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Welcome to the What If Podcast.
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I'm Kate Wa ng, a growth strategist and operator in tech, part-time university faculty, and your podcast host.
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In each episode, I sit down with international women, other culture thinkers, and women building across cultures, careers, and continents.
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We talk about the choices we make, the risks we take, the pivots we navigate, and the moments that shape us into who we become.
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Behind every leap of faith, there's always one question at the heart of it all.
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What if?
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Welcome back to another episode of the What If podcast.
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Today I'm joined by my guest Gauri Wankhade, a tech leader whose journey spends across India, the US, Amsterdam engineering, customer-facing technical roles, and people leadership.
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Gauri began her career with a very technical foundation, earning her Bachelor of Engineering degree at the University of Mumbai before moving to California to pursue a degree in computer science.
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Since then, she has built a career in the intersection of business, technology, and global collaboration.
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Today, Gauri is a manager in the technical account management team, where she acts as the bridge between the technical teams and the customers, helping partners navigate complex problems in the tech space while also coaching and developing her teams.
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What I really love most about Gauri's journey is that her career wasn't built on a linear path.
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It was built through curiosity, courage, and a willingness to listen to her heart.
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She started in software engineering, but over time she realized she didn't want to just sit behind a computer.
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She wanted people, creativity, and the work that gives her energy.
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In our conversation today, we'll talk about her move from India to the US and to Amsterdam.
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How living across culture gives her new perspectives into shaping her career and what she wants to become, and how she found her niche between business and technology.
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We'll also talk about what it means to be an international woman in tech and how asking questions can be such a source of strength and why sometimes the best career decisions are simply the one that feels right to your heart.
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Hi, Gory.
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Welcome to the What If Podcast.
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Hi, Kate.
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Thanks for having me.
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I'm so excited.
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Yeah, we're super excited to have you here.
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Um, before we go into your full journey, I like to start with what you do today.
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You're now a manager in technical account management.
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And for listeners that are not really familiar with what this role does, can you tell us a little bit more about what you do in your day-to-day work?
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Yeah, of course.
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I am a manager uh as a technical account manager.
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Uh I work for a global solutions engineering team.
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The role is very similar to some companies call it uh solutions architect, sales engineer, technical consultant.
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Uh essentially, we are a bridge between a technical uh engineering team and customer facing.
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Um, so I am the voice or like the technical voice for Uber for business right now for all of our strategic partners.
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We'll go back to your career in a little bit, but before we do that, I like to go all the way back.
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Um, when you think about your childhood, um, what kind of kit were you?
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Were you always curious about building things, tearing things apart, always wanted to know how things worked?
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I would say I was more of a creative kid.
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So I think that's why I'm in solutioning.
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Uh I think a part of my job is also like being creative, uh finding questions and like finding creative answers for it, like workarounds and it it uh I think that would reflect more instead of uh being uh, I don't know, a builder or like someone who decomposes things.
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I think I was just like looking, I like looking at things differently.
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I was someone who also participated a lot in like debate competitions and elocutions and speeches.
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Um, I was always that kid that was all over the place.
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Uh, I think I still am, which is why I have like several hobbies.
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Um yeah.
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So yeah, definitely, definitely more creative.
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That's great.
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And growing up as a girl in India, I know we talked about this.
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Was there any expectation for you to become, you know, going into a certain career, or were you supposed to behave a certain way?
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Like, what was the expectation when you were in school in India?
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Well, I guess I have a very stereotypical answer.
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Uh, us Indians, especially my generation, I'm a millennial.
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Um, we just grow up with an expectation that either you're gonna be a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer if you get good grades.
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Again, that's depending on what kind of grades do you get.
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Um, and I think, yeah, my parents had similar expectations from me.
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I thought I'll be a doctor growing up, uh, to be honest.
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I I thought it would be so nice and so cool to be a doctor.
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And I know my grandpa really wanted me to be one.
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I think I was a good kid.
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I was like disciplined, like I mentioned.
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I was all over the place in terms of uh extracurricular activities, but I was very disciplined with my studies.
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I would be someone who would be maybe one of the top three rankers in class.
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That's amazing.
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Yeah.
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It yeah, it was definitely a challenge.
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Yeah.
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Well, so you started your journey with a Bachelor of Engineering at the University of Mumbai and then moved to California for your master's in computer science.
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That's a huge transition, right?
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I know you mentioned that, you know, as a kid you've always been really curious and creative, but moving from India to the US geographically, academically, professionally, and probably even personally, there's a lot of transitions and um differences.
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What was the leap of faith for you?
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Honestly, I would say I am a little privileged in that sense.
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I have a bunch of family here, uh, extended family.
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My mom's sisters, my dad's sister, they they moved here much before I did.
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Uh so I always had someone to look forward to.
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I had some cousins who graduated from schools here as well.
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So I would, I think I would like to credit people around me who were willing to give me that opportunity, were willing to motivate me.
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And I definitely was an ambitious kid.
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I knew I wanted to travel the world.
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I know I just said that I wanted to, I thought I'd become a doctor.
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But when I grew up, I was like, okay, what was what would be the job that would like take me across the world?
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And I think uh back then air hostess has got to travel a lot.
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Uh so that idea definitely crossed my mind.
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And then as I grew older, and of course, like with a better degree in computer science, I was like, okay, what else?
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And I I think it was more of a fad for people my generation moving to the US.
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And I was just privileged to have some family that would take me or like help me out.
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And on the personal front, I would say, again, it was exciting.
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I had some friends here, I had some family here.
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It was definitely a big shift.
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Like I was so protected in India, and then you just come back, come here, and then you learn to do everything yourself.
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Yeah, what kind of I guess mindset or strategies that was instilled in you and that help you land opportunities here and get quickly adjusted.
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I think I like making friends.
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If if I can advise anyone in this world to find a place for themselves, I would start with friends.
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Like, I don't know, just talk to anyone next to you.
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That's how we met.
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Like you sat next to me at work and we started chatting.
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And now we're here.
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Yeah.
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So big, big believer of friendships.
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And I feel so grateful to have met you.
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Um, and people often talk about, you know, there's challenges of being international students, and of course, there's like the visa struggles, the networking, the language, the uncertainty, so on and so forth, and even probably the pressure to prove ourselves.
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Um, but I also think that being international, we also have a lot of advantages and things that probably other people would take a lot more time to learn.
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What unique advantage do you think you have as an international student?
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I think a different perspective.
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It just gives you so much advantage on how a different world might look like and trying to bring that to your current life.
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Also something that I do at work, right?
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Like having previous experiences, like having more hands-on coding experience as a software engineer, definitely works well for me right now, where I'm when I'm talking to software engineers and thinking of solutions and workarounds, I can kind of use that knowledge back there.
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And you've spent some time in Amsterdam too, besides India, which adds another layer of um your global journey.
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Tell us about your time in Amsterdam and what was that experience like?
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What did you learn?
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Yes, I think that was the most exciting time of my life so far.
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Uh I was in Amsterdam for about a year and a half uh because of a work opportunity.
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And I had never stepped foot in mainland Europe.
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I think it also, both personally and professionally, it gave me so much more perspective on the work-life balance there or like the way people think in terms of work, just how the market operates.
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I think it's very important for my role to understand how the market really operates regionally to help the customers and clients better, which again, I got when I was like working on ground there.
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And on the personal front, again, I think I just met so many different culturally people.
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I had not interacted with anyone Dutch.
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I got to hear the language.
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I had not been anywhere apart from the US, of course, where everyone just spoke a language that I knew.
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And then just like going to the Netherlands where you only hear Dutch.
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Um, you just like learn so much more.
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Of course, their culture is so much different.
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The food, uh, the weather.
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And of course, there's a different set of immigrants in the Netherlands.
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So you met a lot of like uh, for example, there are a lot of Brazilians in the uh Netherlands, and now I have a couple really nice Brazilian friends.
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So got to know so much about their culture as well.
