I was brought up by a single mother, so the instinct to create my path came naturally to me. I was naughtily creative and loved to find new ways of doing things. My long love for sports made me goal-oriented and always drove me to find inspiration from whatever I pursued. Most of these inspirations came from the unique things I noted in people around me, some of whom later became my friends for life. One of them is even my husband now, he has been with me since kindergarten.

If you need to form a deeper connection with people you need to be empathetic to their journey. That’s one feature that forms the base of diversity around me. I don’t think diversity can ever be confined to sex, caste, country, creed, or sexual orientation. Our paths and journeys make us who we are and also how we stand apart from everyone else. It is something that can’t be overlooked.

My first job was with Bharat Electronics. My mother was on the HR team there. But she was more a mother than a colleague there you know (which I never regret). However, I wanted to explore my standing in a different place, so I submitted my resignation. Mom was distraught, and many doubted my rationality for I left a public sector job for something else. But I was determined to find my way.

The next few years were very interesting. I went on to pursue assembly-level programming then moved to the US for a pre-sales job, then came back to HP to do program management on printers then after 15 years I started to look for roles with a purpose. So, I joined the GE healthcare program and then Epsilon and now Microsoft. During this time, I also ran two of my own companies, BubbleWrap, and Badlo India.

During this time, there were some hearty gains and losses. Our daughter came along which was the best moment of my life but I lost my father-in-law. He was the father I never had and that loss left a void in my life. All these ups and downs taught me to have gratitude for what I have and to understand what it is like to lose.

At this juncture, I am trying to explore the purpose of my life in this world. In this search, I embarked on a journey to understand what it means to be a transgender in India. It gave me a perspective on how hard life can be and why we should not take our privileges for granted.

My quest for my purpose continues and as a woman, I think we have a special power to understand and connect with people in a deeper way. As a result of this, I started mentoring people on their career journeys. That is how I want to give back.

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