Neelakshi Banerjee

I talk about this all the time: it's impostor syndrome. I feel, especially as a woman, it's kind of ingrained in us to feel lesser than we actually are. We also never talk aloud about our skill set, about what we can actually do. There are many times there's a small voice in the back of our head that's telling us you can do it, but there's also a small voice holding us back asking what if something goes wrong, because we want to be perfectionists all the time. What I want to tell someone who's younger than me, who's trying to make a career for themselves, is always embrace the opportunity. The worst that'll happen is it won't work out, but the best that can happen is that it'll work out. And if you don't embrace it, it's a missed opportunity for it to work out. That's how I grew in my career, and that's one of the skills that I learned on my job - the confidence that you can speak up for yourself, that you will want to embrace that opportunity. You don't have to be right always. You could be wrong, but if you are not wrong, then you never know when you're right. I also think being able to pay attention to people around you, to learning from people around you, is extremely helpful. A lot of people say they're introverted, they cannot network, and it's fine - you don't have to network and go out for a drink with every person that you meet and start talking about your career. But you can learn about many different skills from people around you, even people you talk to on a daily basis. It could be anything - writing a children's book, figuring out how to organize your life in the best possible way. You never know what you learn from someone else, and paying attention to people and their skills, what you can learn from them, is something that helped me a lot too.

I'm an immigrant who moved out of my country in search of a better career and better opportunities, and I think one of the biggest barriers to growing my career has been immigration. I have been in both countries, US and Canada, but increasingly, as you grow stronger in your career, visibility is important, and strategic roles matter. Getting a work visa is the biggest barrier that I have. I don't feel like it held me back, but it does put me on a back foot because I don't have all the choices available to me. That's still a big blocker, because even while I'm in Canada or the US, if I were to start something on my own, I'd still require a visa to do that. A lot of professionals face this in today's world, especially if you're a first-generation immigrant who's moved out from a safe space and trying to build a new career every day. It's much harder to get a visa these days, especially if you're not in your twenties anymore, because they do have a merit system based on points and an age-based system. It doesn't matter what your career background is, it really matters how many points you score in the system. If you're younger, you have a better chance of making the draw happen. And if you do get laid off while on your visa in the US, you have 60 days to find a job. We've moved to the country, have families, and you're at a point where you're like, oh my god, my visa's timed out, what do I do now? It's really hard for a lot of people to figure out their situation.