Her Story
About Vaishnavi
Vaishnavi Shamsundar serves as a Senior Machine Learning Engineer and Computer Scientist with six years of experience in the IT industry, focusing on data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. She earned her bachelor's degree in computers and information science in India before pursuing a master's in data science and machine learning with AI majors from Northeastern University in Boston. Vaishnavi has worked as a software engineer in startups, a data scientist at Homeside Insurance as an intern, at the Bright Mind nonprofit supporting homelessness initiatives, and at Guidewire Software where she built the Wildfire 2.0 predictive model from scratch that aided insurance companies. She later joined Insight Global supporting Walmart clients and is currently advancing her leadership skills through an Executive PhD in leadership with mathematics and business emphasis along with an MBA that is one and a half years complete. Vaishnavi is a member of Anita.org and has volunteered with Dallas area nonprofits distributing food to the homeless. She attributes her success to her resiliency and persistent nature, advising others in her field to fight for opportunities, show up consistently, and build problem-solving skills amid AI advancements.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Vaishnavi
01What do you attribute your success to?
My resiliency and stubborn nature of never giving up. I've faced many hardships and rejections but stayed consistent and persistent. Everybody tells me I'm very stubborn and never give up, and that helped me become who I am today.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Never give up. It's gonna happen, you just need to be persistent enough to get it.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Fight for what you want. Show up every day, be resilient, and never give up. There is diversity imbalance but you can reach leadership levels by fighting for it and building relationships.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The challenge is AI automating jobs, making people fear they are not needed. The opportunity is to build problem-solving skills and curiosity, because AI cannot think like humans or ask why. Ask follow-up questions and do not just believe AI answers.
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