The Seven Eighths

Intro: Welcome to Episode 25 of the Seven Eighths. In this episode I sat down with Rohan and Rojene for a conversation about their struggles. I met Rohana and Rojene through Gayatri, founder of Accidental Ally - a firm that is pioneering a path to make the web a more accessible place. Rohan is the Executive Assistant at Accidental Ally. He recently made history twice! He was the first intern with down syndrome to be hired by Five9. He is also the first person with Down syndrome to take the Web Accessibility Certification (CPACC) exam.He dreams of becoming a QE expert with a specialization in Web Accessibility, Localization, and Security testing skills.  Rojene aspires to be a Digital Marketing professional. She is deeply passionate about social media and marketing operations. Rojene also made history as the first intern with Cerebral Palsy to be hired by Five9. She focussed on Digital Web Marketing and helped the Five9 team make their website accessible and also worked on delivering demand gen nurture campaigns. She recently gave her CPACC exam to certify as a Web Accessibility professional as she dreams of becoming an Inclusive Digital Marketer. She is a fashionista and a self-advocate with Cerebral Palsy. In this episode, Rohan and Rojene share their journey through struggles and how they are overcoming the various hurdles with determination, perseverance and optimism. It is time to pull up a chair and listen in. Learn more about Accidental Ally: https://theaccidentalally.com/ Stay in touch with TheSevenEighths: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theseveneighthspod/ Outro: And that’s how the cookie crumbles. Rohan and Rojene have been the most inspiring guests I’ve had on this show - hands down. Born with disabilities, they have overcome insurmountable challenges right from birth. Rohan and Rojene have shown us that disabilities did not hinder their potential and they showed us a fine example of resilience and growth. I loved the enthusiasm and optimism for life that they embodied. I loved Rojene’s humility when she said that if she inspires one person, then she considers it a job done. I loved Rohan’s ‘Never Give Up’ attitude when he shared his plan to work harder and succeed at the next attempt of the Web Accessibility certification. Hearing their stories of struggle was heartbreaking but listening to their plans for the future inspired me beyond words. Thanks to Gayatri - founder of Accidental Ally for bringing Rohan and Rojene to the Seven Eighths and for doing path breaking work in the field of Accessibility Engineering to make the world a more equitable and inclusive place.

Intro Welcome to Episode 24 of the Seven Eighths with our guest Ethan Evans. Ethan is an Ex-Amazon Vice President, now sharing his leadership expertise on LinkedIn, Medium, YouTube, and other outlets. He has a BS in Computer Science and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Masters of Science in Engineering from Purdue.  After spending more than a decade in startups in Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., and Boston, where he rose to the level of Vice President. In 2005, Ethan moved to Amazon as a Senior Manager where he was the first engineer on the project that became Prime Video.  Over time, he was promoted first to Director, then to Vice President, ultimately leading global teams of 800+ and working on well known products such as the Amazon Appstore, Twitch, and Prime Gaming. In 2020 Ethan left Amazon to focus on leadership training and executive coaching for a small group of motivated clients. His mission is to share his lessons learned in his long career to save others delay and frustration struggling with issues he has been through before. You can find Ethan on the web at https://ethanevans.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/ In this episode, Ethan gets candid about his setbacks and failures. It’s time to pull up a chair and just listen in Conclusion And That’s how the cookie crumbles. Ethan’s conversation made me realize that behind all the visible success, there is failures that builds character and that has teaching moments. Ethan shared his several set backs, feeling misjudged and mislabeled. But he also talked about how he used the pain to introspect and adopt habits to prevent that pain from recurring. This change in behavior helped him recover from the set back. Ethan’s guidance on how to accept and absorb feedback feels like a gold mine. Thank you for listening to this episode. Do share your thoughts and feedback. I’m on twitter @theseveneighths #normalizefailures #theseveneighthspodcast

