Ford joins two small but growing groups among Fortune 500 CEOs. Of the top earning companies, only 24 CEOs are women and only three other CEOs are openly gay, according to Fortune . "If it gives someone encouragement and belief that they can be their authentic self and live their life and things are possible, then that's a terrific moment," Ford told the outlet, before adding that she remembers what it was like to not feel like she could be her true self at work in her twenties. "I think it must be really hard if you feel like you’re in a culture where you can’t be who you are. Work is hard enough, and then when you have to feel as though you can’t be who are , that’s got to be incredibly difficult."