Tasha Cherian

I attribute my success primarily to my family. They have always been my foundation and have never allowed me to give up, even in moments when I considered changing direction. They are my “why,” and that sense of purpose keeps me moving forward. I also would not be where I am today without my husband; his support and the guidance he shares in our daily conversations have been especially meaningful in shaping my perspective and resilience.

The best advice I ever received was from my cousin, who was mentoring me when I was in my corporate job. He showed me a passage from the Bible that says you can either worship God or money, but you can only choose one. That's been the biggest thing for me. I don't chase the money. It's always stuck with me throughout all of it, every time I make a decision, even if I'm about to lose money. It's like, you can't chase the money, and you can't follow the money. It's not gonna take you where you want to get to. My cousin mentored me in preparation for an interview I was going for, and he was very clear that he'd mentor me, and then if I didn't get the job, I would have to leave my corporate job and focus on my family. When I didn't get the corporate job, I left, and then I moved to New York to follow my husband.

Start talking to people, start building relationships, start building that network, go to events as early as possible, start listening to people's stories. My journey started with the How I Built This podcast. I listened to how these great businesses were built, and when you hear these stories, it gives you the confidence to be able to go and do it yourself. So I would say read, podcasts, and get into networking events.

The biggest thing right now is just getting women to just take more bets on themselves. And that does not mean just from an entrepreneur's perspective. Even if you're in the corporate world, when you're at home, it doesn't matter, it's just being a little more confident in terms of what you're doing, and just showing up as the best version of yourself. I want more women to have a seat at the table. I want to see more, especially women of color, on boards. It requires people to pull each other up, and it's not just women versus women, you need to have allyship as well. I think just building a strong community and network of people around you to get you to where you need, but I want to see more women of color in board seats.

Integrity is the most important value to me in both my work and personal life. I believe it is easy to present oneself in a certain way publicly, but far more important is who you are when no one is watching. For me, maintaining consistency between my actions, values, and character—regardless of the situation—is fundamental to how I live and work.