Her Story
About Shri
Shri Bhaskaran is a production engineer and engineering manager with close to 10 years of experience in the field. She completed her undergraduate studies in 2016 with a degree in production engineering and a minor in economics. She then worked for three years as an R&D and simulation engineer at Caterpillar in India, where she earned an accelerated promotion to senior engineer within one and a half years and contributed to work on large engines while mentoring team members. Shri pursued graduate studies at Duke University in engineering management. She later worked at Tesla, where she helped launch a variant of superchargers now in market use, and she currently works at EG4 Electronics in Sulphur Springs, Texas. As an international professional on a visa, she has navigated cultural and communication challenges in technical environments while emphasizing stakeholder value and continuous learning.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Shri
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to all my teachers, professors, and people who have taught me throughout my life, including my dance teacher and music teacher from childhood, and obviously my family. They have shaped everything I do and I contribute everything to them.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I received was from officers at Duke: don't chase everything, let things come to you, understand the value you are bringing so you don't just go after money. Focus on stakeholder value more than shareholder value. Learn from leaders and people with experience in the field, keep learning to provide more positive value wherever you go.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
As a woman in engineering or technical spaces where there are fewer women, make sure to put yourself in uncomfortable situations to learn, never feel inferior because of gender differences. Bring a good perspective and put forward your point without feeling an inferiority complex, then people will respect you. Just be strong and confident in what you're doing.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Challenges include differences in origins, ethnicities, and culture as an international student on a visa, such as language barriers and different ways of absorbing information or being educated. Another is dealing with different stakeholders in technical fields and simplifying complex things to convey them. Overcoming these by putting yourself in such rooms turns challenges into opportunities.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are being true to yourself and what you believe, being strong and resilient, respect and empathy with people's experiences, authenticity, and ethics. Respect for me means respecting what people have studied, learned, and how I can help them.
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