While organizations tout the benefits of diverse work environments, what is it like to hire a first member of the excluded category? What strategies are employed in order to break through one’s own organizational biases and then become a place that is attractive for high talented newcomers who were previously excluded? In order to answer these questions I analyze administrative data, survey data, and qualitative fieldwork among firms in Saudi Arabia who hired their first female employees and promoted many to managerial positions. This commitment from top leadership generally came by one of three means: a business case was made to a top decision maker for the urgent need for culture change at the organization, new leadership injected the value of diversity into new strategic plans for the organization, or the company was pushed to change from the outside. I find that commitment from top management explains how firms began hiring females, and that they used a variety of strategies to do so, which I categorize as from within, from without, and rotational strategies. I outline what I call a processual model of culture change in organizations modeled on the experience of Saudi firms. A processual model of culture change begins with seeking and obtaining commitment from top leaders and subsequently dedicating resources to diversity efforts. However I find that simply allocating resources is not enough. Organizations must agentically design and implement multiple-pronged strategies contextualized to their particular organizational environment. By understanding the phenomena of increased female employment in Saudi Arabia we can bring these insights to organizations in other male-dominated contexts.