Hi Deepika
I’ll share a few rules/guardrails/guidelines I’ve had for myself over the years.
- Don’t take No for an answer, keep at it, iterate and come back
- Punch 10x harder than any of your peers. The playing field is not level. There’s no other choice
- You can differentiate and build a massive organization that can fire up bellies full of ambition while being thoughtful, empathetic and caring. These are not mutually exclusive.
- There is discrimination, there is bias. It just is that way. Fight it by actually building the company you’ve always wanted. Change starts at home.
- Ensure diversity bottoms up and top down. Lead the way and show everyone we can change the status quo. You can’t achieve this by having a diversity officer, you need a culture of diversity.
- Surround yourself with mentors and people who will help you see possibilities beyond a world filled with bias.
We stand on the shoulders of so many who have fought this over decades. Pay it forward if you can. Nothing changes the status quo like enabling a 1 more founder like you to succeed in whatever little way we can help 