Start-up culture dramatically challenged not only the working culture in general, but created new habits and approaches of human resources, a new way of reading the news and defining the media relevance in general. But how dramatic are those changes on the scale of gender, age and race gaps? How many women, in fact, are top managers of start-ups, not necessarily those aimed at helping women to overcome their limited working status?
Start-Up by Doree Shafrir is an excellent ironic journey into the glittering life of overnight 20 something billionaires. Rich, with a good often financially generous family background and the best education, they - the men - are out creating fantastic apps aimed to sell happiness. Part of this everyday dream is also the hedonism. Money are made fast, the social interactions at work are easy and the borders between employees and managers are rather vague. One night stands are non-binding, and sexting via Snapchat with your employee who in fact it is no more into you doesn't matter because, you are the king of the start-up, isn't it?
Plus, over 25 you already feel old and if it happens to be a mom with kids, marriede and over 30, most probably your understanding of social media is ridiculously limited.
The women characters of this book - Katya, the journalist, Isabel, the start-up girl and Sabrina, the wife of the busy journalist that used to have once a brilliant career of writer but gave up everything for family - are ready for changing things, in their own candid quiet ways. They are not radical and it took time to Isabel to realize that the pictures sent by her self-sufficient narcissist boss were in fact an outrageous example of sexual harassment. But although slowly - too slowly in my opinion - each and every one of them they realized that things can change and they can be part of this wave of changes.
The story about the start-up working mood and ambiance that Doree Shafrir brilliantly wrote is hard to put down. She knows perfectly well not only the challenges and its superficial characters, but also the extent of which the medium - social media - might traumtically distort the message.
Start-Up is one of those books I had on my TBR list for a couple of months, and I am happy I finally had the chance to read it. Not only I was not disappointed, but open up a lot of discussions about women and their continual challenges in being considered full human beings. It seems that regardless how revolutionary your app and office is, bad habits die hard.
Rating: 4 stars
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