Remembering a Silicon Valley giant

Susan Wojcicki, the former CEO of YouTube and a visionary force at Google from its earliest days, has died.

Wojcicki appeared on Marketplace shows multiple times over the years, and we wanted to listen to some key moments in those conversations.

In 2016, she told Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal that as a youngster, she wanted to be an artist. Wojcicki majored in literature and history, then studied economics and business before landing in tech.

“I made this connection at one point that technology actually had a lot of creative components,” Wojcicki told Ryssdal, “and that’s actually what I think is missing a lot, and I think that’s what drives a lot of girls to not understanding technology and I wish they did.”

“I can love creating things, but I can create with technology and I can make products, and those products can be used around the world. And that’s amazing,” she said. “You create a product, you launch it, and an hour later you log on and hundreds of people have written to you telling you what they thought about your product or how it changed them or how their kids use it.

“As soon as I discovered that, I realized this is the art form for me,” Wojcicki said. 

In 1998 while working at Intel, Wojcicki rented her garage to a couple of Stanford grad students — Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google. Wojcicki went to work for the company as its 16th employee.

As the first marketing manager, she pioneered Google’s ad business. And then in 2006, she saw an opportunity in the up-and-coming video-streaming platform YouTube, which Google acquired for more than $1.5 billion.

Wojcicki became CEO of YouTube in 2014, leading the company for nine years through a changing media landscape, which she discussed with Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams in 2021.

“What creators can do is they can take their passion, something they always loved, and start creating videos,” Wojcicki told Adams. “YouTube does the monetization, the distribution of that, and it becomes the next-generation media company.”

By allowing anyone to upload to the platform, YouTube is diversifying online media, she said.

“Because YouTube isn’t a gatekeeper, anyone can just post their video and start creating content and connecting with their audience. They don’t need to go create a script and have someone review it and then approve it and fund it, etc. They just start filming in their house.”

In February 2023, Wojcicki stepped down from her role at YouTube, saying she was taking time to focus on family, health and personal projects. She discussed the importance of maintaining boundaries during her interview with Adams.

“I definitely appreciate the many benefits that we have from the internet, but on the other hand, because I’m also from a generation that remembers life before the internet, I also see benefits of being able to disengage from the internet,” Wojcicki said. “So, my recommendations and how I personally use the internet is I try to use it for all the good stuff, and I appreciate all the benefits and what I’ve been able to learn, but I also believe balance is critical and that everybody needs time when they are also engaging in real life.”

Wojcicki died Friday after a two-year battle with lung cancer. She was 56.