CEO hid pregnancy for fear of discrimination

Talia Goldstein, the 33 year-old Founder of Three Day Rule, admitted that in 2012, when she was seeking investments to launch her company, she concealed her pregnancy from co-workers and clients.

In an open essay published in Fortune magazine, Goldstein described how she wore oversized, baggy clothes in an effort to hide her growing stomach. “In one meeting it was 80 degrees outside and I wore a trench coat,” she wrote. “But I thought, better off looking ridiculous than looking pregnant.”

Convinced that colleagues and investors would not take her seriously, the CEO approached a handful of co-workers asking their thoughts on a pregnant boss.

“Everyone seemed to believe that the people from whom I would be raising money [...] simply did not know how to handle a pregnant CEO, and would avoid one like the plague,” she wrote.