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Did you learn a word or two in Dutch?
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Yes, I feel like I'm losing it already.
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Dunk uh is like thank you.
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And well, it's very close to English, like they have like good morning, is good morgue.
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They they have a lot of cursed sounds from from like your throat.
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I don't I don't think I can do it.
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Um but yeah, and I learned that uh they have like the weirdest, best snack.
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I wouldn't have really imagined grown grown-ups eating that, but like it's pretty popular.
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It's called Boderham and Hagelsla.
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So it's basically like bread, butter, and chocolate sprinkles on it.
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Oh, and people yeah, and people like will eat it for lunch, grown-up people sometimes.
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So I think it's funny.
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It's really good.
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Yeah, you should try it.
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I should try it next time I'm there.
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Um, cool.
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Thanks for sharing your experience in Amsterdam.
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And now let's deep dive into your career journey a little bit more.
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Um, your early career, as you just mentioned, started with um web development and software engineering and design, which feels like such a hands-on way to start building um for users.
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What were those early days like for you?
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Um, a lot of learning, obviously.
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It was so different to get into corporate life because when you're in school, you can depend on friends, you can Google everything, and then corporate life is just like more intimidated, like they're paying me to do this.
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Uh, so a bit of a learning curve there and challenging, but it was fun.
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I I realized that I liked UX better than the back end.
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Uh, I was able to code in the back end, but I like like again, I think maybe the creative in me and like I like front end better.
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You can see the results like that.
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You change a piece of code and you can see how it changed.
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Like you added a button, or you change the colors, or you added a table.
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And of course it can get more and more complex.
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Um, but yeah, I think the UX was really fun to learn.
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And I did that at my university.
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I had an on-campus job at Cal State Long Beach.
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I was basically just copy-pasting a bunch of details from professors and their timetables and uploading the website every quarter, I think.
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Yeah, that's how it started.
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Did that experience shape the way that you communicate to the technical stakeholders?
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I think that would be coming from my previous job before Uber for business.
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I was a technical consultant at a startup called Mavenlink in SoCal.
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I think that's where I really, really picked up on like customer-facing skills.
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I was definitely someone more technical before that.
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I didn't have like calls with customers and have to figure out what they want, write documents.
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I think a lot of that was I learned from the previous job.
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And I had a wonderful mentor.
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Uh, I don't know if I can take names, but her name is Gayatri, uh Srinasen.
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She was she was so fun to work with, and she basically taught me the ropes.
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I hope she'll listen to the podcast.
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I I hope so too.
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Well, at some point, you moved from, you know, coding and being super technical, as you mentioned, to solution consulting and technical account management.
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What has sparked that shift?
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Was it that you realized that you were super interested in being in the creative part of it, or was it the mentor who told you that, hey, you should explore that side of yourself?
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Um, it's a rather boring answer, uh, to be honest.
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I was just bored behind the desk.
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I knew I wanted to do more.
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I needed.
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I think people fuel me.
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All the energy that I get from like maybe talking to you or talking to my friends or hanging out, like it fuels my energy.
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I'm one of those people.
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Like, I um of course I like my me time.
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If I socially interact too much, I will take a day or two off and like just like be offline.
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But I think, especially at work, it's just like so motivating.
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I meet so many women that have come so far and like there's so much to learn.
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So I think I was looking for more fuel.
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Yeah.
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I guess one thing that feels very distinct about your career, I think, is that you've built a really nice niche about yourself between all the different worlds, about technical teams, customers, business stakeholders, and strategy.
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How did you come to define that niche for yourself?
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Did it come naturally with all the career pivots that you have made?
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I think so.
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It was uh as cliche as being right place, right time.
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I knew I wanted to go in that direction where I'm leveraging my technical experience and doing something customer-facing and also maybe more, slightly more strategic, slightly more uh creative.
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Um, and to be honest, if I I if I can be a little more honest, I want I knew I wanted to be a product manager at some point.
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I that has changed in the last couple of years.
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Uh that journey now looks much different.
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I think I see myself going towards more strategy uh long term.
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Uh but yeah, I think I was just like trying to get to a place and then Uber happened.
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Uber for business honestly has been so great for me.
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I have been really happy and excited here.
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I've grown from uh first technical account manager in the team to being now being a manager and having a couple of reports, hiring for more soon.
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It's it's been an amazing journey, and I can't like thank my stars lords enough.
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How did you realize this was the kind of work where you can make the most impact?
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I think it just came naturally uh from being, I think I was a software intern at Dell EMC.
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Uh I had an amazing team lead back then who helped.
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Uh and then CGI again, um, a woman leader who kind of actually who got me more plan-facing.
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She was pretty strict with me.
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But I think that really helped being plan-facing.
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Um she just knew she wanted good work done and in time.
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So I think that was a that was a good way for me to be more sincere, more disciplined.
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Same thing with Maven Lingaati was such a good lead being, uh, helping me be more customer-facing.
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And then at Uber, again, and all of those were great roles, but I would say one thing, I did get Monday blues.
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And now giving you a long, long-winded answer for your question is I know I need to do this and I'm having fun, is because I don't have Monday blues anymore.
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I love going to work.
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Yes, I love talking to people.
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I love to going to work.
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I just don't feel like, oh my God, it's Monday next week and I have to be back at work, of course.
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And that's important.
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So I think I think that's how I know I just like love this job so far.
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That's I'm really happy that you had people who can mentor and influence you and help you.
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Of course, you did a lot of self-discovery work to find out, okay, now I don't have Monday Blue, and now I really love the job that I'm working on.
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Um and so I I also wanted to talk about women and tech piece a little bit more.
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You mentioned that you have a lot of women mentors and ex managers who have inspired you.
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Um, so as a woman in the technical space, of course, you're dealing with customers, but you also need to understand the technical piece and you work with engineers to find solutions too.
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As a woman in the technical space, especially as someone who has moved across different roles, how did you build confidence in rooms where you were probably the only woman or the only international woman?
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That's a great question.
00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:26.079
Again, fortunately, it hasn't happened that I'm the only woman.
00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:29.200
Uh, but I I do see where your question's coming from.
00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:30.000
It has happened.
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:33.039
Coming from India again, I'm going to give you a long answer for this.
00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:36.640
Coming from India again, it is a patriarchical word, right?
00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:39.839
Like we're just used to patriarchy in a certain way.
00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:44.720
And again, in I'm not trying to generalize, it happens a little bit for sure.
00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:55.680
Um, and um, I did actually in India was the first time I worked with, I was the only girl in a room full of men, um, not even speaking my language, actually.
00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:56.640
That's funny.
00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:08.880
Um, and they would like have discussions and important meetings in their language or their regional languages, and then one of my friends uh or my fellow interns would like translate that for me.
00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:19.920
I think that is where I realized that is also one of the reasons I realized I don't think I can really work in India and again to be to defend my country.
00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:21.279
This was 12 years ago.
00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:24.079
I know things have drastically changed since.
00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:30.720
Uh after moving to the States, I again I don't think I really felt any different.
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:32.640
I didn't feel like I was not being heard.
00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:38.880
Uh I feel like I am vocal enough to make sure that everyone knows what I'm trying to say.
00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:45.200
Uh, I'm not afraid of speaking up if I have concerns, especially when I'm right.
00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:54.720
If I'm wrong, I might be a little hesitant, or like if I'm not, if I'm not, if I'm unsure, I might be a little hesitant, but sometimes I know I'm right and like I will fight for it.
00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:56.880
Fortunately, it hasn't happened a lot again.
00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:01.599
There have been some instances where I'm like, are you not listening to me because I'm a girl?
00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:06.319
I didn't go through a phase where I was wearing like really nerdy glasses, so people take me seriously.
00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:12.319
If I were to advise any younger girls, I would just say, like, just don't be afraid.
00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:13.119
You can be stupid.
00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:13.920
It's okay.
00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:18.720
You can be stupid if you think you have something to say, please say it.
