Welcome! I’m Simi Shah, and I dive deep into the journeys of South Asian trailblazers. This issue concludes Season 3. Subscribe and follow us on Apple, IG, & LinkedIn for updates on Season 4!
🎁 Trailblazers 2021, Year in Review
🌎 Reached listeners in 93 countries, 2K+ Insta followers, 500+ LinkedIn followers
✍️ Featured in Forbes, Apple Podcasts, DissDash, India Currents, Wikipedia
📝 Wrote 22 newsletters for 500+ subscribers
🎙️ Released 20 episodes across Season 2 & 3
🔥 Showcased 23 trailblazers
👪 Grew our team by 7
And most importantly, were joined by you 💙 Thank you so much for your support in making Trailblazers what it is today! In case you’re wondering how to…
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Season 3 Sparknotes 🔥📝
This season, we welcomed federal judges turned crypto lawyers. College dropouts turned CEOs. Researchers turned showrunners. The range is unprecedented.
Below, we summarize each episode. Decide which episodes you want to catch up on, and if one trailblazer struck you in particular, let us know. We’ll be highlighting your reactions on our socials. 🚀
Episode 1: Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer @ Coinbase
I issued all kinds of rulings as a judge that I think the tech industry was unhappy with… but the most important quality that the tech industry took from my judge service was that I tried my best to be impartial, and that I wasn't afraid to call balls and strikes and speak truth to power when it was necessary.
Paul discusses his unusual transition from U.S. Magistrate Judge to Facebook General Counsel, his pivot to crypto at Coinbase, and advice for aspiring lawyers.
Episode 2: Geetha Murali, CEO @ Room to Read
People assume that people who work in the nonprofit world do so because we want an easier life. The nonprofit world is full of highly accomplished individuals who corporate employers would compete to recruit. But these individuals choose the sector because they're fed up with the status quo — they want to be a part of the change that the world needs.
Geetha contrasts C-suite leadership in the private vs. non-profit sectors, shares insight into how she led her org through the pandemic, and underscores her key to avoiding disillusionment.
Episode 3: Nik Sharma, CEO @ Sharma Brands
I was thinking about how to tell good stories... where we actually tell people why a brand exists versus what product it sells.
Nik recounts his journey from managing Priyanka Chopra’s instagram to forgoing college to start his own brand consulting business and become the D2C king.
Episode 4: Sruthi Lanka, CFO @ Public.com
Know where you sit the principal agent spectrum. This is a 1.0 theory. It's a framework that exists. Some people thrive as principals building stuff and other people thrive as agents — advising, enabling. And for me, the advisory space was not a good fit. I really wanted to be building something.
Sruthi parallels her journey from engineering to finance with her journey from India to the U.S. And she shares the special parts of start-upping, especially in fintech.
Episode 5: Reshma Saujani, Founder @ Girls Who Code
I thought, 'Wow, maybe I didn't get elected to Congress, but I can create a generation of young women who can be changemakers — who can solve DACA, climate, and all of these massive issues through technology.'
Reshma, ever a Renaissance woman, talks about being the first Indian American to run for Congress, the loss, and how she found inspiration for Girls Who Code on the campaign trail despite being a tech novice herself.
Episode 6: Brinda Adhikari, Showrunner / Executive Producer @ The Problem with Jon Stewart
I want to make stories. I want to tell people’s stories, and I want to be able to affect change in my own little way. But mainly I just love the act of producing — of picking up the phone and making calls and bringing together teams of people and figuring out the stories and problems out there that make us mad.
Brinda gives us the inside scoop on producing America’s favorite television, from ABC News to Jon Stewart’s return. She lays bare what it means to be a producer.
Episode 7: Dhanusha Sivajee, CMO @ Angi (Angie’s List)
It made me who I am. I've done a lot working across all of what you would sort of think of as typical business functions— marketing, accounting, sales. I was usually working the cash register, trying to drive the sales, and asking people if they wanted the chocolate bar with the gas, without really realizing that l was picking up those skills.
Dhanusha transports us to her childhood working at her family’s small businesses and illustrates her path to Chief Marketing Officer of The Knot, and eventually, Angi.
Episode 8: Mythili Sankaran, Chitra Nayak, & Sruthi Ramaswami, Founders @ Neythri
We're at a point now where there's a critical mass of South Asian women who actually have capital to invest, who actually have experience to invest. And we hope that part of what we do with the fund is also inspire that confidence, that you can be a part of these conversations.
Mythili, Chitra, and Sruthi show us the early innings of a professional organization for South Asian women. They take us through the journey of eventually scaling to a venture fund with an investor base of 90% South Asian women.
Episode 9: Paraag Marathe, President @ 49ers Enterprises
It's tough because this industry is very black or white. And there was not a lot of room for other colors, and certainly not a brown guy — certainly not one who never played football competitively in high school, college, or the pros, or who had a dad who played — so I was coming in at a disadvantage.
Paraag highlights the hustle of making it big in the business of sports — from sending his resume to every sports agency in the Bay Area to his eventual leadership in three major arenas: football, soccer, and cricket.
Episode 10: Sunayna Tuteja, Chief Innovation Officer @ the Federal Reserve
I remember hearing stories of my family being displaced during Partition… my great grandmother saying, 'I put on every piece of gold jewelry I had, the clothes on our backs, and everything else was left behind.' And I thought, ‘What if they had Bitcoin or some way of digitizing property?’
Sunayna marries institutions and innovation in unprecedented fashion, with her conviction in crypto and idea for a Fed Corps (like the Peace Corps) solidifying her vision for the future of the Fed.
A huge shout to these incredible trailblazers for sharing their stories. We want to know which ones resonated most with you? Let us know on socials!