Face To Face With Sheryl Sandberg

In 2013, Sheryl Sandberg Encouraged an Entire Generation of Women to “lean in ” With the Publication of Her Manifesto, Firing Up the Conversation Around Modern Women in the Workplace and Urging Us to Embrace Our Ambition, Take Our Seat at the Table and Speak Our Truth. At the Time, Facebook’s Coo Couldn’t Have Known the Personal Tragedy That Would Rock Her World Two Years Later. Now, in an Intimate New Book, Sandberg Is Sharing How She Learnt to Face Adversity and Deal With Grief After the Sudden Death of Her Husband. In Sandberg’s Silicon Valley Office, Elle’s Julia Dion Blocks Out Some of Her Invaluable Time to Discuss Why Now, More Than Ever, She’s Encouraging Women to Take Power

- Julia Dion

Sheryl Sandberg is a leader like no other. There is an aura of myth surrounding her, fuelled by high profile coverage in the international magazines that matter (Forbes, Fortune, Time). For many, she’s a symbol of success first, but also of determination, courage and sorority. At 47, the Harvard graduate is one of the few women heading a high-tech company in Silicon Valley (the other, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer, will leave her job once the company is sold to Verizon). Her feminist manifesto aimed at boosting women’s ambition, Lean In (Knopf, 2013), has sold millions of copies and given birth to LeanIn.org, a network of women supporting women.

Sandberg’s employees at Instagram and Facebook praise her hard work, its efficiency and authenticity. Thousands of unknowns admire it and flock to conferences like rock groupies. Mind-bogglingly influential, the “social network” (one billion “friends” active in the world and more than 17,000 employees at an international level) is regularly attacked on issues of privacy, personal data and hateful content. Sandberg occupies the front of the scene even when the terrain is slippery. She was approached to follow Hillary Clinton into the White House, and it was she, in the absence of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who was sent to meet Donald Trump alongside all the bosses of Silicon Valley.

Entering Building 20, Facebook’s headquarters designed by award-winning architect Frank Gehry in 2015, you expect to meet Wonder Woman. A perfect woman in a picture-perfect location. But instead, Sandberg is sitting behind a rather ordinary desk in the open space of a 40,000sqm office, between a hooded geek and a poster that invites readers to “hack the system”. The handshake is frank, but the voice soft. For all the noise that inevitably surrounds her, Sandberg has remained human.