Headline April 07, 2015/ ''' GOOGLE -UPON A TIME : MARISSA MAYER '''

''' GOOGLE -UPON A TIME : 

MARISSA MAYER '''

''WE ALL HAD OUR HANDS in everything.'' says an early employee of Google. ''Marissa was doing that as much but not more than anyone else.''

As  Google  started to grow, the media began to descend on the company, but the founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, had little interest in the press, and Google's early position was that the company shouldn't have an individual face.

The technology should speak for itself.

[Although Mayer and Page eventually dated, most people tell me that the relationship had no impact professionally.]

MAYER is genuinely a geek, one former Google employee says, ''That part of her mythology is real,'' and offers as  proof an L.E.D. installation Mayer built for her home with the lights inside pierced  Ping-Pong balls-

But unlike most geeks, she is surprisingly articulate. Reporters who visited Google in its early days and met her were wowed by her knowledge  of the technology; her pragmatism, her presence.

''She combines the qualities of a programmer and a humanist.'' says technology reported David Kirkpatrick, who says Mayer's mother credits him with being the first to write about her daughter, in 2005.

The same year, she appeared prominently in a  60 Minutes  report on the company. You can still see Mayer's early Google incarnation in a 2006 speech she gave at Stanford-

Where she discussed her nine theorems of innovation. She talked really fast  -she is still well known for talking fast-  and she wore a plain blue T-shirt and black pants. Her hair was not yet the perfect blond sweep it would become.

She had a nervous tic,  an nnnhh  sound she made when she paused, that made her seem almost a parody of a sterotypical  nerd. There was also her laugh, which is so famously idiosyncratic that there is a YouTube compilation of it.

In light of later events, the most interesting theorem is that  long-surviving brands (such as Macs and Madonna) haven't been perfect all the time, but in the face of mistakes like the Newton or the sex book,'' you iterate yourself out of it, or you reinvent yourself.''

A former Google employee says that Mayer understands the importance of press, and stellar student that she is, she set out to use her natural talents to become excellent at it.

''It was a strategic confluence of her interests and the company's needs,'' says another former Googler. ''Larry and Sargey could give a shit. And the culture doesn't want to feature individuals. But the media demands it......She was eager, but it's not like she forced it.'' 

In fact, she was so good at media that by the late 2000s the stories weren't as much about Google or its business as about Mayer. Her all-American good looks and burgeoning interest in fashion, decor and elaborate parties-

Themed night complete with cakes in the shape of Manolo Blahnik shoes and designer bags, made her a natural fit for magazines such as Glamour and Vogue.

In San Francisco magazine you could read about her 400-piece custom blown-glass ceiling installation by Dale Chihuly in her $5 million penthouse atop the Four Seasons, not to mention her collection of-

Oscar de la Renta cashmere cardigans and her obsessive interest in cupcakes -she told the magazine that she had bought an array of cookbooks to study cupcake recipes, created a spreadsheet for the ingredients, and then tested the recipes.

Later, her husband, Zachary Bogue, told a reporter, ''Marissa doesn't really like cupcakes. She just called the trend early.

There was a refreshing aspect to the detailed coverage, ''I refuse to be stereotyped,'' Mayer told the New York Times. ''I think it's very comforting for people to put me in a box.

'Oh, she's a fluffy girlie girl who likes clothes and cupcakes. oh, but wait, she is spending her weekends doing hardware electronics.' '' But there was also sometimes an oddly boastful quality to it.

Mayer complained to the  Times  in 2009 that, for all the press she had gotten, the media had overlooked her athletic prowess. ''It hasn't shown up anywhere that I am really physically active,'' she said.

''I ran the San Francisco half marathon this year. I did the Portland Marathon........ That just shows you how much there are gaps.''

[Gawker delighted in pointing out that she had come in 7,074 out of 7,862 people in the Portland Marathon].

The Honour and Serving of the  ''operational research continues''. 

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!   -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' Hall Of Fame '''

'''Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless