Tekedra Mawakana: The Inspiring Journey from Law to Leading Waymo’s Autonomous Future
A few of the key takeaways are that Tekedra Mawakana’s path from law into a position as CEO at Waymo provides many lessons for professional growth and leadership in developing technologies.
1. The combination of interdisciplinary education (law, policy, economics, technology) gives you an edge over others in the technology industry with regard to leadership positions.
2. When you have opportunities to grow that you find “terrifying” – these are usually opportunities that will cause you to be able to break new ground and make new discoveries.
3. Building trust as a leader means being humble, honest and transparent with your employees, customers and partners when you introduce new or disruptive technologies.
4. Leadership innovation is fueled by diverse experiences; Mawakana has had many different experiences including growing up in various states and working for large tech companies which give her the experience and perspective to navigate complex regulatory environments.
5. A strong example of breaking down barriers while building bridges includes her role as one of two African American women to lead a self-driving car company – demonstrating how representation and expertise can create positive change within an industry.
Tekedra Mawakana’s experience is an example of many leaders who have emerged from non-traditional environments with the new ideas necessary for solving complex technological issues facing our society today. In 2024, TIME Magazine named Tekedra Mawakana as one of the 100 most influential people in AI.
In addition to being one of the Co-Chief Executive Officers at Waymo, which is currently considered to be one of the largest autonomous vehicle companies in the world, Mawakana is the second African-American female CEO of an autonomous vehicle company in the U.S. Mawakana has been a lawyer for over twenty years and has used this legal experience to help guide consumer technology companies across the globe to increase their global business opportunities.
The focus of this article will include Tekedra Mawakana’s education background, her progression within some of the world’s top technology companies, and ultimately her current role as Co-CEO at Waymo.
Early Childhood Development and Education
Growing Up In Mississippi
Tekedra Mawakana was born in 1971 and grew up in Mississippi; and during that time her family moved throughout the American South and other places. During this time the family was relocated to Georgia, Texas and Virginia. Her father was an airman first class with the U.S. Air Force and therefore her family had to move frequently. These many relocations allowed Mawakana to be exposed to many different people and different cultures.
Her growing up working-class in Sandy Springs, Georgia, just north of Atlanta, Georgia, influenced her views on economic opportunities and social mobility. She had direct knowledge of the diversity of America through the various experiences of moving from one state to another with her father serving in the military. These early years would shape her view on what leadership and policy work should look like.
Each move provided Mawakana with the opportunity to meet new people, go to school in a new place, and learn about how other communities functioned. Through these many relocations she gained an appreciation for the varying levels of socio-economic status and it was this that would develop into her inclusive leadership philosophy.
College Years (B.A.) Political Science – Trinity Washington University
At Trinity Washington University, Mawakana earned a B.A. in political science. Her interest in learning was far-reaching and she also studied economics and women’s studies which helped her understand the interrelationship between markets and social systems and how they relate to public policy.
The integration of these three disciplines was a strategic advantage.
Political Science provided Mawakana frameworks for analyzing government, policies and decision making processes. Economics provided Mawakana with analytical tools to assess business decisions and the impact of economic conditions on businesses. Women’s Studies provided Mawakana with an analysis of equity and representation within institutions.
Mawakana excelled academically. She distinguished herself from her peers by graduating Magna Cum Laude (with Honors) in 1993. The interdisciplinary method she used in completing her undergraduate degree also prepared Mawakana for her future as she works at the crossroads of Technology, Policy, Law.
Journey to Columbia Law School
Mawakana’s academic success as an undergraduate was followed by an application to one of the country’s top-ranked law schools. She received admission to Columbia University School of Law and went on to earn her Juris Doctor (JD) degree there. As she progressed through Columbia Law School, her political science undergraduate coursework provided a strong foundation for the study of law, while the school’s emphasis on legal analysis and critical thinking helped prepare her for the legal profession.
