15 Intriguing Facts About Susan Wojcicki for 2023

Updated · Mar 06, 2023

YouTube is among the top social media platforms across the globe. But who stands behind its success?

Susan Wojcicki.

Her career as the CEO of YouTube sure is impressive. Still, there’s more to her personal and professional life than that.

Perhaps you’re familiar with her early work at Google. Or maybe you’ve heard the family name—hint: Anne Wojcicki, the ex-wife of Sergey Brin.

Keep reading our list of Susan Wojcicki facts to find out all the details.

Fascinating Susan Wojcicki Facts (Editor’s Choice)

  • She was born on July 5, 1968, in Santa Clara County, California, US.
  • Susan’s father is a former physics professor at Stanford University. Her mother is a journalist and educator.
  • Susan graduated from Harvard University in 1990.
  • Wojcicki was 18th on Forbes’ list of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women in 2021.”
  • Wojcicki is married to Dennis Troper and has five children.
  • Susan became the CEO of YouTube in 2014.
  • Susan was Google’s 16th employee.
  • Wojcicki came up with the idea for Google’s AdSense.
  • She headed Google’s acquisition of YouTube in 2006.

Susan Wojcicki Biography

Successful people are always under the spotlight. Once a person gets on Forbes’ list, rumors are inevitable. Here, we try to disentangle the rumors from the truth.

Why is Susan Wojcicki famous?

What are her career accomplishments?

And what about her background?

Below, we answer these and other common questions. We also look at some Susan Wojcicki fun facts to spice things up.

Read on to see what we’ve prepared for you.

1. Susan was born on July 5, 1968, in Santa Clara County, California, US.

(Source: TheFamousPeople)

Celebrities in charge of large companies often stay in the shadows.

Point in case:

Everyone has heard about YouTube. Nay, everyone has at least watched a video on YouTube. But how many people know who Susan Wojcicki is?

We’re here to unravel the mystery.

Susan Diane Wojcicki was born on July 5, 1968, in Santa Clara County, California.

Now you’re probably wondering where her family name comes from. Susan’s father, Stanley Wojcicki, has Polish roots. Susan has two sisters—Janet and Anne.

You might’ve heard the Wojcicki name in relation to her sister Anne, too. She was married to Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google.

2. Susan’s father is a former physics professor at Stanford University. Her mother is a journalist and an educator.

(Source: TheFamousPeople)

How important is the family for the upbringing of a successful person?

According to her mother’s book “How to raise successful people,” Susan Wojcicki’s background played a huge role in her success. The same goes for her sisters.

Her sister, Janet, is an epidemiologist and anthropologist with the University of California.

Anne, Susan’s other sister, is an entrepreneur and CEO of “23andMe”—a genomics and biotechnology firm in California.

Susan Wojcicki’s father is a former physics professor at Stanford University. Apart from being a book author, her mother also worked as an educator and journalist.

3. Susan Wojcicki is married and has five children.

(Source: Inc)

Who has the time to change diapers and raise kids when there is a world to change?

Well, Susan makes the time. She has five children and a successful career.

When asked about family, Susan Wojcicki explains she never skips dinner time. She dedicates the hours between 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm to her husband and her kids.

Isn’t that admirable?

4. Susan graduated from Harvard University in 1990.

(Source: Britannica)

Susan Wojcicki’s education lies in the foundation of her success, that’s for sure. She studied history and literature at Harvard University.

After graduating in 1990, she enrolled at the University of California, Santa Cruz. There, Wojcicki majored in economics. She graduated in 1993.

Susan Wojcicki’s third degree was from the University of California, Los Angeles. She graduated in 1998 with a business degree.

5. Wojcicki’s spouse is a Director of Product Management at Google.

(Source: News UCSC)

Susan Wojcicki’s husband, Dennis Troper, works at Google. He is a Director of Product Management for the wearables division of the company.

Troper and Wojcicki met as students at the University of California. They got married in 1998. That was before they started working at Google.

Susan Wojcicki Career

Although she’s been working at YouTube for years, people still want the spicy details about Susan’s career at Google.

So, let’s take a peek.

How much does the CEO of YouTube make?

What did she achieve while working at Google?

We have all the information lined up. We’ve crunched the numbers and prepared some Susan Wojcicki fun facts, so read on!

6. Wojcicki was rated 18th on Forbes’ list of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women in 2021.”

(Source: Forbes)

Forbes is a world-known magazine that has become a synonym for success. So it comes as no surprise that Susan Wojcicki was on Forbes’ 2021 list of powerful women.

