{"id":295014,"date":"2025-10-11T15:50:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T15:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/295014\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T15:50:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T15:50:13","slug":"ex-google-entrepreneur-says-she-was-ousted-for-being-a-brown-woman-and-social-media-has-opinions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/295014\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Google entrepreneur says she was ousted for being a \u2018Brown woman,\u2019 and social media has opinions |"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ex-GoogleSource: LinkedIn\/@Vidya Narayanan A former Google engineer and serial entrepreneur has sparked a heated conversation about diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. Vidya Narayanan, who worked at Google in 2012 and later co-founded multiple companies, says she was removed from her own startup due to her identity as a \u201cBrown woman,\u201d shedding light on systemic challenges faced by women of color in leadership.According to her LinkedIn profile, Narayanan worked at Google for two years before venturing into entrepreneurship. She co-founded three companies and served as CEO of two for a decade. In an Instagram post, she wrote, \u201cFrom founding to getting replaced as a CEO: Extras.\u201dIn a video shared online, Narayanan detailed her experience being ousted. She claims the company\u2019s board believed her \u201cgender\u201d and \u201ccolour of her skin\u201d would prevent them from attracting quality investors. She recounted specific interactions during this period, including an individual who told her that he would not support equal pay for her and the incoming co-CEO if the company adopted that structure.After being replaced, Narayanan says she was told she could still work for the company and contribute. She noted that she was informed she was fortunate to retain a role, despite being removed from the CEO position.<\/p>\n

Social media reacts<\/p>\n

Narayanan\u2019s story has resonated widely on social media, prompting discussions about equity, representation, and systemic barriers in tech leadership.\"3\"One user supported Vidya’s decision to tell her story. They wrote, “Probably they were counting you on never recounting what happened to you but that’s where they made a mistake. They messed with an articulate woman. Your storytelling is top notch. Love Listening to you even though I have nothing to do with this world.”Another user also resonated with Vidya. They said, “You are such a breath of fresh air. I wish more content like this was around. How many women. How many brown women don\u2019t have guidance.”A third user commented that this a pattern they have noticed in the startup culture. They wrote, “This is the kind of racism and sexism that is rooted in the startup ecosystem.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Source: LinkedIn\/@Vidya Narayanan A former Google engineer and serial entrepreneur has sparked a heated conversation about diversity and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":295015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[64,150807,607,150806,6052,150809,67,132,68,150805,150808],"class_list":{"0":"post-295014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-diversity-in-tech-industry","10":"tag-entrepreneurship","11":"tag-google-engineer","12":"tag-social-media-reaction","13":"tag-systemic-challenges","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-vidya-narayanan","18":"tag-women-of-color-in-leadership"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115356331816160820","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}