Ellen Pao
Tech Investor and Activist; CEO, Project Include, Former CEO, Reddit
Biography
Tech investor and activist Ellen Pao is the former CEO of Reddit and the co-founder and CEO of the award-winning diversity and inclusion nonprofit Project Include. A long-time entrepreneur and investor, she is the former Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the Kapor Center and a former venture capitalist for Kleiner Perkins and Kapor Capital. Her memoir, Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change, was shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey “Business Book of The Year.” With over two decades in the tech industry, Pao is a frequent advisor to tech leaders and keynote speaker at women’s and tech conferences. She draws from her own gender discrimination suit to offer practical and effective solutions to promote diversity and inclusion. Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change follows Pao’s workplace discrimination suit against a powerhouse Silicon Valley venture capital firm. For the toxic culture and homogeneity she exposed, Pao was hailed as “the face of change” by TIME. Named “Best Fall Book” by both Elle and Bustle, Reset “has blown open a conversation about the status of women,” according to The New York Times. Following her departure from Reddit, Pao went on to found Project Include with seven other women from the tech industry. Aimed primarily at startups, Project Include uses data and advocacy to accelerate diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. Pao joined Reddit as Head of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, running its mobile, growth, and business development efforts. She went on to become the interim CEO, where she made notable changes to the site and company structure to address harassment and protect privacy. Pao was the first head of a major social media platform to ban revenge porn, unauthorized nude photos, and harassment. Before moving into tech, Pao practiced corporate law in New York and Hong Kong for Cravath, Swaine & Moore. She received an MBA from Harvard Business School, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a BSE in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University, where she also received a certificate in public policy. She is an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow. Her writing has appeared in WIRED, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Lenny, and Recode.
Speech Topics
Reset: my fight for inclusion and lasting change
In 2015, Ellen K. Pao sued a powerhouse Silicon Valley venture capital firm for workplace discrimination. Her suit rocked the tech world—and exposed its toxic culture and homogeneity. Although Pao lost her suit, she revolutionized the conversation at tech offices, in the media, and around the world. In this speech, Pao tells her full story, from growing up the daughter of immigrants and earning multiple Ivy League degrees to working at top startups and rising in the ranks — only to be excluded from decisive meetings, uninvited from networking events, and undercut by male executives. As Pao spotlights the troubling issues plaguing today’s workplaces, she shares her own efforts to find solutions, such as her progressive actions at reddit to change the status quo for the company. She was the first CEO of a major social media company to ban revenge porn, unauthorized nude photos and harassment.
project include: diversity & inclusion in tech and beyond
According to Ellen Pao, the benefits of true diversity include better teams, better innovation, increased financial returns, more ethical behavior, improved companies, and inevitably, a better world. As CEO of the diversity non-profit, Project Include, Pao’s mission is to give everyone a fair chance to succeed. Using a holistic approach informed by data, Pao brings audiences a breakdown of the most effective ways to accelerate diversity and inclusion solutions in the tech industry. From inclusion to comprehensiveness and accountability, Pao will outline practical, inspiring, and achievable goals for a better future.
tech trends & what they mean for the rest of us: from data privacy, machine learning, green tech, and beyond
Ethics & Leadership In Tech
Videos
Books
Frequently Asked Questions
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The typical range for Ellen Pao's speaking fee is $50,000–$60,000. The low end of the fee range represents their standard virtual fee. The high end of the fee range represents their standard fee for a US-based in-person speaking engagement. Appearances which require an extended schedule of activities or international travel will possibly exceed this fee range. Speaker fees update frequently. To receive a personalized quote for Ellen Pao to speak at your event, please consult with a Key Speakers advisor for up to date information and assistance.What factors influence the speaker's fee?
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Speakers Like Ellen Pao
Monica Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky is a social activist, a global public speaker, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a consultant. She advocates for a safer social media environment and addresses such topics as digital resilience + reputation, privacy, cultivating compassion, overcoming shame and equality. Monica’s lens for these societal issues is focused by her myriad unique and profound experiences: working in government — both in the White House and the Pentagon; the investigation that resulted from her time in Washington, D.C.; involvement in media projects as both producer and subject; as an entrepreneur and designer; and lastly, education. She address audiences worldwide on her activism work around cyberbullying and online harassment.
Fee Range: $35,000–$65,000
Travels From: CA
Richard Lui
Richard Lui's career in politics and political news spans 25 years, including news anchor for MSNBC, NBC News and CNN Worldwide. He is a Policy Fellow at the University of California Riverside where he explores the cross of public policy and media, Global Ambassador for Plan International, one of 200 active US State Department Traveling Speakers, and spokesperson for NGOs focusing on gender equality and human trafficking including the UN's HeForShe campaign. Outside of work, Richard travels each week from New York City to San Francisco to care for his father, an Alzheimer’s patient. To highlight and raise awareness of the importance of family caregiving, Richard is an AARP Caregiving Champion and an Alzheimer’s Association Celebrity Champion. Also, he is a champion of gender equality and ending violence against women.
Fee Range: $19,000–$32,000
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Freeman Hrabowski
Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, President Emeritus of UMBC (The University of Maryland, Baltimore County) served as president from 1992 to 2022. His research and publications focus on science and math education, with special emphasis on minority participation and performance. He chaired the National Academies’ committee that produced the 2011 report, Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads. He was named in 2012 by President Obama to chair the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. His 2013 TED talk highlights the “Four Pillars of College Success in Science.” In 2022, Dr. Hrabowski was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and he was also named the inaugural ACE Centennial Fellow, to be served upon his retirement from UMBC. In Addition, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) also launched the Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program ($1.5 billion) to help build a scientific workforce that more fully reflects our increasingly diverse country. In October 2022, he was named the inaugural Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture Speaker by Harvard. In April 2023, The National Academy of Sciences awarded him the Public Welfare Medal, the Academy’s most prestigious award, and inducted him as a member of the academy, for his extraordinary use of science for the public good.
Fee Range: $15,000–$32,000
Travels From: MD
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