Ruth Porat is the current CFO of Alphabet, aka Google. Ms. Porat is also a 57 year old mother of three. She grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts and later moved to Palo Alto. She graduated from Stanford university. She got a master’s in science, and her MBA, and went on to become the CFO, chief financial officer, of Morgan Stanley, which is how she met my dad. About a year ago, she was asked by Google to become their CFO. At this point she was married and had three children, and had built a career at Morgan Stanley. Many people were surprised that she took the job. There were also many people who were surprised that Google had hired a woman for such a big job. During our interview, Ms. Porat said that she believes that being a woman in today’s world is actually very useful. Companies have learned that the more diverse they are at the higher levels, the more likely they are to succeed and make better decisions. When regarding Google, she said that the lower positions were actually quite diverse in race, gender, socioeconomic status, etc. Like Susie Scher told us in our interview with her, the industries are changing, and female employees who are talented are in high demand. Both also said that people will always second guess a woman based on appearance, so you have to be prepared to face the scrutiny. When we talked about Ms. Porat’s personal history in a traditionally male job, she said that she had never been much of a fashion or makeup person, so that effected the way men saw her. She told me that she wears stilettos under pantsuits so that her male coworkers will think less about their physical differences. She also said that when a man says something sexually suggestive or uses rude humor, there are only two ways to respond. One, you have to draw the line, or two, you can duck out of it by using humor yourself. She also told me that there is the illusion that women need to find the perfect balance between work and family. In Ms. Porat’ view, no such thing exists. You just have to do the best you can to stay involved with your work and your home life. Our interview was very interesting, and I was greatful to have the experience to talk to someone that is so influential in our world.