SA国际传媒

A lot has changed in the four years since 鈥攁 female-focused and led professional website that posts job listings, crowdsourced databases of companies鈥� benefits, and employer profiles鈥攂egan.

鈥淲hen we launched, Hillary Clinton hadn鈥檛 even run for president yet,鈥� said CEO and co-founder for the company, on a phone call. 鈥淪o the conversation was a little different.鈥�

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Now, following Clinton鈥檚 run, the #MeToo movement, and thousands of companies promising to be better with diversity hiring, Huang said there鈥檚 been a 鈥渟low crawl鈥� of change in conversations surrounding women in the workforce.

But the company鈥檚 announcement today might just speed things up.

Fairygodboss announced this morning it has raised a $10 million Series A co-led by San Francisco鈥檚 , which gave the startup its , and Salt Lake City鈥檚 Signal Peak Ventures, . Signal Peak Ventures, which is a male-led VC firm, it works to invest in 鈥渦nderserved markets鈥� across the country.

, co-founders Huang and said the new cash will let the New York City company better serve an increasing user base and help companies “attract, recruit, and retain the best female talent.”

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen our user base grow 30 times over the past 2 years,鈥� the founders said . 鈥淲e鈥檝e reached more than 24 million women and we are partnering with more than 100 corporate employers.鈥� Customers include Apple, Accenture and General Motors.

Huang told SA国际传媒 News that the company began after she was suddenly fired from her job as senior executive at . During her job hunt, she was two months pregnant鈥攖oo early for anyone to know, but not too early for her to stop wondering about maternity leave options.

Yet she was uncomfortable asking about maternity leave and whether there were successful senior-level women at the company.

So 鈥渓ike any good millennial鈥� she tried to look up advice on how to deal with the situation. There wasn鈥檛 any, and so Fairygodboss was born. On the website, uncomfortable topics鈥攍ike salary negotiations or do you need to wear make-up to work鈥攁re meant to be discussed amid a community of professional peers. To encourage people to be more open with their experiences, there is an option for users to be anonymous.

And as times have changed, roles have begun to reverse.

鈥淲e used to call companies and we had to explain why gender diversity was a good thing for businesses in business terms,鈥� she said. But “we don’t open our calls with like that anymore, instead we ask what are you doing for gender diversity?”

And this time, she said, they expect an answer.

(Note: I鈥檇 love to write more about women and diversity within the tech industry, so if you want to chat you can reach me at聽natasha@crunchbase.com)

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