Meet Austin Geidt, the top-level Uber exec who joined as an intern

Austin Geidt, Uber's fourth employee and current head of strategy for Uber's Advanced Technologies Group, rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange at the company's public debut on Friday.Geidt joined Uber in 2010 as an intern and has held multiple roles during her time with the company.She has been open about her struggle with addiction and credits much of her success at the high-flying startup to skills she learned while in rehab. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.“To all you interns, keep ya heads up,” Austin Geidt tweeted on her five-year anniversary of working at Uber in 2015.It's advice that's paid off for Geidt. She joined Uber as an intern in 2010 — and on Friday, she got to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange ahead of the company's public debut.Now the head of strategy for Uber's Advanced Technologies Group, the company's autonomous vehicle unit, Geidt had the honor of the ceremonial role, standing beside CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.Read More: Meet the 7 VC investors getting rich off of this year's parade of 'unicorn' IPOsGeidt's rise is that of Silicon Valley legend. She was the fourth employee at Uber and has filled several roles during her time with the company. She's been open about her battle with drug addiction and recovery, and has been sober since she was 20. Here's how the former intern cold-emailed her way into one of the biggest startups in Silicon Valley as told in a Fortune interview from 2015, except where otherwise noted.