Her Story
About Nandini
I started my career with a bio business major, not the traditional political science background. I was a Muscular Dystrophy Association fellow looking for opportunities as I was graduating. My first boss, Congressman Ro Khanna, who was also my hometown representative, was looking to staff up his office. I was interning there, and in about 3 weeks, he hired me and told me to stop going on job interviews at biotech companies. He brought me out to DC and I just never looked back. I spent nearly a decade on Capitol Hill, with about 7 years in full-time jobs. After that, I chose to leave to enter the startup world in the energy sector, and now I'm with a multinational global company in the energy sector. We're the only natural gas pipeline operator in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico - all of North America. My day-to-day is insane and can look like anything from talking to pipeline engineers or gas control about different flows, to permitting issues with government agencies, to talking to congressional staff or members of the Senate and House about permitting reform, or advising executives on what they should say on Varney & Co. It's all-encompassing and I never really know what each day will look like.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Nandini
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Honestly, in any and all industries, the biggest piece of advice I would give is any task that is asked of you, or any opportunity to do something beyond your role, if anyone ever asks, just say yes. The easiest thing is to gain experience, and then you figure out, I think, throughout that experience, what you really want to do and land, especially when you're just starting out. One thing I really did take for granted, either growing up or even in my 20s, is that the world is literally just made of people. You always look at it as adults as, oh, well, no, you know, they've figured it out, they're special people, but no, the world is literally made of people like you. I don't know how many times I have to even remind myself on a daily - the world is literally just made of people like you, so anything you want to achieve, and any opportunity that might be handed to you, just say yes. It might not be the right fit at the time, it might not make sense at the time, but now looking back at how much experience I accumulated on Capitol Hill, everything that I said yes to really has paid it forward in my own career.
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