Her Story
About Neha
Neha Saini is a seasoned professional in the software B2B industry with more than 15 years of experience. She began her career as a computer science engineer and consultant at Accenture, where working on various projects helped her identify her interests and shape her path forward. Neha holds two master's degrees from Cornell University: an MBA in Product Marketing and a Master's in Data Analytics and Strategic Marketing. In her role, she dedicates approximately 30 percent of her time to stakeholders, 20 percent to strategic research and decisions, 30 percent to team management and building people, and 20 percent to administrative tasks. She is passionate about how AI is transforming marketing strategy and team productivity, and she emphasizes the importance of filtering relevant innovations as a leader. Neha attributes her success to constantly learning and reinventing herself. She values transparency and leading with empathy in her work and personal relationships. Outside of work, she is a dedicated animal advocate who supports dog rescues and shelters.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Neha
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to constantly being able to learn and reinvent yourself. After graduating from my engineering program and consulting at Accenture on various projects, this continuous learning helped identify my interests and drive my career forward over 15 years in the field.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received is that as important as it is to say yes to new opportunities, it's also important to have an ability to say no when you cannot take on projects, you may not have the bandwidth, the timelines may not match, or it may not align with your own personal values. Building that skill and ability of how to tactfully say no is a very important skill that nobody teaches you in school or even in life.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
When I was growing up, I was always told that just work hard, and you will earn the rewards, and I feel like that advice is very misplaced. The advice I would give young women is half of your job is to work hard and be meticulous, but the other half of that is advocate and communicate for yourself. So, if you worked on a project, you need to be able to talk to other people and advocate on your behalf, and socialize, so being able to brand yourself and showcase the great work that you're doing, focusing on communication and self-advertisement is really important.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge right now is how AI is transforming the team's productivity, how marketers design strategy and execute campaigns, and just the sheer pace with which AI is evolving is in itself a challenge. Not only do you have to keep up, but also you, as a leader, you have to filter what is relevant and sustainable versus what is a shiny ball, so being able to keep up, filter and make recommendations, so that the business can continue keeping pace with the AI evolution.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Transparency is definitely important to me, not just at work, but also in my personal relationships and my personal life. The second, I would say, is leading with empathy. It's very important to me to make sure that I approach people and conversations with a lot of empathy, because everybody has a life outside of work, and you know, so I make an effort, and that allows me to earn their trust and build better functioning relationships.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.