In Her Ellement

What do you do when you don’t have a big-picture goal in mind? You ‘micro-optimize’ and follow your passions wherever they take you. Cat Miller has built an amazing career off the back of micro-optimizations and now works as the CTO of Flatiron Health. Cat began her technology journey at MIT. One of her modules centered around AI and how it can be used to problem-solve. Throughout her career, Cat...

Sometimes we doubt ourselves, and forget to trust what our inner voice is telling us. Charlotte Degot wishes she had begun listening to hers earlier in her career, but believes the journey to this understanding takes time. Charlotte is the CEO and founder of CO2 AI, an AI platform that helps the world's largest organizations successfully manage their end-to-end net-zero journeys.  She started...

If you raise your hand, what's the worst that can happen? You'll either get a yes or a no. Naba Banerjee is Airbnb’s Head of Trust and Safety, and she has made it her mission to raise her hand and put herself forward for all the opportunities she can. Naba was born and raised in India and has a father who encouraged her to apply for an engineering course as soon as she was able. Naba moved to the...

We’re back for Season 3 of In Her Ellement , a podcast from BCG! We’re going to be doing something a little different this time. We’re spending a little time at the start of Season 3 talking to women leaders at the forefront of the AI revolution. Join AI and digital expert Suchi Srinivasan and product lead Corin Lines for more meaningful and vulnerable conversations with women leaders and allies i...

In 2023, AI entered the collective consciousness like never before. In Season 3, we want to hear from the women who have a deep knowledge of the space and who might even be able to tell us where it's heading. In true In Her Ellement style, we're not just going to be speaking to technologists, but also with women who are using AI to augment their business practices, help their communities, and advo...

Dr. Tarika Barrett is the proud daughter of immigrant parents who, through generations, instilled the value of education in her. Taika lives this legacy every day in her work as CEO of Girls Who Code. Fighting for education equity is Tarika’s life mission. She spent her early years traveling between Jamaica and the US; a learning experience that she credits with opening up her worldview. At colleg...

Many assume that senior career women with impressive resumes have a plan that they’ve stuck to without fail. Yvonne Wassenaar is here to tell you that that's not always the case. Things can happen to you that you don’t expect. Yvonne is the former CEO of Puppet and Airware and now serves on a number of boards, influencing change from the top down. Yvonne had a difficult start in life and set herse...

In this special episode, we’re taking you back to Season 1 for Corin Lines’ conversation with Kesha Williams, Senior Principal at Slalom. Kesha shares how she became an expert across Java, cloud technologies, artificial & machine learning, and AWS. Kesha is a lifelong learner, a passionate mentor, and advocates for more diversity in tech. She firmly believes in paying your experience forward,...

How do we encourage more women and girls into cyber security? Kara Sprague is Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at F5, a multi-cloud application services and security company. She believes that we need to re-brand cyber-security to make it more appealing to women and girls. Kara began her fascination with STEM when her father brought home the family's first computer. She quickly b...

Starting her career as an ER doctor has taught today’s guest that “so long as no one is dying, it’s not an emergency” . Dr. Sophie Chung is the Founder and CEO of Qunomedical, an organization that helps patients navigate often complicated healthcare systems to get the treatment they need.  Sophie may have started on the path to cardiology, but she decided to pivot into management consulting....

How can you harness your strengths and understand your weaknesses? FYLD’s CEO Shelley Copsey has spent her extensive career figuring out just that and has some great advice for anyone that is hard on themselves about their perceived shortcomings. At FYLD she spends time with junior colleagues, unlocking their potential and expanding their horizons. When she was thinking about her future, Shelley’s...

When women are asked about their experiences at work, what challenges do they face and what are their significant milestones? Neveen Awad is a Managing Director and Partner at BCG and leads the Women in Technology Initiative in North America. This wide-ranging study surveys a diverse range of women, bringing their career experiences to life through data. When Neveen completed her Computer Science...

