The Sheroes Project: Recent Episodes
Nishka Ayyar
The Sheroes Project is a series of video and audio interviews featuring inspirational personal and professional stories of women in technology. We showcase the remarkable journeys of dynamic women, who are breaking down barriers, blazing new trails, and making a difference in the tech industry.
In this episode, we sat down with Nikita Gupta, the co-founder of Symba, an all female founded social impact tech startup. Recently named in Forbes' 30 under 30, Gupta has a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Cornell University, and launched Girls Who Code. Symba's mission is to #OpenUpTheWorkforce by helping companies elevate their workforce development programs. Gupta is originally from NJ and India, and currently resides in San Francisco. In her spare time, she can be found cooking (nikitaskitchen.com), dancing, or scuba diving.
In this episode, we sat down with Kathleen Walsh, a Product and Program Manager in AI at Verizon. She discusses her work in developing safe architecture for data governance, and managing personalization campaigns. Before working at Verizon, Walsh worked in Enterprise Transformation & Process Improvement as an Innovation Strategic Engineer for the U.S. Department of Defense. At the Department of Defense, Walsh was the Army's Business Architecture Champion, and led a team in creating the the first Business Capability Map!
In the 4th episode of season two, we had the opportunity to speak with Karen Catlin, leadership coach and highly acclaimed author and speaker on inclusive workplaces. After spending 25 years building software products and serving as a vice president of engineering at Macromedia and Adobe, Karen witnessed a sharp decline in the number of women working in tech. Frustrated but galvanized, she knew it was time to switch gears. She is now a firm advocate for workplace allyship, and has authored three books: "Better Allies: Everyday Actions to Create Inclusive, Engaging Workplaces," "The Better Allies™ Approach to Hiring,” and "Present! A Techie's Guide to Public Speaking."
In this episode, we spoke with Silvia Ahmed, VP Engineering at Veritas Technologies LLC. Silvia has had a long career in Silicon Valley, delivering many first and one of a kind products and solutions. Like many other women in high tech she has found herself to be one of two or the only woman in the room way too frequently. She believes it is her and other women’s duty to share their stories in hopes it will help the next generation of women leaders. In this Sheroes Project interview, Silvia reflects on the inequality she has faced in her career, and offers valuable advice for women battling gender-based biases in the workplace.
In the second episode of Season 2, Nishka and Malaika interview Leondra James, Director of Data Analysis and Digital Intelligence at WPromote, a marketing agency located in California! Leondra shares her career journey, and talks about the intersectionality of gender and race in technology.
The Sheroes Project Executive Director, Nishka Ayyar, and Director of Operations, Malaika Ravindran, sit down for their first interview of Season Two! Ashley Springer, senior director at Visa, speaks about her experiences as one of the only women studying engineering at Florida State. She shares with the audience how she rose above the subconscious bias she faced in order to become a successful female leader at Visa.