Jessica,
From the very bottom of my heart, thank you. On transformative days in my life, I go to sleep at night and, without fail, find myself reliving the events of that day. Tonight was different.
As expected, my dreams were filled with the inspiring talks I heard at YC’s female founders conference and the incredible women I was fortunate enough to meet by attending. But what I wasn’t expecting was sitting up in bed at 4:30 a.m., completely wide awake, with my mind racing and practically bursting at the seams. You see, I really had no choice but to write you this letter.
If I’m being honest, I’ve had my doubts about YC. Is YC really passionate about supporting female founders? I’ve lived my life in a “man’s world,” receiving a degree in mechanical engineering—which contains the lowest percentage of women compared to any other engineering field at just 7.2%—from an already male-dominated university. And now, I’m a female founder in what many days feels like a “boy’s club” industry, trying to solve a women’s issue. It can be difficult not to get a little jaded.
But, like you, I pride myself on my judge of character. I can’t explain it, but it’s something that’s always come naturally to me. So when I was waiting alongside twenty other eager women after the conference for my chance to introduce myself, and I saw you laughing and interacting with other FFC attendees, every doubt I ever held about YC suddenly felt as though it had never existed to begin with.
The same love that shined when Grace Garey spoke about Watsi was bursting from you as you gave advice, cracked jokes, and laughed with FFC attendees. And I realized it’s simply not possible for this empire you’ve helped create not to live, breathe, and reflect that very same love.
To say that FFC was transformative would really not be doing my experience justice. I’ve always known that I wanted to help people and help change the world, and I’ve always been fairly confident I’d be successful. But as I sit here in the dark waiting for the sun to peek over the city of San Francisco, confidence no longer describes what I feel. My mindset has shifted to certainty.
I see myself so clearly on stage at a future YC female founders conference, sharing my story about a company and a cause I plan to devote the rest of my life to, beaming with that same love I feel every single day when I wake up to go to work.
A lot of people would probably say that I’m crazy and self-centered for saying that. But I don’t think there’s anything crazy or self-centered about wanting to inspire others to find the thing that makes them beam the way I do when I think about the change I want my company to create, or the way Grace does when she talks about Watsi, or the way you do when you’re surrounded by passionate founders.
So, thank you, Jessica, for showing me what YC is really about, and for showing me what I’ve always known about myself but never had the audacity to fully embrace.
I’ll see you on stage.
Sincerely,
Jennifer
