Her Story
About Shalini
Shalini Lail serves as an internal auditor on the risk and governance team in the medical manufacturing industry, a position she has held for two and a half years. In this role, she ensures that all FDA regulations are followed and that any changes to components meet the required standards in this tightly regulated field. With 12 years of total experience, including eight to nine years focused on internal audit, Shalini previously worked across diverse sectors such as health insurance, banking, accounts payable, and HRO, beginning her career in India immediately after starting her MBA and advancing to an assistant manager role before moving to the United States in 2014. She earned her Master's in Business Administration with a specialization in Finance and International Business in India and later obtained certifications as a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and in Kaizen, which she applies alongside her internal audit expertise. Shalini attributes her success to the unwavering support of her father and emphasizes that continuous learning is essential to keep pace with evolving technologies like AI.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Shalini
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would attribute my success to my father. He comes from a village and his education has not been as good as mine. He tried to go to every extent to provide me and my brother with the best that he could. He has supported me in each and everything till today. He's so proud that I'm the first generation that has moved out of the country and settled abroad. Had he not pushed me and stood by me when I actually needed somebody to fall back on, I wouldn't be here.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice that I have received was from my ex-manager, who said that the learning never stops. Similar to how IT professionals work, how AI is evolving these days, it's the same for us. If we stop learning, we cannot match up our experience with AI.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I will say that certifications matter a lot, and I realized that later in my career. If somebody starts working from day one on certifications, I think that is the best thing that they can do. Wherever you go, wherever in the world that you go, if you switch cities, if you switch countries, everything that talks about is your certificates. People do not know your experiences. If you want to put something on the table in black and white, certifications play a big role for you to get hired and to be successful in life.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is stakeholder management because internal audit brings a lot of conflicts. Trying to mitigate a risk, put a control in place, and convince the stakeholders to agree on inputs for a project or risk management system. It brings more resources and money. The greatest opportunity is that somebody who wants to be in the same position needs to come from the same background. If you know the process in detail and learn those things by yourself, you will be able to bring out better solutions because you have seen those things firsthand.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The first and foremost for me would be authenticity. If you're not authentic with yourself, you cannot be authentic with the organization that you're working with, or the relationships that you have. If I'm not somebody who's authentic, I will doubt each and everything that the other person does and I'll doubt each and everything that I do, and that'll lead to anxiety and depression. Being authentic is the first and foremost thing for me because it also includes being honest and bringing your best self forward every single something that you do, whether it's professional or personal.
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