WHISTLEBLOWER

Susan Fowler's blog post on sexual harassment at Uber ultimately took down the CEO and sparked a further wave of sexual harassment complaints within Silicon Valley. Now, Susan shares her story, both of her experience with Uber and of her unusual childhood which shaped the person she has become today.

Susan Fowler was just twenty-five years old when her blog post describing the sexual harassment and retaliation she'd experienced at Uber riveted the nation. Her post would eventually lead to the ousting of Uber's powerful CEO, but its ripples extended far beyond that, as her courageous choice to attach her name to the post inspired other women to speak publicly about their experiences. In the year that followed, an unprecedented number of women came forward, and Fowler was recognized by Time as one of the "Silence Breakers" who ignited the #MeToo movement. Now, she tells her full story for the first time: a story of extraordinary determination and resilience that reveals what it takes--and what it means--to be a whistleblower. Long before she arrived at Uber, Fowler's life had been defined by her refusal to accept her circumstances. She propelled herself from an impoverished childhood with little formal education to the Ivy League, and then to a coveted position at one of the most valuable companies in the history of Silicon Valley. Each time she was mistreated, she fought back or found a way to reinvent herself; all she wanted was the opportunity to define her own dreams and work to achieve them. But when she discovered Uber's pervasive culture of sexism, racism, harassment, and abuse, and that the company would do nothing about it, she knew she had to speak out--no matter what it cost her. Whistleblower takes us deep inside this shockingly toxic workplace and reveals new details about the aftermath of the blog post, in which Fowler was investigated and followed, hacked and threatened, to the point that she feared for her life. But even as it illuminates how the deck is stacked in favor of the status quo, Fowler's story serves as a crucial reminder that we can take our power back. Both moving personal narrative and rallying cry, Whistleblower urges us to be the heroes of our own stories, and to keep fighting for a more just and equitable world. Susan Fowler is an engineer in the Bay Area. She currently serves as the editor-in-chief for Increment, a digital magazine Recode dubbed "The New Yorker of Silicon Valley." She's authored two books on computer programming with O'Reilly, which were implemented by companies across Silicon Valley. Since publishing her blog post in February, she has been contacted by hundreds of news networks and publications, and will appear or has appeared on the following lists: Vanity Fair's New Establishment List, Fortune's 40 Under 40, Politico's Top 50, Upstart Top 50, Marie Claire's New Guard List, Porter's Incredible Women 2017, BloombergTop 50, and recently, a finalist for Forbes 30 Under 30.