What Happens When We Speak Up? A Conversation with Sajida Kaliyadan

07/02/20 • 50 min

Getting to 50/50: Conversations to Bridge the Gender Gap

Sajida shares her unique viewpoint in this intriguing conversation - What happens when we speak up rather than sit quietly regarding issues that affect women in the workplace. From attending one of the most sought after colleges, BITS Pilani on a partial scholarship to working with strong masculine Wall Street personalities. She used each of her experiences to prepare herself and gain the courage to lead and address social norms. Sajida discusses how she developed her leadership style to make it her own, rather than conforming herself.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Bio: Sajida Kaliyadan lead a product team as the Head of Buyer Experience at Atlassian with an exciting charter in pioneering a unified buyer experience by taking world-class consumer capabilities and applying them to a B2B model.
She said she has had a zig zag career path that she sought out consciously now and unconsciously at first, to further her growth and learning. She began as a developer and then engineering manager in banking technology for global banks such as Citibank and Deutsche Bank, working in India, Singapore and New York. Looking for a change from large organizations, she joined a privately held algorithmic trading systems provider in New York - where she was the first female employee wherer she worked in the demanding and challenging environs of Wall Street, a huge learning experience for her.
Keen on building more customer facing products, she invested in a part time MBA at NYU Stern. She later transitioned to a career in product management which she loves in Walmart Labs after a move to the West Coast. Sajida led a portfolio that drove over $800MM in annual revenue. She was responsible for the digital transformation of gift registry and digital pharmacy including a patent pending innovation (Techcrunch, Fortune) for digital pharmacy refills. Seeking to further challenge herself and to learn new domains, she joined Atlassian. I am super pumped about the company’s mission to unleash the potential of all teams - whether its a small non profit or NASA’s projects to drive Rovers on Mars, Atlassian’s products have a huge impact.

Previous Episode

"It was years of my life in a moment of time": A Conversation with Anna Dapelo-Garcia

Lean In Latinas began with Anna in an organic moment. She started the group in her home, and it quickly grew too large - from a few women to over 800 four years later. As a single mom who was raised in a non-traditional household, Anna realized early on that life placed her in a room with leaders. She pursued her education, and along with her grit and history, grew into the woman she is today. Follow the conversation and discover how Anna learned to have the confidence to lead first, insisting on equality at home and in life.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Anna Dapelo-Garcia is Founder and President of Lean In Latinas. Anna acquired a Master of Public Administration from the University of San Francisco and a Bachelor of Arts degree in management from Saint Mary’s College. In 2013 she was named as a Silicon Valley Business Journal Woman of Influence. In 2017, she was named as the Woman of the Year by the Women’s Health Care Executives. She also served as a State Commissioner with the California State Senate for Cost Control in State Government. She’s currently vice chair and board member for the University of San Francisco Master of Public Administration program and 2nd vice chair and board member for the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley. In 2015, she became the Founder of Lean In Latinas and was appointed as a Regional Program Leader by LeanIn.Org. Anna was featured in The New York Times for her role in creating Lean In Latinas, now a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. In 2018, she received a Top Latino Leaders Award by the National Diversity Council in Los Angeles. In March 2019, she was chosen by the Silicon Valley Business Journal for a Latino Leadership award. Anna has also been featured in Forbes and on National Public Radio (NPR).

Next Episode

Re-entring the Workforce After a Career Break: A Conversation on Persistence with Elizabeth Andrew

What's it like to reenter the workforce in the tech industry after a nearly two decade gap on your resume? Elizabeth shares her story in this episode of Getting to 50/50 where she and Pratima discuss the challenges of agism and of being a female in the workforce. Find out how persistence impacted her, and take away a few key pieces of advice for any age woman in the workforce.
______________________________________
Elizabeth Andrew is a top-producing technology sales executive, startup advisor, and TEDx speaker, who has established herself as a leader, motivator, and role model with her inspiring story of career reentry by breaking barriers into the San Francisco technology space – at over 50 years old, after a 17-year career break. She had a great run as a top-producing sales leader and senior manager at HelloSign, where she broke sales records and was the lead contributor to the rapid revenue growth of the company which led to the $230M acquisition by Dropbox. Elizabeth is an Advisory Board Member for several startups, serves as an advisor to Women Serve On Boards, and was selected for The CLUB of Silicon Valley's 2016 Incubator leadership program. In her early career, Elizabeth was a VP and Director with Wells Fargo Asset Management, where she opened up the New England Region as a Mutual Fund Wholesaler and grew territory assets from $0 to $70 million.