Episode 13: Reena Gupta, Entrepreneur, Founder

Reena is an Entrepreneur with five tech companies under belt.  Her latest venture is called MomRelaunch and is focused on helping stay at home mothers re-enter the workforce in technical and HR fields.

She is focused on her companies’ culture which is very simple = results.  As long as you have results, that is what matters.  And as we know, moms can be the most productive and efficient employees out there.  They don’t have time to mess around and wander the halls holding coffee cups and chatting.

Everything is measurable. And gender doesn’t have to be a factor as long as you are able to communicate confidently.

Episode 11: Navya Rehani Gupta, VP of Product

Navya is the Vice President of Products at a company called Peek – which is basically the Open Table of activities.  Prior to Peek, she ran product at StyleSeat, the world’s largest marketplace for beauty services that has fueled over $3 billion in beauty services. She has also built large-scale products at Uber, Disney and Goldman Sachs. 

Navya has all the degrees, three of them in fact, from University of Sheffield in the UK, Stanford and from NYU Stern School of business. (Go Violets!) She is a big advocate of women in tech and is in the process of figuring out how to do it all and be successful.

She is expecting a baby soon and hopes her experience will encourage other women in tech to follow their dreams and know that integrating a family is in fact possible. After all, don’t men also have toddlers at home?

Episode 10: Karen Forchione, Project Manager, Controller

Karen is the Controller and in charge of Business Management for Dirty Robber. Previously, she has also been a Project Manager for tech companies since the beginning of Project Management as a discipline. 

She was not only the only woman in the room, she was the only woman at the entire conference at IBM headquarters. She not only figured out the job, she figured out how to hold her boundaries, hold respect, and hold her own.

From the Irish tenements in Bristol, England to the Oscars with her sons, she has had an amazing journey.

The only thing between you and your dreams, is yourself.  We hear that all the time, but it is true and bears repeating.

Episode 6: Sean Hughes, Customer Experience Leader, Writer, Founder

Sean works at a big consumer software company in California, as the Head of the emerging services group, surrounded by women. Prior to that, he was a naval officer who completed multiple deployments with the SEAL teams of the Naval Special Warfare community, where he was surrounded by men. 

In addition, he writes and runs the politics and society blog Chartwell West. If you want a break from the current hysteria that is our national discourse, Sean is your guy. 

And if all that weren't enough, he and his wife Annette founded a non-profit organization called Care for Us, which provides outreach and support for special needs families, such as theirs.

We talked all things equality and workplace culture. And as for families and work – don’t ever make them choose.