Cisco Systems & Urban Decay: Sandy Lerner (2018)
Sandy Lerner, co-founder of Cisco Systems and later founder of Urban Decay, recounts her journey from Stanford graduate student to tech pioneer and cosmetics entrepreneur. She details the early days of building networking hardware in her living room, the struggle to secure venture capital from skeptical investors, and the hostile takeover of Cisco by CEO John Morgridge that led to her ousting. Lerner explains how she reinvented herself by launching the punk-aesthetic makeup brand Urban Decay and establishing a sustainable farm in Virginia.