In addition to the formal legal education that Columbia Law School offered, attending Columbia Law School also allowed her to experience the culture of a global city and to be surrounded by students and faculty from all parts of the world.
This aspect of the Columbia Law School experience furthered her ability to work with individuals of diverse perspectives and backgrounds, a skill she developed in her childhood.
When she combined her liberal arts undergraduate coursework with her Columbia Law School JD coursework, she obtained a unique combination of skills that positioned her to succeed in the rapidly changing technology industry, which is becoming increasingly regulated.
A Legal Career in Technology
Steptoe & Johnson
After earning her JD degree from Columbia University School of Law, Mawakana began her legal career with Steptoe & Johnson LLP, an international law firm based in Washington D.C. The decision to join Steptoe & Johnson was strategic; the firm has long been known for the complex regulatory matters it handles, especially in the emerging technology fields. At Steptoe & Johnson, Mawakana worked in the area of intellectual property and telecommunications law.
These two areas of the law are at the nexus of innovation and regulation, thus requiring attorneys to have a broad-based understanding of both technical systems and legal frameworks. Her economics undergraduate coursework provided her with a solid base for analyzing market dynamics that shape telecommunications policy debates.
Startec Work Experience
In addition, after this time, Mawakana moved into her first experience working in-house as an attorney. Mawakana worked as in-house counsel for Startec Global Communications, a telecommunications company located in the Washington area. This transition was a significant career choice as she left her role as an attorney at a law firm and entered a corporate counsel position.
Corporate counsel positions involve an attorney’s participation in the day to day operations of a company. While attorneys in these positions are required to be knowledgeable about the laws applicable to a company, they are also required to understand the financial constraints of the company and the competitive forces in which it operates. As a result, she acquired practical knowledge about how telecommunications companies operate internally.
As a result of being employed by Startec, she progressed from providing advice to clients regarding the impact of federal regulations on their businesses to being part of the leadership team making strategic decisions for the company. She worked on global technology transactions involving cross border deals where she had to understand the different regulatory regimes. In addition, the international component provided her with a broader view than solely the U.S. legal system.
Work Experience in Policy Positions
Following this time, Mawakana transitioned to policy positions within the legal department of two Internet giants: AOL and Yahoo. These transitions marked her entrance into the world of the major technological platforms that have significantly impacted how tens of millions of individuals access information and communicate online.
These experiences also provided a solid base for her future experience as she became a leader of teams focused on transactional work for regulated technology and telecommunications.
As a result of these additional opportunities, she was able to expand the scope of her responsibilities and to serve as an advisor to CEOs who were developing or implementing growth and turnaround strategies for their respective companies.
She transitioned from doing technical legal work to providing strategic business advice to senior management of both AOL and Yahoo.
AOL and Yahoo allowed Mawakana to gain first-hand knowledge of the challenges faced by consumer-facing technology platforms.
Both companies experienced significant challenges related to content moderation, privacy issues, government requests for access to user data, and international expansion into jurisdictions where legal systems varied significantly.
Each of these challenges necessitated Mawakana to find the right balance between minimizing legal risk, maximizing business opportunity, and maintaining the trust of the users of each platform.
Through the cumulative experiences at both AOL and Yahoo, Mawakana gained a comprehensive understanding of how technology companies interact with regulators, users, and competitors, which is reflected in her extensive experience in the interaction of the technology industry with its corresponding legal and policy environment.
Experience Building Expertise in Technology Industry Policies
Twelve Years Helping Shape Policy at AOL
Mawakana worked at AOL for roughly twelve years. This extended period of time at AOL during a period of rapid transformation for the Internet giant afforded Mawakana with the opportunity to hold a variety of policy positions throughout the Company’s Legal Department.
During this extended period of time, her influence regarding how AOL addressed various regulatory issues and how the company developed relationships with government agencies continued to grow and evolve.
