Lea Coligado, a computer science student at Stanford, got the idea to start her website Women of Silicon Valley after noticing that the public image of the tech world was "invariably male."
"Over the past couple years, I've come into contact with some awesome women in tech through Stanford or work, and I kept thinking to myself, why have I never heard of them before?" Coligado tells BuzzFeed.
In the same vein as sites like Humans of New York, Women of Silicon Valley posts photos of remarkable people alongside brief interviews with them on its Facebook page.
Coligado says most of the featured women (among whom are Tracy Chou from Pinterest and Sara Mauskopf of Postmates) are sent to her as nominations by friends or followers.
"Knowing that these women who are now in positions of immense power have faced the same demeaning comments I have, or felt the same crappy feelings I felt, has given me more optimism for Silicon Valley than I could have expected," Caligado says.
"As a woman who's worked in almost entirely male environments, I know being able to look up to someone is crucial for getting through rough patches, for feeling a sense of belonging to your work," she says.
