Adriana Gascoigne says harassment and gender discrimination at a Silicon Valley startup helped lead her to found Girls in Tech in San Francisco in 2007. The nonprofit built programs and community intended to open technology careers to women and girls, but closed in 2024 after 17 years. Gascoigne’s account of the incidents is her testimony in interviews, not an independently adjudicated finding.
What Gascoigne says happened at the startup
In an interview with AWS’s LaDavia Drane, Gascoigne recalled being one of very few women at a Silicon Valley startup in the mid-2000s and regularly facing harassment and discrimination. She said that while discussing a product feature with a reporter, a male associate threw a large water bottle at her head and told her to “Shut the f*** up!” Gascoigne said her boss responded to her report: “Adriana, you’re being too sensitive.”
“I didn’t feel safe, comfortable, or productive in my work environment,” she told Drane. She described that experience as part of what prompted her to create a better path for women in the industry. The account appears in her interview; the source does not establish an independent investigation or adjudication of the incidents. Read the AWS interview with Adriana Gascoigne.
Her fuller account of harassment and reporting
In a 2017 Mercury News interview republished by the Kim Center for Social Balance, Gascoigne described four incidents that made her afraid for her safety or unable to focus. Her account included sexualized communications, harassment by a colleague, the water bottle incident and belittling comments about women’s appearance. She said she spoke up about two incidents and received formal written apologies, while worrying that reporting could damage her job or career. These details, too, are her account as recounted in the interview. Read the Kim Center’s republication of the Mercury News interview.
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How Girls in Tech tried to change the path into technology
Gascoigne founded Girls in Tech in San Francisco in 2007. She described its approach as combining education and career development with women mentoring one another and building community. The organization’s historical offerings included boot camps, internships, conferences and online workshops, as well as mentorship, hackathons, a startup challenge, a global classroom, a podcast, a blog and a jobs board. These are descriptions of past programs; Girls in Tech is no longer operating.
Visibility was part of the mission. “You can’t be what you can’t see,” Gascoigne said in the 2017 Mercury News interview. A 2016 Women’s Media Center interview also discussed boot camps, internship programs, conferences, online workshops and a planned mentorship platform. Read the Women’s Media Center interview.
Historical reach figures are not interchangeable
Girls in Tech’s reported scale depends on the source, date and measure. The figures below describe different things and should not be treated as a single current membership count.
| Source and date | Reported figure | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Mercury News interview, August 21, 2017; republished by the Kim Center in 2018 | 60 chapters in 36 countries and more than 60,000 members | Chapters and members reported at that time |
| Gascoigne’s official biography, accessed October 8, 2026 | More than 50 chapters and a community said to have impacted over 500,000 women | Chapters and people impacted; the biography gives no measurement method or exact count date |
| Gascoigne’s official biography, accessed October 8, 2026 | More than $25 million | Grants, sponsorships and philanthropic support; no period or audited context is specified |
The figures come from the sources’ descriptions, not a common measurement system. Chapter totals, membership, people impacted and funds raised are distinct measures. See Gascoigne’s official biography.
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Why Girls in Tech closed
GamesBeat reported that Girls in Tech closed in 2024 after 17 years. In an interview published July 11, 2024 and updated June 17, 2025, Gascoigne said fundraising had been drying up since 2023, following difficulties since COVID. She pointed especially to declining corporate sponsorship as companies focused on cost containment, and said a backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts contributed to the organization’s demise. These are Gascoigne’s explanations in the interview, not an independently established finding that any one factor alone caused the closure.
Asked about the funding shortfall, she said: “That’s the main thing, the main reason we had to close our doors.” In a newsletter quoted by GamesBeat in July 2024, she wrote: “Though Girls in Tech is closing its doors, the movement we started must and will continue.” The statement expressed her hope for the movement, not confirmation that the organization or its programs continued. Read the GamesBeat interview about the closure.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What this story says—and does not say—about Silicon Valley
Gascoigne’s experience offers a specific account of harassment, a manager’s dismissive response and the personal impetus behind an organization aimed at widening access to technology careers. It illustrates why she saw support, mentorship and education as necessary. It is not, by itself, a comprehensive investigation of Silicon Valley’s workplace culture or evidence about how common any particular incident was.
In the GamesBeat interview, Gascoigne also cited venture-capital figures as part of her argument about barriers facing women founders: she described about 2.5% of venture capital going to female founders “back in the day” and less than 2% in the U.S. at the time of that interview. Those are her statements in 2024, not independently verified current statistics. Her official biography names her book, Tech Boss Lady; that biographical detail is not independent corroboration of her account.
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