When Mawakana started at AOL, the company primarily operated as an Internet Service Provider (ISP). By the end of her tenure, AOL had transformed itself into a content and advertising powerhouse.
In addition to her expertise in how to effectively manage a large-scale technology company, Mawakana gained a unique perspective of how to navigate complex policy environments.
Mawakana experienced firsthand the challenges that come with operating at scale, including scrutiny from regulators, advocacy groups concerned about privacy, and competing business interests.
Ultimately, Mawakana established herself as a person who can bridge the gap between complying with applicable laws and developing effective business strategies that support the long-term success of the company.
Throughout her tenure at AOL, Mawakana provided advice to the company on policy matters that impacted millions of users and billions of dollars in revenue.
This experience will help prepare her for even more senior positions at other technology giants.
Fighting Mass Surveillance as Yahoo’s Deputy General Counsel
Mawakana moved to Yahoo in 2013, as deputy general counsel, where she was to oversee Yahoo’s Washington, D.C., operation, which was just beginning to recover from public relations damage due to revelations that governments were spying on the communications of many users of Yahoo and other technology companies. As a result of this backlash, her top priority became fighting mass surveillance, while at the same time trying to establish Yahoo as a champion of its users’ right to privacy.
As global head of Public Policy at Yahoo, she headed up the company’s activities in several areas critical to the future of digital communications . These included human rights, freedom of expression, net neutrality, data privacy, and cyber security. By the time she took this position, she had nearly 20 years of experience working with these topics, and thus understood well the interplay between them and how they affected both the businesses in which she worked and the expectations of their users .
Her new position as deputy general counselor made her an integral part of Yahoo’s responses to governmental data requests. She worked to make governmental data request information more transparent, and to advocate for limiting the amount of user data provided to the U.S. government. While advocating through legal means to limit data requests from the government, she also worked to help Yahoo develop a public stance on why protecting privacy is necessary for maintaining democracy and protecting individual freedoms.
Global Government Relations at eBay
In 2016, Mawakana began working at eBay, as vice president of Government Relations, and would remain in that role for 14 months . In her role at eBay, she oversaw legislative, policy, antitrust, and government affairs for the online retailer . Through this position, she developed relationships with government officials and stakeholders around the globe, and increased her scope of influence to include international policy battles, in addition to those domestically .
While at eBay, Mawakana supervised employees in various roles globally, including those in Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa, and North America, across five continents . This represented the breadth of eBay’s global marketplace reach, in terms of the diverse regulatory requirements of each jurisdiction in which eBay operated. She worked to navigate numerous trade policies, consumer protection laws, and competition regulations for dozens of countries at once .
Marie Oh Huber, eBay’s SVP Legal Affairs and General Counsel stated in welcoming Mawakana to the eBay team “she is going to be an incredible advocate for us with our customers, our legislators, and our regulators around the world” . Mawakana’s short time at eBay was only a part of her experience before moving into autonomous vehicle technology as the next step in her career.
Tekedra Mawakana’s path to leadership at Waymo
“And we pull back all the time. Just because we say yes doesn’t mean we don’t pull back.” — Tekedra Mawakana, Co-CEO of Waymo, responsible for safety in the development of self-driving technology
### Joining Waymo as Vice President of Public Policy
Mawakana moved to Alphabet’s autonomous driving division after 14 months working at eBay. In 2017, she became the Vice President of public policy and government affairs at Waymo. This new role put her in a front seat of one of the biggest technological challenges ever undertaken: putting fully-autonomous vehicles onto public roads.
She described her reaction to the opportunity as well as her approach to making decisions about whether or not to accept the role at Waymo. “I went in to interview for Waymo’s global policy role and at first, I thought it sounded absolutely terrifying,” Mawakana said to Automotive News in 2020 . There were many questions regarding safety, liability, and how the public would react to autonomous vehicles. However, Mawakana viewed Waymo’s history as a moon shot project as creating “this actual sky-is-the-limit opportunity to actually figure this out” .