Intro: Welcome to episode 23 of The Seven Eighths. This episode is a conversation between me and Navjot Sawhney. Nav Sawhney is the founder of The Washing Machine Project. Nav was born and brought up in London but his family are from unpartitioned India. During the 1947 Indian Independence, Nav’s father and his family fled their home from what is now Pakistan with only the clothes on their backs. This has always been the foundation of why he wants to help people fleeing conflict. Whether it’s building lifesaving cookstoves in rural India or  being a trustee of Engineers Without Borders UK (EWB-UK), Nav has always been passionate about helping others, with a particular interest in International Development. He has helped build clean water systems for an orphanage in Namibia, volunteered time at a local homeless shelter for migrants in London and done much more. With over five years of professional engineering experience at global technology companies such as Dyson and Jaguar Land Rover behind him, Nav realizes he is at theperfect moment to combine his desire to help people with his Engineering skills. Nav and I talked about his childhood, his journey through ups and downs of The Washing Machine Project, how he handles failures and much more. It is time for us to pull up a chair and listen in. Outro And that’s how the cookie crumbles. Nav’s reminded us to not compare ourselves to our peers when it comes to effort vs outcome. We are all differently talented and focussing on what we can do best will relieve us from the pressure of expecting the same outcome. Nav doesn’t hold any bitterness to failures. Isn’t that a refreshing position to take? I”m going to try it and feel the lightness of the experience. Thank you for listening to this episode. Do share your thoughts. I’m on twitter @femmenectar. Until the next conversation, cheers everyone!

Intro Welcome to Episode 22 of The Seven Eighths. In this episode, I chat with Bracken Darrell about his journey through highs and lows of life. Bracken Darrell is the President and CEO of Logitech. Under Bracken Darrell’s nine years of leadership, Logitech has reinvented itself into an award-winning design company, an industry force in pursuing a more sustainable and equitable world, and a top performer on the SIX Swiss stock exchange and NASDAQ. Bracken is a proponent of design and the liberal arts in business, especially of their role in innovating product experiences for consumers. As a result, Logitech has been the recipient of numerous awards, including more than 200 design awards over the past three years from the likes of iF Design, Red Dot and Fast Company, and numerous sustainability awards. Bracken himself has been named Swiss CEO of the year by Obermatt three times in the past four years. Bracken brings to Logitech nearly thirty years of experience in product, people and brand management through design. He has worked around the world on iconic brands like Old Spice, Gillette and Braun, for which he was president. He has spent time at P&G, Arthur Anderson, PepsiCo, GE and Whirlpool. In this episode, Bracken shares his journey through life, his approach to failures and successes and shares pearls of wisdom on navigating through the ups and downs. It is time for us to pull up a chair, sit down and just listen in. Outro And that’s how the cookie crumbles. Bracken shared his stick trick. Imagine yourself at the beach with a stick dragging it behind you and everything behind that stick is just to learn from. Your whole life is still in front of you and so stop worrying about what is behind that stick. Just figure out what to learn from. He also talked about how he looked at failures like just a grade in school. It is important what you learn from it, and not just the grade. Bracken stressed the importance of having conviction along with intuition on any undertaking. Lastly Bracken reminded me that success also comes at a cost - one you solve one problem, you are given a bigger one to solve. Thank you for listening to this episode. Do share your thoughts. I”m on twitter at femmenectar. Until the next conversation..cheers everyone!

Introduction Welcome to Episode 21 of the Seven Eighths. In this episode, I sit down with Krishna Sundaresan for a conversation of failures and rejections. Krishna Ramani Sundaresan is currently a blockchain gamer and trying to find his place in the metaverse. He was earlier the VP, Engineering at Symphony MediaAI, a part of SymphonyAI working in the space of B2B AI solutions. He was the founder of Surukam Analytics, a pioneer in the field of legal AI, where he built a contract intelligence platform, raised a round of funding and managed a successful exit to SymphonyAI. An alumnus of BITS Pilani, and IIM Bangalore, he likes to meditate in his free time and  also mentors and invests in early stage businesses. In this episode, we talked about Trigger warning: there is a discussion about suicide and self harm which my be a trigger for a few listeners. It is time for us to pull up a chair and sit down to listen in. Outro And that’s how the cookie crumbles. Through the conversation with Krishna, When you are in the midst of the problem, it is difficult to see things clearly. Acknowledging that there is a problem is the first step followed by slowing down a bit to understand the situation better. It is hard to relive failure, but it is important to look at the failures through a hard lens to identify and understand inflection points. By doing so, you can better plan your actions and manage emotions better the next time you are at such inflection points. Even in your failures, look at your support network through the lens of gratitude rather than guilt. Being grateful for them for being with you through your journey is a more positive and long lasting feeling than guilt. With the story of Hanuman in Sundara Kandam, Krishna reminded us that even someone with a strong archetype like Hanuman himself experiences debilitating self doubt. Going through these emotions and coming out through the light at the end of the tunnel with a strong sense of confidence to handle these situations in the future. Thank you for listening to this episode. Do share your thoughts. I am on twitter @femmenectar. Until the next conversation. Cheers everyone!

