First and foremost, the newly named CEO of Yahoo! will get to work trying to answer the big questions that the company’s previous leaders failed to adequately address: Um, just what the heck is Yahoo! and why do we need it? Giving the vaguely useful aging tech company a real sense of focus and purpose would be difficult enough. But Mayer, the first female engineer at Google, is attempting to do so under especially unusual circumstances in corporate America. Namely, she’s young (37), and not only is she a woman, but a pregnant woman—widely regarded as the “most powerful pregnant woman in America,” in fact. Mayer has already drawn heat, as well as some sympathy and applause, for saying that she’ll only take a few weeks’ maternity leave and keep working while she’s away from the office. The job of saving Yahoo! rests clearly on her shoulders, and in the eyes of many, so does the survival of the idea that women truly can “have it all.”
(PHOTOS: Marissa Mayer’s Executive Style)