00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:19.759
Do not hesitate.
00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:23.359
I think that's the way to go, and that's how people operate anyway.
00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:27.200
And I guess sometimes like being stupid is your advantage.
00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:33.440
Like you can ask all the questions at the very beginning and making sure that you understand what people are asking for.
00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:42.000
Because there are times where in meetings I realize there are questions or answers that people aren't necessarily saying through their verbal languages.
00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:50.640
And by asking the questions, you really get to understand where they're coming from, what are the contexts, and why are they asking a specific question in a certain way.
00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:51.759
100%.
00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:52.559
Yeah.
00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:54.480
You you said it better.
00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:59.119
No, I I think being stupid truly builds up confidence.
00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:04.160
Or thinking that, okay, I have the place to ask questions.
00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:05.279
Exactly.
00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:07.119
No question is a stupid question.
00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:09.599
That's what I tell my clients all the time.
00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:11.359
I love that.
00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:16.319
Um your career path hasn't always been completely linear, right?
00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:19.599
Um, and which I think a lot of people can relate to.
00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:24.720
How intentional were these pivots versus figuring things out as you went?
00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:36.160
As ambitious I think I am, I think I also am someone who just like goes with my gut and my heart a lot more.
00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:39.119
I don't think I take big decisions from here.
00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:40.880
I would take it from here.
00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:45.839
Uh, so if things feel right, um I will jump into it.
00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:48.319
Switching from CGI to Maven Link.
00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:50.240
I I remember I'll take her name.
00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:56.720
Her name was Karen Morris, and she she's in she was a head of HR at MavenLink, and Mavenlink was a really startup back then.
00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:59.759
I remember just spamming.
00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:06.799
Her on LinkedIn because I just knew I was going to be so great at that role.
00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:10.319
And she gave me that opportunity to interview for it when it opened.
00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:13.920
So I think I have just been very passionate about something.
00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:17.200
Like I'll find something and I know I want it and I'll just go for it.
00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:20.400
I my approach isn't really like, is this the right move?
00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:21.759
Is this the right career path?
00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:22.480
And things like that.
00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:25.039
I don't think I overcomplicate that in my head.
00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:26.319
It just felt right.
00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:33.359
It just gave me what I wanted, like more plant-facing experience that's still being technical and not have to go too much, and I went for it.
00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:36.079
With my journey to Uber, it was a little different.
00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:38.400
I was interviewing with a few other roles.
00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:43.200
Then that's when I knew I wanted to, you know, have an option to work for a bigger company.
00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:44.319
I think that was the goal.
00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:46.000
I didn't want to work for a startup anymore.
00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:49.200
I wanted to work for a company that people are familiar with.
00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:52.079
I think I said that in one of the interviews recently.
00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:54.880
I was interviewing the candidate and she's like, What is your motivation?
00:22:54.880 --> 00:23:04.480
And I'm like, I was so bored of working for a project management software, and like nobody knew what I was doing, and I couldn't tell my parents or my family like what exactly do I do.
00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:05.759
And now it's so much easier.
00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:06.480
Like, what do you do?
00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:07.920
I'm like, I work for Uber.
00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:09.680
They know what those were a signal.
00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:10.160
Right?
00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:10.720
Yeah.
00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:11.200
Yeah.
00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:17.759
Those were a signal where you realized, okay, this is the time that I should just go for whatever I want.
00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:19.279
Yeah, exactly.
00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:20.079
Yeah.
00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:21.359
That's great.
00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:22.799
Well, thanks for sharing that.
00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:32.160
And and I I guess after building a very technical foundation in computer science and solutions engineering, you chose to pursue an MBA.
00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:39.359
What did you what made you realize that an MBA was the missing piece in your journey?
00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:42.720
It it wasn't really a missing piece, I would say.
00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:46.559
I think, again, making so many decisions, decisions from the heart.
00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:50.480
I um always thought I would do really well, and I still think.
00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:54.319
I think I'm delusional about it, but I think I'll do really well in marketing.
00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:59.440
Uh so I think I wanted to like learn more marketing stuff.
00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:06.079
COVID hit, and they kind of waved off the GMAT program for a lot of schools.
00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:10.079
Like they didn't have to, they were like waving off the score for GMAT.
00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:17.920
So you could all you could apply for nice MBA schools based on your career experience and like your past uh education.
00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:22.960
And I took that opportunity and it just like happened right place, right time again for me.
00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:24.720
I it was completely online.
00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:37.359
Um I was able to just work and do my MBA, so I didn't have to like take a gap year or like stop myself from still growing in my career, but getting an MBA.
00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:40.400
But honestly, I just wanted to do get into marketing somehow.
00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:41.359
I haven't yet.
00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:42.720
Maybe sometime in the future.
00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:47.440
I think five years down the line I'll be switching careers into being in marketing.
00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:50.079
What kind of skill sets did you learn?
00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:55.359
Or, you know, I guess like what did you learn about yourself in that MBA journey?
00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:02.640
I learned that I could take an afternoon nap and almost reset my mind.
00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:06.559
Uh so because I would like work from like 8 a.m.
00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:10.160
to 5 p.m., take a nap and then study for school.
00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:21.519
Uh I think it really pushed me and it showed how it I learned that I if I I if I had a goal set and if I have something to complete and achieve, I will do that.
00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:23.920
Like if I set my mind towards something, I know I'll do that.
00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:26.079
So I I think that's something I really learned about myself.
00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:29.279
I wasn't sure if I'll be able to go back to school, pick up on studying.
00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:30.799
Um, MBA can be hard.
00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:36.960
Like some courses were really difficult, or like some courses were really challenging statistics and there were a lot of math.
00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:40.720
Uh, my biggest takeaway again, I think MBA is all about networking as well.
00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:44.160
I made some great friends uh during that time.
00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:46.640
And I think that gave me the strategic mindset, right?
00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:50.559
A lot of courses were strategy oriented, and I think that helped me.
00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:53.680
And that literally just happened before my role at Uber.
00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:59.279
I was like halfway or more than halfway through my MBA when I got the opportunity to work with Uber.
00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:00.400
Oh, awesome.
00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:03.119
So you can put that skill set into use.
00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:04.880
Yep, exactly.
00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:08.240
And I think uh hopefully I'm doing a good job doing that.
00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:09.519
I'm sure you are.
00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:13.039
Now that you're managing a team, I love to talk about leadership.
00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:18.319
What has really surprised you most about becoming a people manager versus when you're an IC?
00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:21.359
I've been a manager only for a year.
00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:24.079
So I think I still have a lot to learn.
00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:40.720
Uh my biggest learning, or like what I am trying to learn right now, is how to set expectations at work and also just like manage their workload and emotions.
00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:45.759
Like, I don't want to be too empathetic, but I also don't want to be like a micromanager.
00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:56.640
Um, so I think figuring out like a right balance, or I I've realized that also different people uh have different ways of how they would like to work.
00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:07.200
Like some people do appreciate, I wouldn't say micromanaging, but someone who keeps tabs on them, like checks in with them more regularly, uh, helps them out a little more regularly.
00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:11.920
Some people do like that, and I know some people operate, and I I think I'm someone like that.
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:22.480
I like my uh individuality, I like doing things by myself and like then checking in with my manager, like, hey, do you think this is good and are we on board?
00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:34.079
So I think striking that balance and like having different personalities on the team and like trying to first figure out who likes what and how how best would they make the most of this role?
00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:37.759
Um, help them, help me find up a situation.
00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:38.720
That's awesome.
00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:40.079
Do you enjoy being a manager?
00:27:40.400 --> 00:27:43.839
I enjoy having the opportunity to grow.
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:58.720
Uh I haven't made up my mind about it, but yeah, I think I do see myself in like leadership roles, and I would like pursue going higher in strategy, and that would mean managing people directly and indirectly.
00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:04.559
Okay, so I asked every guest a few what-if questions to close the podcast.
