Her Story
About Aditi
I've been in tech for about 5 years, working at CBRE, a construction management firm, where I've spent my entire career. As a Project Manager in Data Analytics, I work at the intersection of data analytics and governance. I connect with different teams, mostly internal clients, to understand their analytical and data requirements. Two years ago, I built a product with my team associated with data quality and data governance that helps the entire team internally verify, validate, and govern all the data sets they use in their day-to-day work. Currently, I'm helping the team scale it to newer themes outside of our current team. My job is to understand user requirements and provide them the best analytical support, their trusted data, and data that is already validated and available to them. I'm originally from India and have been in Texas for almost 7 years. What keeps me in this field is understanding how tech is actually changing people's lives and their day-to-day life, not just seeing it as a 9-to-5 career, but understanding how lives have actually been affected by better access to technology.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Aditi
01What do you attribute your success to?
If there is an idea that comes to my mind, like I want to achieve that or be this person, or this is my next goal, I don't think through it for a very long time. I just decide whether I want to do it, and then I just start taking those smaller actions. I'm not worried about whether I am going to reach that destination or not, but those small actions compound over a period of time, and that's what I think is helping me succeed in this career. Those smaller actions, the daily actions that I'm taking towards those goals that may or may not reach to that level, but eventually, it is helping me move forward in my career.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Very recently, someone told me that as a woman, we don't make progress if we are just moving alone. It's easier to find your path quicker and more easily by having women or having people who can trust you and who have trust in you. Having that village with you is a very important thing in order to grow in your career. A leader in my company suggested that it's very important to have that community and always focus on people, rather than focusing on your next role or focusing on your skills and all those things. Just focus on creating that community who you can believe in, or who believes in you in return. I constantly look for those kind of personalities who I can resonate with, or the people who understand my work and who can help me.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
As a woman in tech who is also an immigrant, I believe that we have, at different phases in life, always been looked down upon or not considered to be competitive enough. But it's very important to just stay grounded, do the hard work, and just believe in yourself. Even if you do not think that you have it at the moment, or you have the audacity or the guts to do things at the moment, still keep taking those smaller steps. And one day things will click, and you're gonna achieve what you have put your mind to.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
In personal and professional life, I'm a very brutally honest person. If things are not doing right, I like to be upfront about it, but not in a very confrontational kind of a way, but in a very humble kind of a way. I like to be transparent, but stay grounded and humble at the same time. Because being a woman in tech, I believe that we are not always heard. So it is very important that we put our thoughts and process forward in the best way possible, and not buttering things up. I like to be as straightforward as I can, so that I can come across as a strong, thoughtful person. That's what I take forward in my personal and both professional lives.
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