Shikha Soneji

I attribute my success first and foremost to my mother, who is a single mom and struggled a lot while bringing me up. She put me into different activities as a child to help me discover my talents, and even today when she scolds me, I listen quietly because I know she's coming from a place of experience and good will. Second, I credit my family, who have supported me constantly, encouraging and congratulating me through everything. Third is my husband, who has been with me for eight years now and has seen me through all my struggles, crying, and all the thick and thin, lifting me up when I was down. And fourth, I actually also owe my success to people who hurt me, because of them I was able to understand how this world works and become stronger than I was ten years ago. I won't forget that I also owe my success to them.

The best career advice I've received comes from a few sources. First, my mother told me to never stop gaining knowledge and keep learning every time, even if it's from a junior, because you don't know what they have gone through and you might learn something from them. Second, I was advised to go after something I'm passionate about and not take what anyone else is saying too seriously, because they may have other problems. When I was thinking about transitioning from my PhD into industry, I was very passionate about the field I had worked in for four and a half years. I got this advice to just go ahead, take one year, give it a full year and do my hard work, see what comes out of it. If I fail, I fail and choose another path, but if I succeed, I'll be very happy that I pursued what I was passionate about. That's the reason why I started my company, and I've taken that career advice very seriously.

I would tell young women to go and talk to more and more people, and explore what interests them. First of all, don't stress out - you have a lot of way ahead and a lot of things to do in the future. As you're talking to me, feel free to talk to as many people as you can. Network more, talk to more people, and actually work on your communication skills, because that's what matters most and that's the first impression anyone gets about you. If you don't have one skill that some company requires, go ahead and just learn about it, because knowledge is never a waste. That knowledge is going to be used in some or the other way, so even if it takes some time, work on it. It's a good thing to have.

In my work, what matters most to me is the environment and culture that I bring. I've been in toxic environments earlier in my industrial experience, where there was a lot of pressure from seniors and everyone wanted to go up the ladder but not everyone got that chance. I want to make sure I don't give that to anyone. Even if I have a big company in the future, I don't want to incorporate that kind of culture. I want everyone to speak very freely, so culture, environment, and positive vibes matter most. Third would be an open-door policy - now I have a very small team, but I want to make sure in the future that anyone who wants to talk to me can, just like I practice daily through my Topmate account where people can book an appointment and come talk to me. In my personal life, my husband also has a PhD, and I make sure to learn from him every day. I ask him a lot of questions, and we try to learn each other's fields and go into each other's events to talk to more and more people. Networking is important to me because I don't have my family staying with me. My grandfather gave me advice that if I ever have a problem which feels very big, go and talk to other people, and when I hear about their problems, I'll realize mine is very small. The main thing is I don't talk about my problems with people - I just talk it out with my husband or my mother. And the last thing is letting go. I don't like to hold on to things that may bother me or cause stress, so I let them go. That's something I've learned from my husband - just let things be and everything will come into place.