American technology executive Sheryl Sandberg has served at the social networking company Facebook as the Chief Operating Officer since 2008 and as a board member since 2012. Over the years, she has become one of the most powerful women in Silicon Valley and an outspoken women’s advocate.
Born in 1969, she graduated in 1991 from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a bachelor’s degree in economics, before working at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. as an economist on projects focusing on developing countries.
A few years later, she earned a master’s in business administration — with the highest distinction — from Harvard. Afterwards, she worked for approximately one year at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company before taking over the role of Chief of Staff at the United States Treasury Department.
In 2001, she joined the search engine company Google, Inc., then a three-year-old startup, as its first general manager of business unit and then as vice president of global online sales and operations.
In 2008, ready to move on with her career, she joined Mark Zuckerberg’s start-up, Facebook, as its first COO, supervising the daily operations of the company. She created an advertising strategy that turned Facebook into a profitable business.
Besides her incredible business track record, she also uses her voice and resources to advocate for women in the business world. Her commitment is not only expressed in her bestseller book “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead,” but also in her non-profit organization, Lean In, launched in 2013. The non-profit has created a global community encouraging women to achieve their ambitions and maximize their career potential.
“I don't hold myself out as a role model,” she once explained. “I don't believe that everyone should make the same choices, that everyone has to want to be a CEO, or everyone should want to be a work-at-home mother. I want everyone to be able to choose. But I want us to be able to choose unencumbered by gender choosing for us.”
Throughout her career, she has been an integral part of two of the world’s most popular internet companies and has dedicated her time and energy to fighting for workplace equality. As such, one can easily understand why she is ranked on Fortune’s and Forbes’ lists of 2020 Most Powerful Women.