In her role, Mawakana worked to expand testing and regulation of autonomous vehicles, while also competing with traditional automobile manufacturers. Her mandate was defined by Waymo CEO John Krafcik as follows: “as we take fully self-driving cars to the roads, Tekedra will work with policymakers at every level to unlock the tremendous safety, mobility, and economic benefits of this technology” .
Promoted to Chief Operating Officer
Beginning with her promotion to chief operating officer (COO) in 2019, Mawakana’s influence at Waymo became apparent early in her tenure. Her advancement to COO was a reflection of her ability to effectively manage and negotiate through complex regulatory environments, and to cultivate relationships with stakeholders across various segments such as government, private industry and consumer advocacy groups.
As COO, Mawakana assumed many new and increased responsibilities relative to policy work. These included overseeing all of Waymo’s communication and marketing; business development and operations; corporate social responsibility; and public relations and policy . As a result of the wide scope of her duties, Mawakana was recognized as one of the company’s key strategic leaders in guiding the company’s approach to commercialization.
Mawakana expressed her commitment to developing trust by being authentic in her interactions with consumers. “When introducing a technology like this into the market for the first time,” she stated in a 2019 interview with Forbes , “requires a certain level of humility indicating that there is much yet to be learned, and honesty will go far with consumers.”
Named Co-CEO Alongside Dmitri Dolgov
Mawakana was named co-chief executive officer (co-CEO) of Waymo in April 2021, along with Dmitri Dolgov. At the time of her appointment, Mawakana had spent four years with Waymo . The two were to serve as co-CEOs, each responsible for a particular area. Specifically, Mawakana would focus on the commercialization of Waymo’s technology and growth of the company’s customer base, while Dolgov would oversee technical development .
Automotive News’ Pete Bigelow characterized their co-leadership arrangement as “somewhat unusual” in 2021, pointing out that the pair has developed a strong working relationship and have played significant roles in several of Waymo’s most visible milestones . In their statement to Waymo employees, Mawakana and Dolgov said they looked forward to continuing to work together to “build, deploy and commercialize the Waymo driver and to drive the success of our amazing team and this company.”
Historical Significance as an African American Woman Leader
Mawakana’s appointment was also notable from a historical standpoint. With her appointment as co-CEO of Waymo, she became the second African American woman to lead a self-driving vehicle technology company . While Mawakana’s appointment represents a major breakthrough in the self-driving industry regarding diversity in leadership positions, it also highlights the need for greater diversity in leadership roles in the automotive industry.
Impact Beyond Waymo
“It is something that we all think about a great deal, and you can’t build that once it’s gone.” Tekedra Mawakana, Co-CEO of Waymo; Waymo safety framework development
### Board Work with Intuit and Boom Supersonic
Tekedra Mawakana currently sits on the Intuit Board of Directors, as well as the Boom Technology Advisory Council. These boards are representative of her ability to help create organizations within heavily regulated industries. For example, Mawakana uses her experience as a CEO to help provide strategic direction to Intuit’s (a financial tech company that supports millions of consumers) financial platform. As an advisor to Boom Supersonic (another revolutionary transportation effort, supersonic commercial travel), she is positioned at the forefront of the efforts to establish supersonic travel in the future.
Leadership in Consumer Technology Association
In addition to her roles on the Boards of Intuit and Boom Supersonic, Mawakana was elected to be part of the Consumer Technology Association’s Board of Industry Leaders in 2026. This is an exclusive group of top industry executives who provide input on the CTA’s policy initiatives and events (including CES). In January 2025, she delivered a keynote address at the CES Leaders in Technology dinner, along with other notable speakers from Panasonic Holdings, NVIDIA, Delta, SiriusXM, Accenture and Volvo Group.
