Ellen Pao Quotes

United States, Investor
1970

Ellen K. Pao is an American investor and activist who co-founded the diversity consulting non-profit organization Project Include. She was previously a partner at Kapor Capital and the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the Kapor Center for Social Impact before leaving in 2018 to focus on her role as Project Include's CEO. Other positions she has held include interim CEO of social media technology company Reddit, investment partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, board director at Flipboard, and corporate attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

Also known as Activist, Co-Founder

I am seeing change at earlier stage start-up companies. For a lot of big companies, the ship has sailed. They are trying to bolt on diversity and inclusion.

Ellen Pao
You can now share your story anonymously much more easily than you could earlier and you can watch people have conversations about it. And when people come out and say negative things about you, there will be other people who have had similar experiences or who know people who have had similar experiences who will defend you.

Ellen Pao

I think at you have to do what your conscience tells you to do.

Ellen Pao
- I Think
- Conscience
I don't encourage people to litigate when facing discrimination: It is so hard - painful and difficult. It's draining financially, emotionally, and professionally. But when you see that you could be the person who impacts the conversation in a meaningful way - or that you could inspire a few people to feel better about themselves, to speak up, to inspire others, to create this broader wave of change - I don't regret that at all.

Ellen Pao
If we do not share our stories and shine a light on inequities, things will not change.

Ellen Pao
- Light
- Change
- Stories