Introduction Welcome to Episode 20 of the Seven Eighths. In this episode, I sat down with Sunil Rajaraman, CMO of GoodRX to talk about his journey through failures and setbacks.Sunil Rajaraman is a tech entrepreneur, investor and exec. He's spent the past 12 years in the tech space where he's started or been part of the Founding team of several companies, and angel invested in others. He's currently a marketing executive at GoodRx. Sunil's passion area outside of work is mental healthTedX talk on mental health to high school students at Monta Vista, and guest written for The Information about mental health in the tech industry. His podcast, 'This is Your Life in Silicon Valley', features guests such as the Mayor of Oakland and the CEO of Instagram. We talked about transitioning from founder to operator, managing that feeling of not being enough and much more. Outro And that’s how the cookie crumbles. Talking to Sunil helped me understand that you are always going to wrangle with the feeling of not being good enough, the feeling of not being on top of your game. One way to deal with that emotion is to realize that such feelings will always exist and reflect on how far you have come from where you started. Sunil also actively advocates limiting time on social media to platforms where you derive value, you learn and make real connections. He also talked about how therapy has been helping him dispel the feeling of loneliness in struggles. Therapy also has helped him become extremely self aware and provided him techniques to manage the struggles. Sunil reminded me that the definition of success constantly evolves and changes based on the stage of life that you are in. More importantly, sometimes, it is ok not knowing what your definition of success is. You can find me on Twitter: @Femmenectar and Sunil:@subes01

Intro Welcome to Episode 19 of the Seven Eighths. This episode is a conversation between me and Tina Nayak about her journey through setbacks. Tina is a Berlin-based entrepreneur. Her latest startup - Useristics, helps tech startups understand their users better so they build products that users can’t live without. Prior to launching her own company, she oversaw marketing and growth at Babbel, Preply, Zipdial(acq by Twitter). In this episode, Tina talks about the changes that she took on in career and life, struggling with explaining her role and impact, the setbacks she faced with her first start up and dealing with grief. It’s time to just sit down and listen in. You can find Tina on: https://tinanayak.com/ Here is the amazing company that Tina is building: https://useristics.com/ Outro And that’s how the cookie crumbles. I liked how Tina framed rejection in your personal life. It's not because of something that is wrong with you. It's really a question of fit. There are some people that want to work with you and, and appreciate what you bring to the table. And some people that don't see that value now. So don't take that as a full stop for whatever you're trying to be. She also talked about the hustle culture and while it is applauded and encouraged, it can quickly become toxic. So just recognizing that while you hustle,remember to be kind to yourself. She shared her approach to, not just an interview, but every conversation, as an equal partner. If there isn’t a fit , have the agency to walk away. And lastly, she shared her struggle with handling grief. That is no shame, or there is no regret in getting help through a therapist or a healer. Thank you for listening to the Seven Eighths. Do leave a note on twitter at femmenectar.

