In the five years since Ellen Pao filed her high-profile sex discrimination lawsuit against VC powerhouse Kleiner Perkins — and was later pressured to resign as CEO of Reddit after backlash from users — the conversation about gender inequality in tech has only gotten louder.

In her new memoir, “Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change,” Pao (now a partner at social impact–focused investment firm Kapor Capital) reveals what it was like to endure years of workplace sexism and have her professional and personal life scrutinized in a public trial — and why she’s still working to make Silicon Valley a more inclusive place.

Q: It’s been a difficult but somewhat validating year for women in Silicon Valley, with revelations of sexual harassment and bias contributing to the departure of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, not to mention several high-powered venture capitalists. Do you feel at all vindicated?

A: I’m hopeful for change. I also feel sad that it has taken so much time and so many people speaking up and being ignored until finally it’s come to this point. My hope is that people actually do the right things and put in the changes that are going to make a difference.

Q: Why has it taken so long for tech as an industry to acknowledge that it has a problem? Do you think companies are only addressing the topic in public now because they’re being forced to?

A: It seems that way, doesn’t it? It’s hard to say, because it’s early yet. You can see Uber taking steps, but they were backed into a corner. When it looked like people were going to make money, (the company was) comfortable with whatever was going on. The board wasn’t holding anybody accountable, none of the investors were holding anybody accountable. At any of these companies. And the employees weren’t getting the help they needed from HR or management, and (so) people started speaking out on their own. And that seems to be finally making a difference.

We have seen for the first time people at investment firms being pushed out (for sexual harassment). But whether (this trend) is short term or long term remains to be seen.

Q: In your book, you talk about trying to heed Sheryl Sandberg’s famous advice to take a seat at the table while you were on a private jet with male colleagues from Kleiner Perkins who insisted on having crude conversations. You concluded that taking a seat at the table isn’t possible when no one wants you there — a feeling that many women can relate to. What’s the best recourse?

A: When you’re in that entry-level job, you’re like a commodity. One of the lawyers I used to work for called us pork bellies. One of you is like any other, and it doesn’t matter what you look like. But (as the field) starts to get more competitive, then it starts to matter for some reason what you look like or where you’re from. I wish there was a blanket right answer (for how to address the problem), but it’s much harder than that. Because, for some people, they need that job.

For those people, (I’d say), figure out if there is a different manager you can work for, a different location that you can go to, try to find the people who are more inclusive. If you can get another job, there are companies that may be more inclusive.

Q: What about speaking out — and taking legal action — as you did? Your suit against Kleiner Perkins dragged on for almost three years, and resulted in a judgment in favor of your former employer and you being ordered to pay part of their legal fees. What advice would you give to women now who are in the position that you were in then?

A: I would say not to do it. It takes a tremendous toll on you as an individual. You just can’t imagine how hard it is, emotionally, financially and professionally.

Q: Is the legal system failing women? And if so, is winning in the court of public opinion, like Susan Fowler did, after writing a blog post describing the sexual harassment she endured at Uber, becoming more effective?

A: Yeah, I think (the legal system) is failing women. I think it’s failing people of color, employees who are older. It’s not a great place to try to work out your problems because the company will be able to out-lawyer you, out-PR you, and drag things out and make things expensive and painful for you. I see it as a place of last resort. (Speaking out publicly) is going to be how you influence the managers, CEOs, VCs, board members. That ends up causing change.

Q: Why do you think it’s so difficult for the general public to believe women when they say that they’ve been mistreated or discriminated against?

A: Some people (think) that we moved past all this in the ’80s and ’90s. They thought we had resolved all of these issues, and it’s a shock to them that this kind of behavior thrives. And I think some people just don’t want to believe. And then there is a set of people who really don’t think there’s a problem with the behavior, a bigger set than I could possibly have imagined. The election, the behavior of people post-election, the behavior we knew about pre-election and that still got voted in — all of that was a shock to me.

Q: While launching your nonprofit, Project Include, in 2016, you lamented in a post that most startups take limited and often potentially damaging actions to address diversity. They assume they have to “lower the bar” for hiring. How do you propose that new companies make significant positive impact instead?

A: We (at Project Include) ended up coming up with 87 recommendations. For me, it’s (about) shaping companies by shaping the CEOs — and hopefully influencing VC firms, if that is possible, so that the right decisions get made, the right cultures get built and retained at scale, and everybody gets a chance to succeed.