Season 2 Sparknotes: Lessons Learned
Themes: Born to Build, The C-Suite Starter Pack, and The Stakes of Storytelling
Welcome! I’m Simi Shah, and I dive deep into the journeys of South Asian trailblazers. This issue concludes Season 2. Subscribe and follow us for updates on our Season 3 release!
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Season 2 Sparknotes 🔥📝
We reflect on the key themes that emerged in Season 2.
Born to Build
Hitha Palepu, CEO @ Rhoshan Pharma and Investor
Sheel Mohnot, Founder and Investor @ Better Tomorrow Ventures
Manik Gupta, Former Chief Product Officer @ Uber
Snigdha Sur, Founder and CEO @ The Juggernaut
When I say born to build, I don’t mean to inspire a debate on nature vs. nurture. It means that when you listen to these four stories, you’ll come across what I call patterns of behavior, of grit — the kind that when cultivated compounds success. Manik mapped India from scratch amid power outages and naysayers. Snigdha uprooted her life to study media models in Bollywood and at Buzzfeed. Hitha transformed failure as a first-time founder into success as an investor. And Sheel… Sheel once smoked a cigarette to land a customer. These trailblazers are determined to — if not obsessed with — building things and solving problems. Each has a history of going out of their way to cultivate skills and create experiences that uniquely position them to do so. And ultimately, it reads as though they were born to build.
I don't think I had an option with Rhoshan Pharma. My dad signed over 50% of the equity to me and he said, ‘It's up to you to decide if this is going to be 50% of something or 50% of nothing.’ - Hitha Palepu
The C-Suite Starter Pack
Rinki Sethi, Chief Information Security Officer @ Twitter
Renu Gupta, VP of Sales @ Thrive Global
Ann Mukherjee, CEO and Chairman @ Pernod Ricard NA
What gets me with these three is that none of them saw themselves as C-suiters. A testament to their humility, they each have a way of attributing it to “right place, right time.” But if you listen carefully, it’s much more than that. Each capitalized on niche, non-traditional talents identified early on: marketing, sales, and cybersecurity. And they became the BEST of the best. Ann is nicknamed the “turnaround queen.” Renu broke every sales record at Slack. Each of their stories is a lesson in hustling hard, timing career moves, and paying it forward — always, not just when the time comes.
When I was at PG&E, and even Walmart and eBay, I thought that being an individual contributor…I thought I had made it. And that was going to be it for the rest of my career. I never thought I would be in a management role in security because you didn't see people like me. You barely saw women in these roles. - Rinki Sethi
The Stakes of Storytelling
Rabia Chaudry, Attorney, Advocate, and Podcaster
Anita Kumar, White House Correspondent @ POLITICO
Adi Raval, Head of Communications @ Shield.AI
Storytelling has become a buzzword with the rise of the creator economy. But this trio reminds us of how high stakes storytelling can be. Rabia Chaudry singlehandedly gave rise to the podcast Serial (and the entire podcast medium) by sharing her friend, Adnan Syed’s story. What’s more, Rabia’s other storytelling endeavors have led to high staked advocacy..and even the exoneration of some wrongfully convicted individuals. Similarly, Adi Raval leans on his experiences as a journalist and diplomat in Iraq and Afghanistan to spearhead storytelling for some of the most ambitious companies in the world. And Anita Kumar provides a window into the nation’s foremost and recently fragile institution: the presidency. She’s an expert in administrations, offering the continuity and transparency we so desperately need. The art of storytelling is as old as time, but these three show us why and how it can be uniquely purpose-driven today.
So much has come from Serial. It brought a lot of attention… it brought people to the case, who just for the last five, six years have continued to investigate and find new evidence. HBO did a documentary that came out a couple years ago and that director spent three years investigating the case and found new evidence. It's done everything to help change the case. - Rabia Chaudry
Which themes/stories resonate with you? Let us know in the comments!
Season 3 Coming Soon 👀
A special shoutout to the 20 trailblazers who’ve joined me on the pod. Their insights, like the ones shared above, give so much perspective into the world we live in and the lives we might lead.
I’m so excited to welcome another 10 for Season 3. In the meantime, we’d love your feedback. Stay posted on our next season through Insta and LinkedIn! See you soon!