![]() Pao said she made $400,000 a year, excluding bonuses, at Kleiner Perkins, and is making $170,000 a year, with a target bonus of $80,000, as interim CEO of Reddit, her current job. Her lawsuit seeks $16 million in damages. Pao did not receive the money and continued working at the firm. Pao also told jurors that she had sought $10 million from the firm in exchange for voluntarily leaving, saying she believed the figure would prompt the firm to change its treatment of women. The firm did nothing about the retaliation, she said. ![]() When she raised the retaliation issue with management, a senior partner explained how he had met his wife at another company while he was married, and perhaps Pao could have the same outcome with her colleague, she testified. She said she broke it off several months later when she learned that was a lie.Īfter she ended the affair, Pao testified, the colleague retaliated by shutting her out of emails and meetings. ![]() Pao previously testified that she began the affair after the colleague said his wife had left him. In text messages that year, she said she didn't think he was a bad person and she wasn't mad at him for not being able to have a real relationship at the time. In one email from 2006, after the affair began, Pao wrote that she was always looking out for the colleague - "never stopped, never will.'' Hermle also showed emails to the jury in which Pao and the co-worker exchanged compliments and banter. Their exchanges were often tense, with Pao staring at the lawyer and pausing before responding yes or no. Pao was questioned for the first time by Hermle. "I think there should be equal opportunities for women and men to be venture capitalists.'' "I've tried many times to bring Kleiner Perkins to the right path,'' she told jurors. Pao addressed that issue under questioning by her attorney, saying her lawsuit was aimed in part at creating equal opportunities for women in the venture capital sector. Women, however, are grossly underrepresented in the venture capital and technology sectors. Her lawsuit has spotlighted gender imbalance at elite Silicon Valley investment companies that are stacked with some of the nation's most accomplished graduates - multiple degree holders from schools such as Stanford and Harvard who are competing aggressively to back the next Google or Amazon. Pao claims in her lawsuit that she was denied a promotion at the firm because of gender bias and then fired after she complained. Under further questioning by Lynne Hermle, an attorney for defendant Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Pao said she and the co-worker eventually had an affair and she told him she loved him. "I got hit by a cab and then he tried to hit on me,'' Pao said. She was dazed from her injuries and couldn't object to his advances, she said. Plaintiff Ellen Pao told jurors the colleague first approached her romantically during a trip to Germany after she had been struck by a cab. It has taken a huge toll on me professionally and personally and on my family.A woman suing a prestigious Silicon Valley venture capital firm in a high-profile case alleging gender bias testified Tuesday that she did not reject the initial romantic advances of a male colleague and even discussed having children with him. We need to share and hear these stories and experiences. Pao: I would definitely do it again, although I would not wish my experiences on anyone. Would you do it again? How much of a toll has all this had on you? The way they talk about discrimination is changing as well. Companies and firms are now measuring and reporting on their diversity, which is a start. The lawsuit contributed to driving conversations and shining a spotlight on discrimination and harassment. We have a big problem in tech and venture capital where women and minorities are not getting equal opportunities to work, manage and succeed. Q: You wanted to put a spotlight on gender discrimination and harassment. An edited transcript of the email Q&A follows. Pao, who subsequently served as interim CEO of the social-networking site Reddit, discusses the aftermath of the trial and offers some insight into what's next for her.
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