May Habib has been a CEO for the past decade and always knew she wanted to build a company. She currently heads up Writer, an enterprise AI platform, and has an incredible support system that allows her to do her best work and also hang out with her two children. May is truly a global citizen. She was born and raised in Lebanon and moved to Canada when she was little. She went on to study in the U...

Self-belief is a journey, and there will be bumps in the road. A lack of self-belief is something Professor Margot Gerritsen still experiences sometimes, even after achieving Professor Emeritus status at Stanford. Margot now dedicates her time to running Women in Data Science (WiDS) Margot began her career in computational science over thirty-five years ago, and she predictably found that she was...

Facing constant challenges can be daunting. How can you welcome them into your life? Shaku Kandan has always chased new challenges. From joining the groundbreaking startup AirAsia X to joining Malaysia Airlines at a difficult time, she’s always seeking out new ways to push herself further. Full Episode Description: Facing constant challenges can be daunting. How can you welcome them into your life...

When Suma Nallapati was growing up, she didn’t have many women in STEM that she could look up to. During her extensive career in tech, and in her current role as CIO at Insight, she’s put herself forward, inspiring the next generation of talent and giving women and girls a role model to give them hope. Suma was one of only two women who graduated from her nuclear physics class in her home country...

How do you use your leadership position to help women thrive? Today on In Her Ellemen t we’re welcoming our first-ever male guest - Christoph Schweizer, CEO of BCG. Christoph is vocal about how leaders have a responsibility to speak out and advocate for women in the workforce. Christoph has worked at BCG for over twenty-five years, rising up through the ranks from a  summer internship to beco...

How can we have the courage to tackle problems that seem insurmountable? Mariana Vasconcelos is the founder of Agrosmart, an agricultural startup that helps farmers use data to become more sustainable and thrive. Mariana grew up in a farming family and decided to try and find solutions for the types of issues that her father faced every day. From there she used her technology and leadership skills...

How do you carve out a way to follow your passions in your own way? Dr. Erin Young has followed her professional interests across disciplines, and the world. As a Research Fellow at The Alan Turing Institute in the UK, Erin co-leads the Women in Data Science and AI project, examining AI and gender bias. Starting her career officially as a cabaret dancer in school, Erin went on to study classical G...

How can being part of support groups at work help you advocate for yourself? Kathleen Noreau is Head of Strategic Partnerships in the Consumer, Health & Energy Industries at the World Economic Forum. At The WEF, she co-founded the Women’s Inclusion Network, a group that promotes collective learning opportunities and advocates for its members. Kathleen began her career as a lawyer but realized...

How do you get comfortable with taking risks? Kavitha Prasad is VP and GM of Datacenter, AI, and Cloud Execution and Strategy at Intel Corporation. Throughout her career, she's made it her mission to push herself out of her comfort zone, explore new technologies, and above all, grow. Kavitha describes her career as a "jungle gym" where she’s been able to follow her interests and passions. Starting...

How do you find your balance? Connie Gao started at BCG as a generalist but transitioned into her Principal of Data Science role because she missed working with tech. Connie is a thoughtful leader who is candid about her work/life boundaries and encourages her team to be clear about their own. Connie joined BCG after completing her Ph. D. at MIT. During her studies, she had the opportunity to lear...

Dr. Kate Darling is a Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab, an ‘anti-disciplinary’ institute that works across technology, media, science, art, and design. Kate has had to work hard to be recognized as an expert in the field of human-robot interaction and now challenges herself to pass on power and opportunity to others whenever she can. Kate began her journey in law school, where she found her...

When opportunity comes knocking, will you be ready to grasp it? Isabelle Mauro is the Director General of the GSOA, which is recognized as the representative body for satellite operators globally. Isabelle is a passionate advocate of technological access and inclusion for women and girls around the world. Previously, Isabelle spent seven years at the World Economic Forum or WEF, where she acted as...

Being different can be challenging, but it also gives you a unique perspective. Farah Ali is VP of Technology Growth Strategy at Electronic Arts, a pioneering video games company. Farah is passionate about diversity in games, both within the workforce and through its characters. Farah is originally from Pakistan and came over to the U.S. to pursue a masters in electrical and electronic engineering...