Awards and Recognition
She has received many accolades for her work as a leader in business and technology. Time magazine selected her as one of the first recipients of the AI 100 list. In addition to being selected by Time, she has also been selected for the Silicon Valley Power 100 List, U.S. Black Chambers’ Power 50 List, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 100 Women of Influence, Fortune Magazine’s 50 Over 50 list, and has been listed by Automotive News as one of the 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry in both 2020 and 2025.
She has been selected as one of the Most Influential Black Corporate Directors by Savoy Magazine twice. In 2015, she was included on Washingtonian magazine’s “100 Top Tech Leaders” for defending her users’ right to protect their personal data from National Security Agency surveillance.
Social Impact & Advocacy Activities
Mawakana is also a socially-impact focused angel investor and is both an Advisor and LP (Limited Partner) at The Operator Collective. Mawakana is a member of the Board of Directors for Saving Promise, an organization dedicated to preventing domestic violence. Prior to joining Waymo, Mawakana was Chair of the Internet Association; and prior to that she was on the Board of Directors of the Global Network Initiative.
Conclusion
The progression of Tekedra Mawakana’s career from Mississippi to executive leadership at Waymo exemplifies the power of interdisciplinary skills in creating transformational leaders. As one of the first lawyers to lead one of the largest self-driving car companies, Mawakana has brought together her experiences as a lawyer, her policy background, and her understanding of the technology sector to help lead one of the most ambitious ventures in autonomous transportation.
In addition to her role at Waymo, Mawakana continues to be a leader in multiple ways through her service on boards, as well as her advocacy work, and by being the second African American woman to serve as the leader of a self-driving vehicle technology company. In her career path there are many lessons we can learn: develop your own unique set of skills; be willing to take risks and jump into scary opportunities; and lead with both humility and honesty.
Indeed, the path taken by Mawakana illustrates that some of the most influential and powerful leaders come from non-traditional pathways and bring new perspectives to the complex technical challenges that they face.
FAQs
Q1. What level of education does Tekedra Mawakana possess? Tekedra Mawakana holds a B.A., with Honors, from Trinity Washington University (1993) in Political Science/Economics/Women’s Studies; a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law (which gave her a solid foundation in the legal aspects of technology policy and leadership).
Q2. What companies did Tekedra Mawakana work at prior to taking a job at Waymo? Prior to Waymo, Tekedra Mawakana worked extensively throughout multiple companies and law firms. Her first job was at the law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP. Then she worked at Startec Global Communications. Next, she spent approximately 12 years working in various policy jobs at AOL. Following her time at AOL, she became the Deputy General Counsel at Yahoo in 2013. From 2016 through 2017 she worked as the Vice President of Government Relations at eBay.
Q3. What position does Tekedra Mawakana currently hold at Waymo? Since April 2021, Tekedra Mawakana has been Co-CEO of Waymo along with Dmitri Dolgov. As Co-CEO, she focuses on developing Waymo’s commercialization of their autonomous driving technology and building the company’s customer base. While her Co-CEO, Dmitri Dolgov, will focus on developing the technology. She originally began working at Waymo as a Vice President of Public Policy in 2017. In 2019, she was promoted to Chief Operating Officer.
Q4. On what boards or advisory committees is Tekedra Mawakana a member? On the Board of Directors for Intuit, Tekedra Mawakana is a member of the Advisory Council for Boom Technology (Boom Supersonic), and is a member of the Consumer Technology Association’s Board of Industry Leaders. Additionally, Tekedra Mawakana is on the Board of Directors of Saving Promise, a non-profit organization advocating against domestic violence, and is a social impact-focused angel investor and Advisor with the Operator Collective.
Q5. What recognition has Tekedra Mawakana received for her leadership? Tekedra Mawakana has received numerous accolades for her leadership in technology and autonomous vehicles. TIME magazine named her to the AI 100 list of most influential people in AI in 2024. She has also been recognized on the Silicon Valley Power 100 List, Fortune Magazine’s 50 over 50 list, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 100 Women of Influence, and Automotive News’ 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry in both 2020 and 2025.
