This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gabrielle Tao, a former Salesforce SVP. It has been edited for length and clarity. I spent more than two decades working in tech , including at companies like Oracle and Salesforce. By many measures, my career was successful — I'd helped build multiple successful products. But it still felt like there was a limit to how far I could go as a woman of color. I had wanted to start my own company for decades, but I never genuinely thought I could