You can’t make the world fair, but you can take
back your power.
As a woman in Silicon Valley who worked her way to the top of the corporate ladder—she’s a former VP at Facebook and the current President and CEO of Ancestry—Deborah Liu knows firsthand the challenges and obstacles that keep the deck stacked against women in the workplace… and the ways to overcome them.
For every woman who grew up competing on the uneven playing field, who is told she is too aggressive, assertive, dramatic, or emotional, this book is the battle cry you need to learn to thrive within the system that exists today, even if it’s not the one we wish it were.
Take Back Your Power presents both hard data and Liu’s personal experiences from twenty years as a woman leader in the male-dominated tech industry to help you:
- Find your voice, learn how to ask, and achieve what you want in a system that isn’t fair and wasn’t created for you.
- Discover how to be heard, seen, and taken more seriously at work by getting out of your own way.
- Become a great leader without losing yourself in the process.
- Debunk the negative connotations of “power” and harness it for your own success.
- Overcome the lie that success is only achieved alone by finding the four types of allies you need to reach your goals.
- You have the power to change the future of work for yourself—and for women everywhere.
You can’t make the world fair, but you can take back your power.
As a woman in Silicon Valley who worked her way to the top of the corporate ladder—she’s a former VP at Facebook and the current President and CEO of Ancestry—Deborah Liu knows firsthand the challenges and obstacles that keep the deck stacked against women in the workplace… and the ways to overcome them.
For every woman who grew up competing on the uneven playing field, who is told she is too aggressive, assertive, dramatic, or emotional, this book is the battle cry you need to learn to thrive within the system that exists today, even if it’s not the one we wish it were.
Take Back Your Power presents both hard data and Liu’s personal experiences from twenty years as a woman leader in the male-dominated tech industry to help you:
- Find your voice, learn how to ask, and achieve what you want in a system that isn’t fair and wasn’t created for you.
- Discover how to be heard, seen, and taken more seriously at work by getting out of your own way.
- Become a great leader without losing yourself in the process.
- Debunk the negative connotations of “power” and harness it for your own success.
- Overcome the lie that success is only achieved alone by finding the four types of allies you need to reach your goals.
- You have the power to change the future of work for yourself—and for women everywhere.
What industry leaders are saying
What industry leaders are saying
Essential wisdom for every professional, from one of the most successful women leaders in Silicon Valley.
A remarkable book by a remarkable person. Deb Liu uses her life story and the examples of other successful women, as well as the research literature, to provide practical and actionable advice about how to build power and thrive in a world that is often unfair. Although written by a woman for women, Liu’s insightful recommendations speak to everyone who has faced imposter syndrome or felt like the person who didn’t belong—which is, of course, all of us.
Deborah Liu
Ancestry, President & Chief Executive Officer
Deb Liu is the President and CEO of Ancestry. With over 19 years in the tech industry, she has been named one of Business Insider’s most powerful female engineers and one of PaymentsSource’s most influential women in payments. She was previously a senior executive at Facebook, where she created and led Facebook Marketplace, a platform for millions of people to buy from and sell to one another. She also led the development of Facebook’s first mobile ad product for apps and its mobile ad network, in addition to building the company’s games business and payments platform, which includes Facebook Pay. Prior to Facebook, she spent several years in product roles at PayPal and eBay, where she led integration between the two products. She serves on the board of Intuit and Ancestry and is a seed investor and advisor to several startups. She also holds several payments- and commerce-related patents.
Actively involved in promoting diversity in tech, Deb founded Women In Product, a nonprofit with over 30,000 members, with the goal of connecting and supporting women in the product management field. She is a member of the Committee of 100, a group of prominent Chinese Americans, and was named an A100 by Gold House, an honor recognizing impactful Asian Americans.
Deb received a BS in Civil Engineering from Duke University and an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Each week, she posts her thoughts in Perspectives, her Substack newsletter. She lives in California with her husband and three children, and enjoys chronicling their family adventures in her Mommy School comic strip.
Deborah Liu
Ancestry, President & Chief Executive Officer
Deb Liu is the President and CEO of Ancestry. With over 19 years in the tech industry, she has been named one of Business Insider’s most powerful female engineers and one of PaymentsSource’s most influential women in payments. She was previously a senior executive at Facebook, where she created and led Facebook Marketplace, a platform for millions of people to buy from and sell to one another. She also led the development of Facebook’s first mobile ad product for apps and its mobile ad network, in addition to building the company’s games business and payments platform, which includes Facebook Pay. Prior to Facebook, she spent several years in product roles at PayPal and eBay, where she led integration between the two products. She serves on the board of Intuit and Ancestry and is a seed investor and advisor to several startups. She also holds several payments- and commerce-related patents.
Actively involved in promoting diversity in tech, Deb founded Women In Product, a nonprofit with over 30,000 members, with the goal of connecting and supporting women in the product management field. She is a member of the Committee of 100, a group of prominent Chinese Americans, and was named an A100 by Gold House, an honor recognizing impactful Asian Americans. She mentors a number of people in the Tech industry to help them grow in their paths.
Deb received a BS in Civil Engineering from Duke University and an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Each week, she posts her thoughts in Perspectives, her Substack newsletter. She lives in California with her husband and three children and dog (Wonton), and enjoys chronicling their family adventures in her Mommy School comic strip.
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#takebackyourpower
I binge watched Jury Duty this week. And the funniest thing happened. I got into the hotel elevator in Seattle completely engrossed in episode two, and I looked up to see the star Ronald, @sunnyg_sd, standing there trying to get to the floor below mine. I was completely caught off guard to stare at the guy who was on my screen in the same real space.
I saw him again at an event the next day, and he is the absolute nicest human both on the show and off screen. And he even showed me his Ancestry DNA results.
#juryduty
I had the chance to work with this awesome group of people starting in 2012 when Stephanie joined as the second mom PM at Facebook and Mary joined us as the third. And Jenny moved over as a TPM, and we hired Susan.
Though we don`t get to work together anymore, it was a wonderful time to work alongside these incredible ladies.
And happy birthday to Steph and Mary!
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Take Back Your Power
