Shreeya Desai

I attribute my success primarily to my mom, my family, and the education that I could have because of them. They have been the foundation of everything I've been able to accomplish in my career.

The best advice I've received personally is to learn how to say no. My dad has been teaching me this from a very young age, and I used to get agitated when I was younger, wondering why he kept saying this. But the more I kept learning how to say no, I realized this is an important aspect where I need to learn my boundaries and make sure I'm stating my boundaries correctly. These small things have helped me make sure I'm not getting overburnt, even in my personal life, like not overcommitting to anyone, and in my work as well. Professionally, the best advice has always been to never say that I don't know. Always take a step back, take a kind of self-reflection about whether you actually know this or whether you actually want to invest your time in this, and then go ahead for it.

The first thing I would say is hustle. Keep on hustling. Don't stop, and don't consider yourself less than anything. Make sure you're doing your research every single time. Don't go unprepared anywhere. And don't doubt yourself. What happens for people, especially women in our field, is that a lot of them doubt themselves, and that's what demotivates them or doesn't give them that push to actually try something new or try to do anything that they want. In this age of social media, you see so many things and you want to try everything, but a lot of women are shy, don't have that confidence, or would say 'how can I do this?' But give yourself that push. Keep on hustling. Make sure you are doing your research, and go for it.

The biggest challenge and opportunity right now is definitely coping up and understanding the need of getting to know AI. At this moment, there are many agents, many AI platforms that are being built, and at times it can feel overwhelming. But it's about understanding what your industry or what your work is going to require the most, and how AI can actually help you navigate through your job, through your daily tasks, whether on a personal or professional level, and making sure that you are on the same levels as is expected of you and making the most of AI. It's exciting to see how quickly a certain thing can be done or how efficiently or in a smarter way it can be done. But at the same time, it's terrifying when you don't know something or when someone else figures out a different or more smart way than you. The feeling is somewhat like when Nokia phones transitioned to smartphones and iPhones, and people of my dad's or grandfather's age would feel that left-out feeling where they don't understand that part and wouldn't invest in actually learning it. That feeling is pushing a lot of individuals right now to actually get adapted to AI.

I would say integrity is one thing that I can't compromise on at all. It's one of the attributes that I value in my life throughout. Doing the right thing, even when no one's watching, is the most valuable attribute that I would say I have been following throughout my life.