00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:16.240
The first question is what is one what-if decision that you have made in your life that has shaped your course of life, or um, it has made you become a better version of yourself?
00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:17.599
I think the biggest one, right?
00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:18.880
The career switch.
00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:22.400
I used to be a back-end coder.
00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:24.799
I started as a software engineer.
00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:32.720
Um, used to code in Java at CGI a lot, and then I just realized like, what if I try to be more customer-facing?
00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:39.680
And I think that just like changed the rest of my career uh because I realized that's not something I would do or be happy long term with.
00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:50.799
So a lot of it is like being honest with yourself and finding people who can be your ally and mentoring you to get you to where you want to become.
00:28:51.440 --> 00:29:10.000
Yes, I feel like this this Bollywood movie, there's this character who is only going for money or like being really successful and rich, and there's this other character who um only cares about being happy and learning things that he likes.
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:11.279
I think I like that.
00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:22.240
Again, I wouldn't say like I've drawn my motivation from that movie per se, but I like the approach, and I think I have been able to, I've been fortunate enough to be able to incorporate that in my life.
00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:24.079
That's just how I'm as a person.
00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:27.440
But if I were to give someone any advice, that that would be it.
00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:32.400
Like just go for what you like because your job is going to be half your life, right?
00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:34.559
So might as well make it fun.
00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:36.960
Oh my gosh, I love that advice.
00:29:36.960 --> 00:29:46.079
And the second question is what's a what if that you're still a little bit nervous to try, or maybe you want to push yourself to try next?
00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:50.160
The strategy part that we talked about a bit.
00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:57.119
I don't know if I have enough experience to think like that, like go climb higher in leadership roles.
00:29:57.119 --> 00:29:58.480
I don't know what that would look like.
00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:00.720
I don't know exactly what I would do.
00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:08.240
Um I believe I can still improve a lot of my leadership language, to be honest.
00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:10.319
I feel like I'm very casual when I talk.
00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:23.039
Um, so definitely a lot of vocabulary and like command, just like the language, like more official presentation leadership language that I think I need to uh catch up on.
00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:25.519
I think, yeah, that's something I'm definitely nervous about.
00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:30.640
I don't know if I'll do well if I present uh to a bigger crowd.
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:32.160
I think I'll still be nervous.
00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:38.000
Well, I have a lot of confidence in you that you thank you.
00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:43.119
Um, the third question is what kind of world do you hope your generation will build?
00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:54.640
Um I feel like our parents' generation, or at least in India, I see I've seen my parents' generation just not have or not have been able to.
00:30:54.640 --> 00:31:00.480
They're just like so bounded by their responsibilities that they've not been able to do what they would have actually liked.
00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:06.559
And they unfortunately again couldn't find a way or reason after the fact to do it.
00:31:06.559 --> 00:31:13.759
And again, this is just me generalizing, but I feel like my generation is much more motivated in finding things to do like yourself.
00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:17.440
Like, you know, you wanted to start a podcast, and here you are.
00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:30.160
Um so yeah, I hope uh that everyone kind of like finds their way whenever and find a hobby that they can cash up on, I guess.
00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:39.359
I think this starts as a hobby for me, and I don't know where it'll take me, but I I think everyone can find a little bit of their passion project and then go from there.
00:31:39.359 --> 00:31:40.160
Yes.
00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:54.319
Well, the last question is Is there a book, a habit, a life hack, or a place where you want to go to a piece of advice that you've been recommending to people lately that you would want to bring up to the audience today?
00:31:56.480 --> 00:31:58.000
Wow, that's a good one.
00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:01.279
Uh I have a book recommendation that I have want everyone to read.
00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:10.160
It's it's not really like life-changing or anything, but if anyone has read Shantaram or hasn't read Shantaram, they will know what I'm talking about.
00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:11.599
It's such a beautiful book.
00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:13.920
It's by Gregory David Robert.
00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:18.720
He was an Australian who lived in India for a little bit.
00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:23.759
He was, I think he escaped from a jail and then had like a whole different life in India.
00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:26.480
It's one of my favorite books to read.
00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:29.599
Um I think I've read it like three times so far.
00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:31.119
It's just like so fun.
00:32:31.119 --> 00:32:38.160
Um, and in terms of like habits, I think in the last two to three years I've really gotten into meditation.
00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:40.720
And it could be your version of meditation.
00:32:40.720 --> 00:32:49.200
I just like to sit, light a lamp or like a diyah, and quietly try not to think.
00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:53.599
And I think I've gotten better at not thinking or having a to-do list in your brain.
00:32:53.599 --> 00:32:58.240
I think that's that has like really shaped me as a person in the last three years.
00:32:58.240 --> 00:32:59.839
I think I've just become more patient.
00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:01.839
I think I think more clearly.
00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:08.160
Um and I have that place to go to if I'm overwhelmed.
00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:13.440
I think that has like changed me personally, and I'm sure it will benefit a lot of people, especially in tech.
00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:20.480
We're so overstimulated with our phones and our laptops and work and people and social activities, Instagram.
00:33:20.480 --> 00:33:27.759
I think uh if I were to advise people, I would say like sit quietly with yourself for five minutes and make that a habit.
00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:33.680
And you do go on a lot of walks, whether after lunch, or coming to work.
00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:38.720
You you spend a lot of time, quiet time with yourself and and reflecting, right?
00:33:39.279 --> 00:33:40.400
Yes, I love that.
00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:42.799
That's definitely my favorite part of the day.
00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:44.079
Oh, that's awesome.
00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:49.440
Well, I hope the audience are able to take away these amazing advice that you give them.
00:33:49.440 --> 00:33:52.720
Well, Gory, thank you so much for joining me on What If.
00:33:52.720 --> 00:34:11.360
I really love this conversation because your story really shows that an international career not just have to be about overcoming obstacles, but can also be about building your career with heart and building the range and learning how to adapt, communicate, and lead and create impact across different cultures.
00:34:11.360 --> 00:34:24.159
I think your journey also reminds us that being a woman in tech doesn't also need to be fitting ourselves into a narrow or um configurative version of what a technical career should look like.
00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:25.840
There's so much more out there.
00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:36.880
There's, like you said, technical account manager, solution consulting, and you can be technical and strategic, analytical and empathetic, creative and thoughtful all at the same time.
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:49.199
And I guess for international women building careers across different countries and industries, your story would be such a powerful reminder that sometimes your path is exactly how you build your edge.
00:34:49.199 --> 00:34:52.159
And so thank you so much for coming to the podcast.
00:34:52.159 --> 00:34:56.719
I hope everybody's able to take away from all your what-if decisions.
00:34:57.039 --> 00:34:58.239
Thank you so much, Kate.
00:34:58.239 --> 00:35:00.719
Thank you for uh this fun conversation.
00:35:00.719 --> 00:35:04.079
I think you are such a motivation yourself.
00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:06.639
Uh, and I'm glad you're doing this.
00:35:06.639 --> 00:35:17.280
I think a lot of your audience would also take from you taking your um hobby for podcasts and like actually working on it and making sure it happens so seriously.
00:35:17.280 --> 00:35:18.639
I just love that about you.
00:35:18.639 --> 00:35:22.800
Uh, I know you said you had a goal and you wanted to do that this year.
00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:28.000
And I know a lot of us will like find a way to not do it or Slack.
00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:32.000
Kudos to you and good luck uh that you're finally doing this.
00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:42.719
And I hope, I hope this uh goes viral on TikTok and YouTube and everywhere, everywhere you want to uh podcast it.
00:35:43.119 --> 00:35:43.679
Thank you.
00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:46.480
Thank you for being such a great supporter.
00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:49.920
Thank you for tuning in to the What If podcast.
00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:58.079
If this episode makes you think, smile, or see things differently, do me a quick favor and share it with someone whom I find it helpful too.
00:35:58.079 --> 00:36:02.400
Because what if one conversation could really change someone's next step.
00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:06.159
Don't forget to follow the show, and I can't wait to see you next time.
