The Search for Silicon Valley’s Most Powerful Woman

The search for Silicon Valley’s most powerful woman exposes a gap between consequential roles and cult-like cultural power

Mira Murati, the Albanian-born founder and CEO of Thinking Machines Lab and former OpenAI CTO, has launched a $12 billion AI startup after a failed leadership challenge against Sam Altman. Yet even at a recent black‑tie event in a converted San Francisco church—where Murati spoke to a crowd of more than 350 people—she struggled to hold the room as men and women chatted over her remarks and bartenders served a cocktail called Zero to One. The moment highlighted a broader pattern: women occupy high‑consequence roles across tech, but few command the cultural magnetism associated with Silicon Valley’s most visible men.

"Her hair is amazing, though," one attendee whispered, a reaction that underlined how attention to style can overshadow women's substantive contributions. Shortly afterwards, Michael Kratsios, the former science adviser to President Donald Trump, took the stage and the crowd quieted.

The names put forward as candidates for the Valley’s most powerful woman run the gamut: Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Google; Dina Powell McCormick, Meta’s president and vice chair; and Gwynne Shotwell, president and COO of SpaceX. But responses from industry figures were often halting—many paused, offered a thinking‑face before suggesting a name, or simply declined to treat the question as straightforward.

• Mira Murati — founder and CEO, Thinking Machines Lab; former OpenAI VP/CTO; launched a $12 billion AI startup after attempting a coup against Sam Altman.
• Ruth Porat — president and chief investment officer, Google.
• Dina Powell McCormick — president and vice chair, Meta.
• Gwynne Shotwell — president and COO, SpaceX.
• Sheryl Sandberg — former COO of Meta and author of Lean In, whose advice reshaped discussion about women in tech.
• Timnit Gebru — founder of Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research, vocal critic of tech firms' handling of ethical AI.
• Aileen Lee — venture capitalist who hosts private gatherings of women in tech.

Observers argue that power in Silicon Valley comprises multiple forms of capital—financial, intellectual, political and cultural—and that the most visible male figures have amassed all four. "Look at how many women we have on our team!" Timnit Gebru said was a refrain of the 2010s, a period she describes as "the era of lip service." Gebru, who was hired in 2018 to co‑lead an ethical AI project at Google and later fired after criticizing biased research practices, now runs Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research to investigate tech harms.

The industry’s recent history is littered with flashpoints that forced reforms but did not produce a female analogue to the cult personalities of Elon, Jensen or Sam. High‑profile events include the Ellen Pao trial, Susan Fowler’s 2017 exposé of Uber, and revelations of misconduct by investors and executives. Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In put workplace patterns into words and catalyzed discussion, but critics say it placed too much on women to adapt to broken systems.

Some progress has been structural: Ifeoma Ozoma successfully cosponsored California’s Silenced No More Act after leaving Pinterest, and networks of women—sometimes convened by figures like Aileen Lee—have grown. Still, the Valley lacks a unifying manifesto or a woman whose public persona and rhetorical reach match the men who define tech’s cultural conversation.

Looking ahead, the debate centers less on who currently wears the crown and more on why no woman has become a mononymous force in the same way. As AI companies like Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab scale with multibillion‑dollar valuation and women continue to rise into consequential roles, attention will turn to whether a new generation can translate institutional power into the kind of cultural authority that reshapes the Valley’s narrative.