When Ana Kirova first heard the idea that she should become chief executive of Feeld, the dating app, she was “terrified.” It was 2021, and Ms.
Kirova had been working at the company for five years. The suggestion came from Dimo Trifonov, the app’s founder, and Ms. Kirova’s romantic partner.
Ms. Kirova had a strong hand in Feeld’s transformation from a niche app to something closer to mainstream. Still, she wondered if it would be smarter to hire someone from the outside.
Over dinner at Seamore’s, a restaurant in Brooklyn, Ms. Kirova, 31, speculated that her hesitation to accept the job was rooted in insecurities that might be tied to her gender. “The more I thought about it, the more it felt like if I were a guy, I would just take it and try,” she said.