Influential Woman · IT Services

Arnita Chakravorty

Practice Engagement Manager - CyberSecurity, Infosys

Seattle, WA

3Awards received

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Engineering degree in Electrical and Electronics Degree Graduated 2004 Degree Purdue University certification Degree Harvard course Degree LinkedIn Learning Institute courses Cert Purdue University certification Cert Harvard course Member Zenith Club at Infosys

Her Story

About Arnita

I graduated with an engineering degree in electrical and electronics in 2004, right during the IT boom when the whole job market was moving towards the software industry. I started my career as a C/C++ developer at an IT services company called Sonata Software. After jumping between a few companies, I realized I wasn't adding any value to the business side of things - I was just a techie, a technology person. That's when I decided to move into a sales and marketing role, and I did marketing for the next 15 years. All of this was in India, in Bangalore. Then I moved into a sales role, which is what brought me to the US. I've been with Infosys for about 10 years now, but I've also worked with other companies like IBM, a startup called Happiest Minds, and a mid-tier firm called Sonata Software. Today, I'm in cybersecurity in a client-facing sales role where I meet clients, tell them what we do, what our capabilities are, and what problems we can solve for them. My biggest professional win has been when I've been able to displace competitors in a client's environment and get Infosys in - situations where the client has already signed up with another vendor, but they've liked what we presented to them so much that the deal has come to us. I'm a member of the Zenith Club at Infosys, which is for the top 10% of sales leaders in the organization. We're about 350,000 people, a $20 billion company, so that's my most prized achievement.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Arnita

01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

The biggest advice I received from one of my earlier managers and mentors was that you should not trust people easily, because it's a very cutthroat world and you don't know who's out there to get you. I still struggle with this because that's the personal side of me - I do trust people - but I think you should be very careful of who you trust and what you say to whom. It's important to be cautious in this industry.

02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I think one thing is that you have to be mentally really strong and not let anyone push you down. You need to fight all the barriers and speak up. That is one thing I have learned from my own mistakes - I have not spoken up when I have wanted to or needed to, because I've always felt, what if I'm wrong? Women tend to shun from opening up, and I think that is one thing that we women really, really need to learn. You have to be assertive and not be afraid to demand what you need, even though it may not always be taken well.

03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I'm going to be very upfront - I feel women have to prove ourselves 100 times more than men. We have to kind of prove ourselves more than men, and most of the time I'm the only woman in a room filled with 20 or 30 men. I feel there are very few women leaders at a mid to senior level, which I think is not a good thing. My biggest challenge has been fitting in and proving that I am on par with everyone else. When a man says something in an assertive manner, he's assertive, but if a woman says it, it's not taken in a very good way all the time. I don't know if it's a culture thing, but I have seen this quite a bit. I am a person who doesn't care - I will do anything to get the job done - but I've seen that a lot of people cannot take it if you are demanding or assertive for certain things. The IT services and software industry is definitely male-dominated.

Keep Exploring