Most of my mentors and investors have been incredibly smart, thoughtful men. I've had the privilege of being mentored by some extraordinary men who saw something in me and took me more seriously than I knew how to take myself.

Most of my mentors and investors have been incredibly smart, thoughtful men. I've had the privilege of being mentored by some extraordinary men who saw something in me and took me more seriously than I knew how to take myself.

In my safe corporate job, I might have made one decision of real significance a year. As an entrepreneur, it feels like I'm making a decision every minute - I have lots of balls in the air, and so yes, sometimes I drop one or two. And for the most part, the balls are made of rubber and they bounce. So instead of carrying one ball very carefully, being worried that I might not be holding it at exactly the right angle, I am juggling hundreds, and I have to remind myself to appreciate all the balls I keep up in the air for every one that gets dropped.

Whether I'm traveling or at home in Seattle, my days rarely play out as it looks on my Outlook calendar - there's almost always something unexpected that comes up. But when I'm in town, my day usually starts at about 6 a.m., which is brutal for me because I'm really a night owl at heart.

As a woman leader, I try to take every opportunity I can to do what my mentors did for me - engaging with young women and take them seriously.

I'm an Ivy League-educated lawyer, so you'd think the world wouldn't mess with me, right? But I've been paid $10,000 less than a less qualified man in the same role. I've had men I've worked with grab my leg or rub my back in ways that have made me feel uncomfortable. I've been taken off projects because I was pregnant, even though my pregnancies have been both been healthy and didn't impact my work at all.

When I think about work-life balance, I don't imagine it as a perfect day where I got to spend the exact right amount of time having an impact at work and snuggling with my kids at home. I never achieve that. But over the course of a month, or a quarter, or a year, I try to make time for the people and experiences I value.