It’s pretty hard not to admire Whitney Wolfe.

In just a single year, she went from a high-level, high-profile job at the hugely popular dating app Tinder to filing a sexual harassment lawsuit against her former bosses. But yet, despite the near debilitating setback, Wolfe was on a mission. That's because her story painted a much larger picture to the public—that the tech culture is toxic to women, that dating apps like Tinder are misogynist, and that she was hell-bent on doing something about it.

Post-Tinder, as the dust settled, she set out into the tech industry once again—this time on her own. She decided to found her own dating app and named it Bumble. Today, the app is widely described as like Tinder, except women have the power. And her small—but fast-growing—company is gearing up to celebrate its second anniversary. The app is also global, with more than 1 million active users and has facilitated more than 150 million matches.

And the best part of it all? Wolfe is just 27.

What makes Bumble unique is that it's all about quality—not quantity—of matches. While apps like Tinder have seemingly conquered the digital dating space by turning the complicated business of meeting people into an uncomfortable real-life game of "hot or not," Bumble is aimed at sparking more meaningful (and less shallow) connections. When two users "match" on Bumble—meaning they've approved each other's pictures—they have 24 hours to start a conversation. But what's different is that the responsibility lies with the woman to make the first move.

"I wanted to do something that was more female-focused," Wolfe said. "Apps like Tinder have done a phenomenal job of connecting people and game-ifying it. But then what would happen is that guys would completely bombard the women with something as mundane as 'hey' or even something offensive, so the women would be inundated. I want it to be the place for people not only to match with one another but to actually have a real connection. I want real relationships."

For Wolfe, that key difference is about “redefining the landscape” of online dating by putting women in control of the experience.

Wolfe's way of thinking goes a little bit like this: Right now, women feel that society judges them for making the first move even though it’s an obvious desire for both sexes. This has created an unfair disconnect, and it skews the power and the control in the favor of the man. And that, Wolfe believes, is a dynamic that's really hard to change.

But Bumble is different. It's striving to empower women to make themselves equal to men in the dating world. By doing so, Wolfe is also helping to take some pressure off of the man, letting him know that it’s OK not to be highly aggressive in the dating space. It’s a small change that can have a huge influence on the way society views both men's and women's roles in the dating space. 

"For the first time in the tech space, the woman has been encouraged to be on an even playing field. In terms of how these conversations play out, how women feel on the app and how they feel about themselves on the dates, it’s really crazy the level of respect they’ve garnered from the men, and the way the men behave in such a different way," Wolfe said. "That one little shift, that one little change, makes all the difference. It guides the conversation in a very different way, and that sets the tone for that conversation, that relationship, that friendship, whatever that is, to be a confident one."

Prior to Bumble, Wolfe was a co-founder at Tinder. She was fired in the midst of a breakup with Justin Mateen, the service’s chief marketer. In 2014, she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the company, alleging that Mateen had publicly defamed her, that then-CEO Sean Rad had dismissed her complaints as “dramatic,” and that her male colleagues stripped her of her co-founder title because they said that having a woman on the founding team would “make the company seem like a joke.”

Today, Wolfe doesn't like to discuss the lawsuit, but she will say that anyone who expected her to disappear afterwards severely underestimated her dedication, her passion and her drive. But most importantly, that entire messy incident has come to illustrate a much bigger issue, and that's the challenges women face in a notoriously male-friendly tech culture. Wolfe believes that it's still not socially acceptable for women to enter into the tech world. And to that, Wolfe is not afraid to call bullshit.

That’s why, Wolfe’s goal has long been to even the playing field—to put women in control by giving them a powerful, uplifting option in a crowded marketplace where men often had the control. It’s a mission that’s come a long way in just one short year. But the most incredible aspect of Wolfe is her shining character. Perhaps part of why she’s so successful is that she has an unfailing belief in herself and her ideas. And that is what it ultimately takes to truly make it—even when the odds are against you.  

"It's validating to see the success of Bumble in such a short period of time. But what's truly rewarding is knowing that I believed in my idea from the start. Being able to put your blinders on, ignore negative opinions, and follow your strong intuition is what's validating to me. It's a great feeling to know you can trust your gut," Wolfe said.

Story originally appeared on 1851 Franchise.