Austin Geidt’s journey to Wall Street wasn’t easy or predictable. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 2010 amid an uncertain job market following the 2008 recession when she was 25 years old.Geidt has been open about her struggles with drug addiction and her time in rehab when she was 19."I had a drug addiction. I got sober. I'm 10 years sober," she said in 2015."I was in a really dark place.
Geidt told the audience of Fortune's Most Powerful Women conference in 2015 that her resume for Uber was effectively blank with little applicable experience to speak of. Jobs and internships were still hard to come by, and she wasn't having much luck in the market.Graves was Uber's first employee and held the CEO role before founder Travis Kalanick. He told Geidt to create a presentation about herself, which she eagerly took on.
The deck was full of humor and pleas for Graves to give her a shot, she told Most Powerful Women. She hadn't had any luck in the job market and needed to take a risk with Uber.She joined Uber as its fourth employee and first intern in 2010. As is the case with many early-stage companies, Geidt's role wasn't clearly defined and included everything from handing out flyers to cold-calling potential drivers.
mlperino Megan_Hernbroth I love Austin, but I was the first intern
Gross company. Unprofitable. Unethical. Gross people using the IPO to cash out before it tanks.