00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:02.479
Welcome to the What If Podcast.
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I'm Kate Wa ng, a growth strategist and operator in tech, part-time university faculty, and your podcast host.
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In each episode, I sit down with international women, other culture thinkers, and women building across cultures, careers, and continents.
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We talk about the choices we make, the risks we take, the pivots we navigate, and the moments that shape us into who we become.
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Behind every leap of faith, there's always one question at the heart of it all.
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What if?
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Welcome back to another episode of the What If podcast.
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Today I'm joined by my guest Gauri Wankhade, a tech leader whose journey spends across India, the US, Amsterdam engineering, customer-facing technical roles, and people leadership.
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Gauri began her career with a very technical foundation, earning her Bachelor of Engineering degree at the University of Mumbai before moving to California to pursue a degree in computer science.
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Since then, she has built a career in the intersection of business, technology, and global collaboration.
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Today, Gauri is a manager in the technical account management team, where she acts as the bridge between the technical teams and the customers, helping partners navigate complex problems in the tech space while also coaching and developing her teams.
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What I really love most about Gauri's journey is that her career wasn't built on a linear path.
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It was built through curiosity, courage, and a willingness to listen to her heart.
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She started in software engineering, but over time she realized she didn't want to just sit behind a computer.
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She wanted people, creativity, and the work that gives her energy.
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In our conversation today, we'll talk about her move from India to the US and to Amsterdam.
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How living across culture gives her new perspectives into shaping her career and what she wants to become, and how she found her niche between business and technology.
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We'll also talk about what it means to be an international woman in tech and how asking questions can be such a source of strength and why sometimes the best career decisions are simply the one that feels right to your heart.
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Hi, Gory.
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Welcome to the What If Podcast.
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Hi, Kate.
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Thanks for having me.
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I'm so excited.
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Yeah, we're super excited to have you here.
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Um, before we go into your full journey, I like to start with what you do today.
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You're now a manager in technical account management.
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And for listeners that are not really familiar with what this role does, can you tell us a little bit more about what you do in your day-to-day work?
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Yeah, of course.
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I am a manager uh as a technical account manager.
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Uh I work for a global solutions engineering team.
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The role is very similar to some companies call it uh solutions architect, sales engineer, technical consultant.
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Uh essentially, we are a bridge between a technical uh engineering team and customer facing.
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Um, so I am the voice or like the technical voice for Uber for business right now for all of our strategic partners.
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We'll go back to your career in a little bit, but before we do that, I like to go all the way back.
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Um, when you think about your childhood, um, what kind of kit were you?
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Were you always curious about building things, tearing things apart, always wanted to know how things worked?
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I would say I was more of a creative kid.
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So I think that's why I'm in solutioning.
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Uh I think a part of my job is also like being creative, uh finding questions and like finding creative answers for it, like workarounds and it it uh I think that would reflect more instead of uh being uh, I don't know, a builder or like someone who decomposes things.
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I think I was just like looking, I like looking at things differently.
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I was someone who also participated a lot in like debate competitions and elocutions and speeches.
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Um, I was always that kid that was all over the place.
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Uh, I think I still am, which is why I have like several hobbies.
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Um yeah.
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So yeah, definitely, definitely more creative.
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That's great.
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And growing up as a girl in India, I know we talked about this.
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Was there any expectation for you to become, you know, going into a certain career, or were you supposed to behave a certain way?
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Like, what was the expectation when you were in school in India?
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Well, I guess I have a very stereotypical answer.
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Uh, us Indians, especially my generation, I'm a millennial.
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Um, we just grow up with an expectation that either you're gonna be a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer if you get good grades.
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Again, that's depending on what kind of grades do you get.
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Um, and I think, yeah, my parents had similar expectations from me.
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I thought I'll be a doctor growing up, uh, to be honest.
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I I thought it would be so nice and so cool to be a doctor.
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And I know my grandpa really wanted me to be one.
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I think I was a good kid.
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I was like disciplined, like I mentioned.
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I was all over the place in terms of uh extracurricular activities, but I was very disciplined with my studies.
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I would be someone who would be maybe one of the top three rankers in class.
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That's amazing.
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Yeah.
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It yeah, it was definitely a challenge.
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Yeah.
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Well, so you started your journey with a Bachelor of Engineering at the University of Mumbai and then moved to California for your master's in computer science.
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That's a huge transition, right?
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I know you mentioned that, you know, as a kid you've always been really curious and creative, but moving from India to the US geographically, academically, professionally, and probably even personally, there's a lot of transitions and um differences.
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What was the leap of faith for you?
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Honestly, I would say I am a little privileged in that sense.
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I have a bunch of family here, uh, extended family.
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My mom's sisters, my dad's sister, they they moved here much before I did.
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Uh so I always had someone to look forward to.
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I had some cousins who graduated from schools here as well.
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So I would, I think I would like to credit people around me who were willing to give me that opportunity, were willing to motivate me.
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And I definitely was an ambitious kid.
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I knew I wanted to travel the world.
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I know I just said that I wanted to, I thought I'd become a doctor.
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But when I grew up, I was like, okay, what was what would be the job that would like take me across the world?
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And I think uh back then air hostess has got to travel a lot.
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Uh so that idea definitely crossed my mind.
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And then as I grew older, and of course, like with a better degree in computer science, I was like, okay, what else?
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And I I think it was more of a fad for people my generation moving to the US.
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And I was just privileged to have some family that would take me or like help me out.
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And on the personal front, I would say, again, it was exciting.
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I had some friends here, I had some family here.
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It was definitely a big shift.
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Like I was so protected in India, and then you just come back, come here, and then you learn to do everything yourself.
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Yeah, what kind of I guess mindset or strategies that was instilled in you and that help you land opportunities here and get quickly adjusted.
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I think I like making friends.
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If if I can advise anyone in this world to find a place for themselves, I would start with friends.
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Like, I don't know, just talk to anyone next to you.
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That's how we met.
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Like you sat next to me at work and we started chatting.
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And now we're here.
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Yeah.
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So big, big believer of friendships.
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And I feel so grateful to have met you.
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Um, and people often talk about, you know, there's challenges of being international students, and of course, there's like the visa struggles, the networking, the language, the uncertainty, so on and so forth, and even probably the pressure to prove ourselves.
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Um, but I also think that being international, we also have a lot of advantages and things that probably other people would take a lot more time to learn.
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What unique advantage do you think you have as an international student?
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I think a different perspective.
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It just gives you so much advantage on how a different world might look like and trying to bring that to your current life.
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Also something that I do at work, right?
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Like having previous experiences, like having more hands-on coding experience as a software engineer, definitely works well for me right now, where I'm when I'm talking to software engineers and thinking of solutions and workarounds, I can kind of use that knowledge back there.
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And you've spent some time in Amsterdam too, besides India, which adds another layer of um your global journey.
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Tell us about your time in Amsterdam and what was that experience like?
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What did you learn?
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Yes, I think that was the most exciting time of my life so far.
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Uh I was in Amsterdam for about a year and a half uh because of a work opportunity.
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And I had never stepped foot in mainland Europe.
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I think it also, both personally and professionally, it gave me so much more perspective on the work-life balance there or like the way people think in terms of work, just how the market operates.
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I think it's very important for my role to understand how the market really operates regionally to help the customers and clients better, which again, I got when I was like working on ground there.
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And on the personal front, again, I think I just met so many different culturally people.
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I had not interacted with anyone Dutch.
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I got to hear the language.
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I had not been anywhere apart from the US, of course, where everyone just spoke a language that I knew.
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And then just like going to the Netherlands where you only hear Dutch.
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Um, you just like learn so much more.
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Of course, their culture is so much different.
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The food, uh, the weather.
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And of course, there's a different set of immigrants in the Netherlands.
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So you met a lot of like uh, for example, there are a lot of Brazilians in the uh Netherlands, and now I have a couple really nice Brazilian friends.
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So got to know so much about their culture as well.
