Tracy Chou: Women of the Year

Three years ago, when Tracy Chou was between meetings or even while brushing her teeth, she would frequently open her phone and gravitate to Twitter. “I was a little bit addicted,” admits the 35-year-old founder, software engineer, and advocate for diversity in the tech industry.
As an Asian American woman, Chou often found herself in environments that felt alienating. On Twitter, though, she could connect with a broad community of allies, engage with the world around her, and occasionally air her frustrations at racism and sexism in Silicon Valley and beyond. But as her Twitter following grew, so did the abuse. It ranged from what she calls “drive-by trolling,” including sexist or racist slurs, to a couple of persistent stalkers who supplemented online abuse with real-world harassment, with one even following her from London to San Francisco, she says. It got to the point where anytime she checked Twitter, Chou risked exposing herself to something that made her feel unsafe.
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