) has achieved a lot in a comparatively short time. In 1999, she became Google’s 20th employee and first female engineer. The nicknamed Googirl rose up the ranks at that company to become one of Google’s most well-known employees. Now, she’s getting the chance to be a boss on her own terms. Marissa Mayer is leaving Google to become Yahoo’s latest CEO.
“There is such a stereotype of the hacker — the pasty-skinned guy with the thick glasses, the pocket protector, the blue glow coming off of the monitor … people think if they’re going to be good at this, that’s what they need to be,” said Mayer in a CNN interview this year. “You can be good at technology and like fashion and art. You can be good at technology and be a jock. You can be good at technology and be a mom. You can do it your way, on your terms.”
During her time at Google, Mayer proved to be good at technology and like art. Not only did she shepherd Google Maps, iGoogle, and Gmail through to public release, she is also the person behind the iconic design of Google’s homepage, including their color scheme and clean white space. She will have a lot of work to do at Yahoo, given their hacking problem and struggle for profitability.
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