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Did you learn a word or two in Dutch?
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Yes, I feel like I'm losing it already.
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Dunk uh is like thank you.
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And well, it's very close to English, like they have like good morning, is good morgue.
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They they have a lot of cursed sounds from from like your throat.
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I don't I don't think I can do it.
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Um but yeah, and I learned that uh they have like the weirdest, best snack.
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I wouldn't have really imagined grown grown-ups eating that, but like it's pretty popular.
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It's called Boderham and Hagelsla.
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So it's basically like bread, butter, and chocolate sprinkles on it.
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Oh, and people yeah, and people like will eat it for lunch, grown-up people sometimes.
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So I think it's funny.
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It's really good.
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Yeah, you should try it.
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I should try it next time I'm there.
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Um, cool.
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Thanks for sharing your experience in Amsterdam.
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And now let's deep dive into your career journey a little bit more.
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Um, your early career, as you just mentioned, started with um web development and software engineering and design, which feels like such a hands-on way to start building um for users.
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What were those early days like for you?
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Um, a lot of learning, obviously.
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It was so different to get into corporate life because when you're in school, you can depend on friends, you can Google everything, and then corporate life is just like more intimidated, like they're paying me to do this.
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Uh, so a bit of a learning curve there and challenging, but it was fun.
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I I realized that I liked UX better than the back end.
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Uh, I was able to code in the back end, but I like like again, I think maybe the creative in me and like I like front end better.
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You can see the results like that.
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You change a piece of code and you can see how it changed.
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Like you added a button, or you change the colors, or you added a table.
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And of course it can get more and more complex.
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Um, but yeah, I think the UX was really fun to learn.
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And I did that at my university.
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I had an on-campus job at Cal State Long Beach.
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I was basically just copy-pasting a bunch of details from professors and their timetables and uploading the website every quarter, I think.
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Yeah, that's how it started.
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Did that experience shape the way that you communicate to the technical stakeholders?
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I think that would be coming from my previous job before Uber for business.
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I was a technical consultant at a startup called Mavenlink in SoCal.
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I think that's where I really, really picked up on like customer-facing skills.
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I was definitely someone more technical before that.
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I didn't have like calls with customers and have to figure out what they want, write documents.
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I think a lot of that was I learned from the previous job.
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And I had a wonderful mentor.
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Uh, I don't know if I can take names, but her name is Gayatri, uh Srinasen.
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She was she was so fun to work with, and she basically taught me the ropes.
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I hope she'll listen to the podcast.
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I I hope so too.
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Well, at some point, you moved from, you know, coding and being super technical, as you mentioned, to solution consulting and technical account management.
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What has sparked that shift?
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Was it that you realized that you were super interested in being in the creative part of it, or was it the mentor who told you that, hey, you should explore that side of yourself?
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Um, it's a rather boring answer, uh, to be honest.
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I was just bored behind the desk.
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I knew I wanted to do more.
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I needed.
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I think people fuel me.
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All the energy that I get from like maybe talking to you or talking to my friends or hanging out, like it fuels my energy.
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I'm one of those people.
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Like, I um of course I like my me time.
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If I socially interact too much, I will take a day or two off and like just like be offline.
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But I think, especially at work, it's just like so motivating.
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I meet so many women that have come so far and like there's so much to learn.
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So I think I was looking for more fuel.
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Yeah.
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I guess one thing that feels very distinct about your career, I think, is that you've built a really nice niche about yourself between all the different worlds, about technical teams, customers, business stakeholders, and strategy.
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How did you come to define that niche for yourself?
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Did it come naturally with all the career pivots that you have made?
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I think so.
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It was uh as cliche as being right place, right time.
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I knew I wanted to go in that direction where I'm leveraging my technical experience and doing something customer-facing and also maybe more, slightly more strategic, slightly more uh creative.
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Um, and to be honest, if I I if I can be a little more honest, I want I knew I wanted to be a product manager at some point.
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I that has changed in the last couple of years.
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Uh that journey now looks much different.
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I think I see myself going towards more strategy uh long term.
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Uh but yeah, I think I was just like trying to get to a place and then Uber happened.
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Uber for business honestly has been so great for me.
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I have been really happy and excited here.
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I've grown from uh first technical account manager in the team to being now being a manager and having a couple of reports, hiring for more soon.
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It's it's been an amazing journey, and I can't like thank my stars lords enough.
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How did you realize this was the kind of work where you can make the most impact?
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I think it just came naturally uh from being, I think I was a software intern at Dell EMC.
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Uh I had an amazing team lead back then who helped.
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Uh and then CGI again, um, a woman leader who kind of actually who got me more plan-facing.
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She was pretty strict with me.
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But I think that really helped being plan-facing.
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Um she just knew she wanted good work done and in time.
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So I think that was a that was a good way for me to be more sincere, more disciplined.
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Same thing with Maven Lingaati was such a good lead being, uh, helping me be more customer-facing.
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And then at Uber, again, and all of those were great roles, but I would say one thing, I did get Monday blues.
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And now giving you a long, long-winded answer for your question is I know I need to do this and I'm having fun, is because I don't have Monday blues anymore.
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I love going to work.
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Yes, I love talking to people.
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I love to going to work.
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I just don't feel like, oh my God, it's Monday next week and I have to be back at work, of course.
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And that's important.
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So I think I think that's how I know I just like love this job so far.
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That's I'm really happy that you had people who can mentor and influence you and help you.
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Of course, you did a lot of self-discovery work to find out, okay, now I don't have Monday Blue, and now I really love the job that I'm working on.
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Um and so I I also wanted to talk about women and tech piece a little bit more.
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You mentioned that you have a lot of women mentors and ex managers who have inspired you.
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Um, so as a woman in the technical space, of course, you're dealing with customers, but you also need to understand the technical piece and you work with engineers to find solutions too.
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As a woman in the technical space, especially as someone who has moved across different roles, how did you build confidence in rooms where you were probably the only woman or the only international woman?
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That's a great question.
00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:26.079
Again, fortunately, it hasn't happened that I'm the only woman.
00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:29.200
Uh, but I I do see where your question's coming from.
00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:30.000
It has happened.
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:33.039
Coming from India again, I'm going to give you a long answer for this.
00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:36.640
Coming from India again, it is a patriarchical word, right?
00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:39.839
Like we're just used to patriarchy in a certain way.
00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:44.720
And again, in I'm not trying to generalize, it happens a little bit for sure.
00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:55.680
Um, and um, I did actually in India was the first time I worked with, I was the only girl in a room full of men, um, not even speaking my language, actually.
00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:56.640
That's funny.
00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:08.880
Um, and they would like have discussions and important meetings in their language or their regional languages, and then one of my friends uh or my fellow interns would like translate that for me.
00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:19.920
I think that is where I realized that is also one of the reasons I realized I don't think I can really work in India and again to be to defend my country.
00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:21.279
This was 12 years ago.
00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:24.079
I know things have drastically changed since.
00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:30.720
Uh after moving to the States, I again I don't think I really felt any different.
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:32.640
I didn't feel like I was not being heard.
00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:38.880
Uh I feel like I am vocal enough to make sure that everyone knows what I'm trying to say.
00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:45.200
Uh, I'm not afraid of speaking up if I have concerns, especially when I'm right.
00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:54.720
If I'm wrong, I might be a little hesitant, or like if I'm not, if I'm not, if I'm unsure, I might be a little hesitant, but sometimes I know I'm right and like I will fight for it.
00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:56.880
Fortunately, it hasn't happened a lot again.
00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:01.599
There have been some instances where I'm like, are you not listening to me because I'm a girl?
00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:06.319
I didn't go through a phase where I was wearing like really nerdy glasses, so people take me seriously.
00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:12.319
If I were to advise any younger girls, I would just say, like, just don't be afraid.
00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:13.119
You can be stupid.
00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:13.920
It's okay.
00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:18.720
You can be stupid if you think you have something to say, please say it.
