Reflecting on My Journey

As a Women in Tech Global Awards 2025 winner, what does this recognition mean to you, and how does it reflect your journey and impact in tech?

Winning this award feels deeply energizing. This recognition isn’t just about this moment — it reflects my personal journey and evolution: from software engineer to leading enterprise-scale product lines, to founding my own startup. Over 20 years in Silicon Valley — from engineer to founder — I’ve dedicated myself to using technology as a medium to build high impact products and platforms that uplevel human experiences by bridging engineering, product management, and go-to-market strategies and execution.

The awards also symbolize the values I care deeply about: cross-functional excellence, customer-centric product design, ethical leadership, and empowering diverse teams. Receiving the Global Awards in two categories - “Product Management Leader of the Year” and “Female Founder Rising Star” - emphasizes how the different phases of my career (corporate, product leadership, entrepreneurship) have come together to create a holistic impact.

These awards also emphasize my responsibility as a female leader — a reminder that visibility and success for women in tech matter. It reinforces my commitment to mentor, to uplift diverse voices, and to build inclusive, data-driven, human-centered technology through my startup.

Tech Industry's Most Rewarding Aspects

In your experience, what is the most rewarding aspect of working in the tech industry, and how has it influenced your career path?

For me, the most rewarding aspect has been the ability to build and shape technology that impacts human experiences at scale. Early in my career, I was writing system and application software; over time I shifted into product management and leadership roles at major firms (managing multi-billion-dollar portfolios, licensing platforms, enterprise SaaS, etc.). The tech industry offers the depth/breadth of opportunity to truly align careers to one’s mission and passion.

Seeing how human-centric product design, strategic thinking and disciplined execution can transform customer experience, business models and organizational impact has always motivated me. The AI technological shift drove me to launch my own venture — because I saw an opportunity to take everything I learned about engineering, product, monetization, business strategy and go-to-market, and build something new, more agile, more customer-focused: a SaaS/AI startup aimed at redefining the practice of product management.

Beyond the technical and business outcomes, I’ve found immense reward in mentorship and community building — supporting women and diverse professionals in tech, sharing knowledge, advocating for their growth. That human side of tech — people, teams, growth — has shaped much of my journey.

My Tech Career Milestone

Could you share a defining moment or a key achievement in your tech career that has been particularly impactful or meaningful to you?

A milestone that’s especially meaningful is founding my current startup, Nexia AI. After decades in corporate tech, I decided to channel all that experience into building something that reflects my values: customer-centricity, data-driven product design, and agile innovation. Nexia AI aspires to redefine product management through AI — and this new chapter feels like a culmination of everything I’ve learned so far.

A personally rewarding achievement — is the impact I’ve had as a mentor and advocate: supporting several women and young professionals, promoting inclusion and ethical leadership, and helping others navigate their career paths. Watching someone I sponsored grow in their careers and embrace their leadership journey — that always reminds me why I stayed in tech.

Empowering Women in Tech: Real Stories, Career Advice, and Tips

From your experience, what essential advice and practical tips would you offer to women aspiring to establish a successful career in tech?

Some pragmatic advice for women aspiring to build a successful career in tech

• Learning is your currency: Pick roles based on learning not purely on titles. Cross training in multiple functions will build you into a stronger leader in the long run— technical, product, GTM — builds a holistic understanding and opens leadership and entrepreneurial paths.
  
  
• Stay customer- and data-centric: Whether you code or build products or lead teams, grounding decisions in customer needs and outcomes and use data and acquired business intuition to your advantage.
  
  
• Seek mentorship, sponsorship and community — and pay it forward: Having mentors and sponsors early on who support and guide you — makes a huge difference in your career trajectory. When you grow, take others with you. Be a multiplier.
  
  
• Calculated risk wins: Don’t shy away from taking risks — whether it's pivoting your career, presenting radical ideas, or founding a startup — but balance ambition with strategic thinking and discipline. Don’t be afraid to fail and rise and try again.
  
  
• Win with others: Use your position to foster inclusion, fairness, and ethical practices — it builds better teams, better products, better outcomes and better companies.

Who would you recommend to join the WomenTech Network, and why?

Joining WomenTech Network can offer access to community, resources and guidance — and the collective strength of global voices pushing for equity and excellence in tech. I would recommend WomenTech Network to:

· Women early in tech careers (engineers, product, recent grads) seeking mentorship, community, and exposure.

· Mid-career professionals pivoting into senior leadership (especially those navigating corporate leadership paths or transitioning to entrepreneurship) who want support, access to role models, and rich networks across industries and geographies.

· Allies and advocates — not only women — who believe in diversity, inclusion, and want to support equal opportunity in tech by mentoring, sharing experiences and building strong, inclusive organizations.

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