She’s there along with successful women like Melinda French Gates and Kamala Harris. She’s even a few places above Oprah Winfrey!

7. Susan Wojcicki was Google’s 16th employee.

(Source: Britannica)

Wojcicki joined the company quite early. So early, she was the 16th employee of Google.

She laid the foundations of the company, becoming Google’s first marketing manager.

Want some more fun facts about Susan Wojcicki?

When they first started Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin used Susan’s garage space as the company’s first headquarters office.

8. Susan became CEO of YouTube in 2014.

(Source: Business Insider)

The CEO of YouTube before Susan was Salar Kamangar. She was the ninth employee at the company. Wojcicki took his position in 2014.

And she led YouTube to a whole new era. Under her leadership, YouTube increased its monthly users to 1.8 billion.

9. Susan Wojcicki’s 2021 net worth was $815 million.

(Source: Forbes)

YouTube skyrocketed under the leadership of Wojcicki. This led to substantial profit. Not only for YouTube but for Wojcicki herself.

What is the salary of a YouTube CEO?

Currently, Wojcicki is ranked 34th in “America’s Self-Made Women 2021” and 13th in “Power Women 2020,” according to Forbes’ lists.

Susan Wojcicki’s net worth was $815 million in 2021.

10. Wojcicki’s first job was selling spice ropes.

(Source: Forbes)

Susan’s earliest significant business affair was renting her garage space to Google’s founders.

However, she had a business sense from an early age. Her first business venture was selling spice ropes door-to-door at the age of eleven.

11. During her first year as CEO of YouTube, Susan Wojcicki took maternity leave.

(Source: Business Insider)

Wojcicki has achieved a great work-life balance. But going on maternity leave during her first year as CEO of YouTube? That was a bold move.

Largely thanks to her, Google is the dream workplace for working parents. Wojcicki insisted on a number of employee benefits.

To name a few, employees get 18 weeks of paid parental leave, and pregnant women can access special parking places. Plus, there are nursing rooms on site.

12. The previous job of Susan Wojcicki (before Google) was at Intel.

(Source: Britannica)

Wojcicki played a major role in the growth of Google and YouTube. However, her position at Google was not her first job placement.

She used to be part of Intel Corporation, Bain & Co., and R.B. Webber & Co. At Intel, Susan worked in the marketing department. At Bain & Co, she was a management consultant.

13. Wojcicki was responsible for Google’s search engine dominance.

(Source: Britannica)

What did Susan Wojcicki invent?

Put simply—she’s responsible for Google’s search engine dominance.

Susan’s job as Google’s marketing manager was complex. She had to advertise the search engine with virtually no budget.

Luckily, Wojcicki came up with a brilliant plan. She partnered up with universities, proposing that they add a Google search bar on their websites.

This marketing campaign turned out to be extremely successful.

14. Wojcicki supports women in the tech industry.

(Source: Forbes)

Going further with the list of Susan Wojcicki facts, we need to mention her dedication to removing the gender gap in the tech industry.

Wojcicki is an active supporter of women in business. In a 2018 interview with Forbes, she talked about the problem of the small percentage of women in an industry that is literally changing the world.

As one solution to this problem, she proposed introducing federally mandated paid parental leave. This would increase the number of working mothers.

15. Wojcicki came up with the idea of Google’s AdSense.

(Source: Business Insider)

We’ve answered the question of who the CEO of YouTube is. But explaining what she has done for the company is a bit harder.

Here are some of the highlights:

Have you noticed how the Google logo changes for Christmas or Easter, or other holidays? Well, Wojcicki came up with this idea as a way to brighten up the brand for special occasions.

And have you heard of AdSense? Wojcicki came up with that idea as well. This was the project that transferred Google’s ad offerings to other websites.

AdSense generated over $100 billion in ad revenue in 2018. That’s more than 70% of Google’s revenue at the time.

Wojcicki also took part in persuading Google’s co-founders to buy YouTube. The purchase was made in 2006 for $1.65 billion.

Wrap Up

YouTube’s revenue increased immensely under Susan Wojcicki’s leadership style.

She is not only YouTube’s CEO. She has been part of the Google family ever since its foundation. And it looks like she isn’t going anywhere.

A few facts about Susan Wojcicki are not enough to tell her whole story. Still, we did our best to give you an idea of her personal life and career path.

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Nick Galov
Nick Galov

Unaware that life beyond the internet exists, Nick is poking servers and control panels, playing with WordPress add-ons, and helping people get the hosting that suits them.