00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:19.759
Do not hesitate.
00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:23.359
I think that's the way to go, and that's how people operate anyway.
00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:27.200
And I guess sometimes like being stupid is your advantage.
00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:33.440
Like you can ask all the questions at the very beginning and making sure that you understand what people are asking for.
00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:42.000
Because there are times where in meetings I realize there are questions or answers that people aren't necessarily saying through their verbal languages.
00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:50.640
And by asking the questions, you really get to understand where they're coming from, what are the contexts, and why are they asking a specific question in a certain way.
00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:51.759
100%.
00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:52.559
Yeah.
00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:54.480
You you said it better.
00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:59.119
No, I I think being stupid truly builds up confidence.
00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:04.160
Or thinking that, okay, I have the place to ask questions.
00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:05.279
Exactly.
00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:07.119
No question is a stupid question.
00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:09.599
That's what I tell my clients all the time.
00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:11.359
I love that.
00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:16.319
Um your career path hasn't always been completely linear, right?
00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:19.599
Um, and which I think a lot of people can relate to.
00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:24.720
How intentional were these pivots versus figuring things out as you went?
00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:36.160
As ambitious I think I am, I think I also am someone who just like goes with my gut and my heart a lot more.
00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:39.119
I don't think I take big decisions from here.
00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:40.880
I would take it from here.
00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:45.839
Uh, so if things feel right, um I will jump into it.
00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:48.319
Switching from CGI to Maven Link.
00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:50.240
I I remember I'll take her name.
00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:56.720
Her name was Karen Morris, and she she's in she was a head of HR at MavenLink, and Mavenlink was a really startup back then.
00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:59.759
I remember just spamming.
00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:06.799
Her on LinkedIn because I just knew I was going to be so great at that role.
00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:10.319
And she gave me that opportunity to interview for it when it opened.
00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:13.920
So I think I have just been very passionate about something.
00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:17.200
Like I'll find something and I know I want it and I'll just go for it.
00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:20.400
I my approach isn't really like, is this the right move?
00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:21.759
Is this the right career path?
00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:22.480
And things like that.
00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:25.039
I don't think I overcomplicate that in my head.
00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:26.319
It just felt right.
00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:33.359
It just gave me what I wanted, like more plant-facing experience that's still being technical and not have to go too much, and I went for it.
00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:36.079
With my journey to Uber, it was a little different.
00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:38.400
I was interviewing with a few other roles.
00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:43.200
Then that's when I knew I wanted to, you know, have an option to work for a bigger company.
00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:44.319
I think that was the goal.
00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:46.000
I didn't want to work for a startup anymore.
00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:49.200
I wanted to work for a company that people are familiar with.
00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:52.079
I think I said that in one of the interviews recently.
00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:54.880
I was interviewing the candidate and she's like, What is your motivation?
00:22:54.880 --> 00:23:04.480
And I'm like, I was so bored of working for a project management software, and like nobody knew what I was doing, and I couldn't tell my parents or my family like what exactly do I do.
00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:05.759
And now it's so much easier.
00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:06.480
Like, what do you do?
00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:07.920
I'm like, I work for Uber.
00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:09.680
They know what those were a signal.
00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:10.160
Right?
00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:10.720
Yeah.
00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:11.200
Yeah.
00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:17.759
Those were a signal where you realized, okay, this is the time that I should just go for whatever I want.
00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:19.279
Yeah, exactly.
00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:20.079
Yeah.
00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:21.359
That's great.
00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:22.799
Well, thanks for sharing that.
00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:32.160
And and I I guess after building a very technical foundation in computer science and solutions engineering, you chose to pursue an MBA.
00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:39.359
What did you what made you realize that an MBA was the missing piece in your journey?
00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:42.720
It it wasn't really a missing piece, I would say.
00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:46.559
I think, again, making so many decisions, decisions from the heart.
00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:50.480
I um always thought I would do really well, and I still think.
00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:54.319
I think I'm delusional about it, but I think I'll do really well in marketing.
00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:59.440
Uh so I think I wanted to like learn more marketing stuff.
00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:06.079
COVID hit, and they kind of waved off the GMAT program for a lot of schools.
00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:10.079
Like they didn't have to, they were like waving off the score for GMAT.
00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:17.920
So you could all you could apply for nice MBA schools based on your career experience and like your past uh education.
00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:22.960
And I took that opportunity and it just like happened right place, right time again for me.
00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:24.720
I it was completely online.
00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:37.359
Um I was able to just work and do my MBA, so I didn't have to like take a gap year or like stop myself from still growing in my career, but getting an MBA.
00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:40.400
But honestly, I just wanted to do get into marketing somehow.
00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:41.359
I haven't yet.
00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:42.720
Maybe sometime in the future.
00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:47.440
I think five years down the line I'll be switching careers into being in marketing.
00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:50.079
What kind of skill sets did you learn?
00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:55.359
Or, you know, I guess like what did you learn about yourself in that MBA journey?
00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:02.640
I learned that I could take an afternoon nap and almost reset my mind.
00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:06.559
Uh so because I would like work from like 8 a.m.
00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:10.160
to 5 p.m., take a nap and then study for school.
00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:21.519
Uh I think it really pushed me and it showed how it I learned that I if I I if I had a goal set and if I have something to complete and achieve, I will do that.
00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:23.920
Like if I set my mind towards something, I know I'll do that.
00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:26.079
So I I think that's something I really learned about myself.
00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:29.279
I wasn't sure if I'll be able to go back to school, pick up on studying.
00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:30.799
Um, MBA can be hard.
00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:36.960
Like some courses were really difficult, or like some courses were really challenging statistics and there were a lot of math.
00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:40.720
Uh, my biggest takeaway again, I think MBA is all about networking as well.
00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:44.160
I made some great friends uh during that time.
00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:46.640
And I think that gave me the strategic mindset, right?
00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:50.559
A lot of courses were strategy oriented, and I think that helped me.
00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:53.680
And that literally just happened before my role at Uber.
00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:59.279
I was like halfway or more than halfway through my MBA when I got the opportunity to work with Uber.
00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:00.400
Oh, awesome.
00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:03.119
So you can put that skill set into use.
00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:04.880
Yep, exactly.
00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:08.240
And I think uh hopefully I'm doing a good job doing that.
00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:09.519
I'm sure you are.
00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:13.039
Now that you're managing a team, I love to talk about leadership.
00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:18.319
What has really surprised you most about becoming a people manager versus when you're an IC?
00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:21.359
I've been a manager only for a year.
00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:24.079
So I think I still have a lot to learn.
00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:40.720
Uh my biggest learning, or like what I am trying to learn right now, is how to set expectations at work and also just like manage their workload and emotions.
00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:45.759
Like, I don't want to be too empathetic, but I also don't want to be like a micromanager.
00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:56.640
Um, so I think figuring out like a right balance, or I I've realized that also different people uh have different ways of how they would like to work.
00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:07.200
Like some people do appreciate, I wouldn't say micromanaging, but someone who keeps tabs on them, like checks in with them more regularly, uh, helps them out a little more regularly.
00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:11.920
Some people do like that, and I know some people operate, and I I think I'm someone like that.
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:22.480
I like my uh individuality, I like doing things by myself and like then checking in with my manager, like, hey, do you think this is good and are we on board?
00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:34.079
So I think striking that balance and like having different personalities on the team and like trying to first figure out who likes what and how how best would they make the most of this role?
00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:37.759
Um, help them, help me find up a situation.
00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:38.720
That's awesome.
00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:40.079
Do you enjoy being a manager?
00:27:40.400 --> 00:27:43.839
I enjoy having the opportunity to grow.
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:58.720
Uh I haven't made up my mind about it, but yeah, I think I do see myself in like leadership roles, and I would like pursue going higher in strategy, and that would mean managing people directly and indirectly.
00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:04.559
Okay, so I asked every guest a few what-if questions to close the podcast.
