By Fidji Sino
Today marks 10 years at Facebook.
I still vividly remember my first day – I knew deep down that this was going to be a wild adventure, yet could not have imagined quite how much.
From the early days of working in marketing, to discovering my real passion for building products, to leading amazing teams that have each taught me so much – the last 10 years have helped me grow in ways I could never have imagined.
They’ve also taught me how big a privilege it is to build experiences for billions of people – one I never take lightly. My best moments in this job have been meeting with some of the people whose lives have been changed by being able to connect with others: the baker mom who discovered Facebook Live in the very early days of the product (when I wasn’t even sure it was going to work!), built a huge following and gave me the warmest hug at one of our events; the jewelry artist who couldn’t believe how fast her business was taking off thanks to Facebook Ads; the woman who accosted me at an event to thank me for helping find her long-lost sister thanks to Facebook and had me in a puddle of tears on the spot; the non-profit leader who is building patient communities and raising money on Facebook to find a cure for a condition I now have… and so many others.
Facebook is also more than just a company and a product for me. As an immigrant, Facebook quickly became my extended family, my community. The biggest honor of the last ten years has come from being a part of the journey of so many wonderful people here, and making each other better. This community celebrated my successes and believed in me sometimes more than I believed in myself, and gave me confidence to always take on the next challenge. I still remember getting a big round of applause to encourage me and make me feel less self-conscious when I presented to Mark and the exec team my plan for Video completely lying down from my bed due to pregnancy complications (video calls from bed were less “normal” five years ago than they’ve been this year!) – it’s a simple example of how people here lift each other up in times of need, and it matters so much.
My biggest piece of advice when people ask is to surround yourself with people who see the magic in you and are willing to shine a light on it, because it makes all the difference, and while I could fill so many paragraphs with people who have done that for me here, I just want to give the biggest thanks to Mark, Sheryl, Chris and Will for the chance of a lifetime. I’m forever grateful. Here is to the next 10.
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