Born
in the small town of Wausau, Wisconsin, Marissa was raised in a family that
believed in giving their children every experience possible. Marissa’s father, an environmental engineer
for a water-treatment plant, built an ice rink in their backyard for Marissa’s
hockey-loving brother. Her mother, an
art teacher, nurtured every one of Marissa’s interests over the years,
including ice skating, ballet, piano, cake decorating, swimming, skiing, and
golf. Her mother felt that the best
approach was supporting her children trying everything, and letting them decide
for themselves what they liked best.
In
high school, Marissa continued to explore a variety of things. She was on the school dance team, debate
club, math club, Spanish club, and participated in Junior Achievement. In her senior year, her debate team won the
state championship, a testament to Marissa’s ability to identify problems and
solutions quickly. She also got a job as
a grocery checker, and quickly learned to make herself faster and more
efficient by memorizing the price codes of the most commonly purchased items.
Marissa
didn’t grow up immersed in technology, but decided to attend Stanford
University, a school known for its computer science program. She had a natural interest in the workings of
the human brain, and initially wanted to be a pediatric neurosurgeon. However, despite never even learning to use a
mouse until starting college, a computer science class hooked her instantly,
and she decided to pursue a major in symbolic systems.
At
Stanford, Marissa volunteered at children’s hospitals, and began teaching
undergraduates in her junior year. She
went on to earn her Master’s degree there as well, focusing on her interest in
artificial intelligence. She was known
to pull all-nighters regularly, often showing up for tests in the same clothes
she’d worn the day before.
With
her graduate studies nearing their end, Marissa found herself with 14 job
offers, including an opportunity with data giant Oracle, and an invitation to
teach at the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University. So, when a recruiting email from a tiny
search engine company arrived on a Friday night, Marissa didn’t immediately put
down her bowl of pasta to respond. In
fact, she nearly deleted the email without even reading it.
After
considering what she’d heard about the company’s promise from one of her
professors, though, she took into account how the areas they were exploring
were similar in focus to her own graduate studies. Marissa decided to interview with them. At the time, the small company had only seven
employees. All of their software
engineers were male, and realizing that a more balanced gender ratio would
strengthen the company, they were very eager to add Marissa to their team. But she didn’t accept right away.
Marissa
talked to friends and family, and analyzed the most successful choices she’d
made in her life. The common factors she
found were, first, that she’d always chosen to work with the smartest people
she could find. And second, she always
did something she was a little bit unprepared for or overwhelmed by, because it
challenged her to learn. She went to
sleep with those thoughts in her mind, and the next morning, she woke up and
had her answer.
Marissa
accepted the offer to become one of the earliest employees at Google, leading
their user interface and Web server team.
She was their first female engineer. Her understanding of functionality
and efficiency, along with her preference for simple designs, had a major
impact on the company. Marissa worked on
the most recognizable and successful products, including Google Maps, Google
Earth, Street View, Google News, and Gmail, and is acknowledged as the
architect of the unique look and feel that characterize the Google experience.
In
2012, the technology world was stunned when Marissa left Google to take on the
role of President and CEO of Yahoo, in an effort to turn the company around
following years of being completely eclipsed…by Google. The new role made Marissa Mayer, age 37, the
youngest CEO ever of a Fortune 500 company.
Marissa
is living her dreams by embracing the Everything is Possible mindset. Here’s her advice on how you can too. “There
are always moments when you’re not sure you can do something. That’s when most
people give up. Try and push through. Eventually you will experience
breakthroughs that lead to new levels of success. Just remember that on the
other side of fear is everything you dream about.”
Until next week...
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