00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:16.240
The first question is what is one what-if decision that you have made in your life that has shaped your course of life, or um, it has made you become a better version of yourself?
00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:17.599
I think the biggest one, right?
00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:18.880
The career switch.
00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:22.400
I used to be a back-end coder.
00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:24.799
I started as a software engineer.
00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:32.720
Um, used to code in Java at CGI a lot, and then I just realized like, what if I try to be more customer-facing?
00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:39.680
And I think that just like changed the rest of my career uh because I realized that's not something I would do or be happy long term with.
00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:50.799
So a lot of it is like being honest with yourself and finding people who can be your ally and mentoring you to get you to where you want to become.
00:28:51.440 --> 00:29:10.000
Yes, I feel like this this Bollywood movie, there's this character who is only going for money or like being really successful and rich, and there's this other character who um only cares about being happy and learning things that he likes.
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:11.279
I think I like that.
00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:22.240
Again, I wouldn't say like I've drawn my motivation from that movie per se, but I like the approach, and I think I have been able to, I've been fortunate enough to be able to incorporate that in my life.
00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:24.079
That's just how I'm as a person.
00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:27.440
But if I were to give someone any advice, that that would be it.
00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:32.400
Like just go for what you like because your job is going to be half your life, right?
00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:34.559
So might as well make it fun.
00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:36.960
Oh my gosh, I love that advice.
00:29:36.960 --> 00:29:46.079
And the second question is what's a what if that you're still a little bit nervous to try, or maybe you want to push yourself to try next?
00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:50.160
The strategy part that we talked about a bit.
00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:57.119
I don't know if I have enough experience to think like that, like go climb higher in leadership roles.
00:29:57.119 --> 00:29:58.480
I don't know what that would look like.
00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:00.720
I don't know exactly what I would do.
00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:08.240
Um I believe I can still improve a lot of my leadership language, to be honest.
00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:10.319
I feel like I'm very casual when I talk.
00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:23.039
Um, so definitely a lot of vocabulary and like command, just like the language, like more official presentation leadership language that I think I need to uh catch up on.
00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:25.519
I think, yeah, that's something I'm definitely nervous about.
00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:30.640
I don't know if I'll do well if I present uh to a bigger crowd.
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:32.160
I think I'll still be nervous.
00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:38.000
Well, I have a lot of confidence in you that you thank you.
00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:43.119
Um, the third question is what kind of world do you hope your generation will build?
00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:54.640
Um I feel like our parents' generation, or at least in India, I see I've seen my parents' generation just not have or not have been able to.
00:30:54.640 --> 00:31:00.480
They're just like so bounded by their responsibilities that they've not been able to do what they would have actually liked.
00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:06.559
And they unfortunately again couldn't find a way or reason after the fact to do it.
00:31:06.559 --> 00:31:13.759
And again, this is just me generalizing, but I feel like my generation is much more motivated in finding things to do like yourself.
00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:17.440
Like, you know, you wanted to start a podcast, and here you are.
00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:30.160
Um so yeah, I hope uh that everyone kind of like finds their way whenever and find a hobby that they can cash up on, I guess.
00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:39.359
I think this starts as a hobby for me, and I don't know where it'll take me, but I I think everyone can find a little bit of their passion project and then go from there.
00:31:39.359 --> 00:31:40.160
Yes.
00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:54.319
Well, the last question is Is there a book, a habit, a life hack, or a place where you want to go to a piece of advice that you've been recommending to people lately that you would want to bring up to the audience today?
00:31:56.480 --> 00:31:58.000
Wow, that's a good one.
00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:01.279
Uh I have a book recommendation that I have want everyone to read.
00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:10.160
It's it's not really like life-changing or anything, but if anyone has read Shantaram or hasn't read Shantaram, they will know what I'm talking about.
00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:11.599
It's such a beautiful book.
00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:13.920
It's by Gregory David Robert.
00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:18.720
He was an Australian who lived in India for a little bit.
00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:23.759
He was, I think he escaped from a jail and then had like a whole different life in India.
00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:26.480
It's one of my favorite books to read.
00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:29.599
Um I think I've read it like three times so far.
00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:31.119
It's just like so fun.
00:32:31.119 --> 00:32:38.160
Um, and in terms of like habits, I think in the last two to three years I've really gotten into meditation.
00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:40.720
And it could be your version of meditation.
00:32:40.720 --> 00:32:49.200
I just like to sit, light a lamp or like a diyah, and quietly try not to think.
00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:53.599
And I think I've gotten better at not thinking or having a to-do list in your brain.
00:32:53.599 --> 00:32:58.240
I think that's that has like really shaped me as a person in the last three years.
00:32:58.240 --> 00:32:59.839
I think I've just become more patient.
00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:01.839
I think I think more clearly.
00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:08.160
Um and I have that place to go to if I'm overwhelmed.
00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:13.440
I think that has like changed me personally, and I'm sure it will benefit a lot of people, especially in tech.
00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:20.480
We're so overstimulated with our phones and our laptops and work and people and social activities, Instagram.
00:33:20.480 --> 00:33:27.759
I think uh if I were to advise people, I would say like sit quietly with yourself for five minutes and make that a habit.
00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:33.680
And you do go on a lot of walks, whether after lunch, or coming to work.
00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:38.720
You you spend a lot of time, quiet time with yourself and and reflecting, right?
00:33:39.279 --> 00:33:40.400
Yes, I love that.
00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:42.799
That's definitely my favorite part of the day.
00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:44.079
Oh, that's awesome.
00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:49.440
Well, I hope the audience are able to take away these amazing advice that you give them.
00:33:49.440 --> 00:33:52.720
Well, Gory, thank you so much for joining me on What If.
00:33:52.720 --> 00:34:11.360
I really love this conversation because your story really shows that an international career not just have to be about overcoming obstacles, but can also be about building your career with heart and building the range and learning how to adapt, communicate, and lead and create impact across different cultures.
00:34:11.360 --> 00:34:24.159
I think your journey also reminds us that being a woman in tech doesn't also need to be fitting ourselves into a narrow or um configurative version of what a technical career should look like.
00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:25.840
There's so much more out there.
00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:36.880
There's, like you said, technical account manager, solution consulting, and you can be technical and strategic, analytical and empathetic, creative and thoughtful all at the same time.
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:49.199
And I guess for international women building careers across different countries and industries, your story would be such a powerful reminder that sometimes your path is exactly how you build your edge.
00:34:49.199 --> 00:34:52.159
And so thank you so much for coming to the podcast.
00:34:52.159 --> 00:34:56.719
I hope everybody's able to take away from all your what-if decisions.
00:34:57.039 --> 00:34:58.239
Thank you so much, Kate.
00:34:58.239 --> 00:35:00.719
Thank you for uh this fun conversation.
00:35:00.719 --> 00:35:04.079
I think you are such a motivation yourself.
00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:06.639
Uh, and I'm glad you're doing this.
00:35:06.639 --> 00:35:17.280
I think a lot of your audience would also take from you taking your um hobby for podcasts and like actually working on it and making sure it happens so seriously.
00:35:17.280 --> 00:35:18.639
I just love that about you.
00:35:18.639 --> 00:35:22.800
Uh, I know you said you had a goal and you wanted to do that this year.
00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:28.000
And I know a lot of us will like find a way to not do it or Slack.
00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:32.000
Kudos to you and good luck uh that you're finally doing this.
00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:42.719
And I hope, I hope this uh goes viral on TikTok and YouTube and everywhere, everywhere you want to uh podcast it.
00:35:43.119 --> 00:35:43.679
Thank you.
00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:46.480
Thank you for being such a great supporter.
00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:49.920
Thank you for tuning in to the What If podcast.
00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:58.079
If this episode makes you think, smile, or see things differently, do me a quick favor and share it with someone whom I find it helpful too.
00:35:58.079 --> 00:36:02.400
Because what if one conversation could really change someone's next step.
00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:06.159
Don't forget to follow the show, and I can't wait to see you next time.