Introduction Welcome to Episode 18 of the Seven Eighths. In this episode, I sit down with David Fano, Founder and CEO of Teal, for a conversation. David Fano is a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience building products & services. As the founder and CEO of his latest venture, Teal, Dave is focusing on building technology tools that can empower people to grow their careers. In under 1 year, Teal has grown to be loved and used by over 20,000 users to power boost their careers. Prior to Teal, Dave co-founded CASE, a technology consulting firm, while serving as adjunct faculty at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture. CASE worked with clients such as Google, Disney & Apple and went on to be the first acquisition made by WeWork in 2015. At WeWork David held several executive roles and eventually became the Chief Growth Officer. In a span of just 4 years, Dave built and led a global growth team that transacted over 2 million square feet of space per month. In this episode, Dave talks about his journey from humble beginnings to CASE and then WeWork to now founding and managing TEAL. Dave is raw and real about pivoting his first start up, the turmoil with transition from CASE to WeWork, his struggles with his identity as he walked away from the role that almost defined him. He is honest and says it as it is. Let’s listen in. #normalizefailures You can find David Fano on  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfano/ Twitter: @davidfano To learn more about Dave's latest venture visit: Teal:https://www.tealhq.com/   Summary And that’s how the cookie crumbles. It was surprising to hear that someone as successful as Dave too had questions of self doubt at every step of the way. I liked Dave’s point of view on success: He framed success as not one event in itself but a series of failures coming together to give success as failures gives one a chance to iterate and refine. The big aha that I learnt from Dave was the fact that in life, many of us think of ourselves, our role as much bigger than what it truly is. We tend to think of our impact as more important than any other in the company. In Dave’s words: Companies are self healing organisms. They will find a way to continue to carryon with or without you. And lastly, giving up the perception that you are what you do. Dave shared how once he decoupled his identity from his work, he was a better place to make tough decisions. Thank you for listening to the Seven Eighths. Do share your thoughts. I am on twitter @femmenectar. Until the next conversation. Cheers Everyone!

Welcome to Episode 17 of The Seven Eighths.In this episode, I sit down with Vikrant Karnik for a conversation about his struggles and failures. Vikrant Karnik - VK is now responsible for the Global Cloud Services business in Genpact. Prior to joining Genpact, he led Capgemini’s Global Digital and Cloud Services business in the Financial Services Strategic Business Unit. He has managed and delivered complex digital transformation, public and hybrid cloud deployments since 2009 when he was involved in the first cloud bursting pilot with Capgemini and AWS. In our conversation, VK and I talked about his struggles with transition, moments of self doubt, struggles with outcomes that don’t align with his vision and much more. He candidly chatted about signing up for challenges larger than life and the fear of being able to deliver on a commitment. I would love for you to listen in. Follow VK on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vkarnik/ Follow me on  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amruthar/ Twitter: @femmenectar

Intro Special Announcement: This episode marks the one year anniversary of The Seven Eighths. I want to thank everyone involved in helping me get to this milestone starting with my family, close friends, guests that have agreed to candidly and authentically share their story and Corey Quinn for giving me the push to keep my work going. I owe it to every one of you. I believe even more than I did a year ago that we indeed need to talk to help normalize failures. We absolutely must talk about the Seven Eighths part of our life that is submerged beneath the social media persona of each one of us. Welcome to Episode 16 of the Seven Eighths. For this episode, I sat down with Shiva Rajaraman for a conversation about his journey and his struggles. Shiva is no stranger to many of us in the valley. Shiva Rajaraman has held product leadership roles over the past 20 years working on platforms that democratized access for creators. He's currently VP Commerce at Facebook helping people discover products and businesses they love. Previously he helmed technology for WeWork helping over half a million members find the right space for their working needs so they could focus fully on their business. Prior to this, Shiva has held Product Leadership positions at Spotify, Google and YouTube. I speak out of personal experience when I say Shiva is most excited by helping everyone reach their full creative and business potential irrespective of their starting point. In this episode, you will hear Shiva talk about the crazy year of 2020, his personal growth and struggles. He candidly shared about the pitfalls of having a wide scope without a narrow focus, his lessons on betting on just people and not looking at culture and purpose. He talks about the roller coaster ride of scaling a large team and quickly having to pivot and how he would redo if at all. You would hear his eternal optimism and it is infectious. Time to just listen in Outro And that’s how the cookie crumbles. Talking to Shiva helped me understand failure is all in perspective. The ones where we anticipated failures and yet made the choices are the hardest one to reckon with. But it is important to come to terms with the outcome and make peace with it. It also made me understand that when it comes to career moves, having a perspective on people, product and purpose is all critical. When two of the three feels out of place, one needs to have the courage to take the right next step: whether it is to course correct at place or move on. I also realized that every transition is time consuming and energy consuming. So it is important to recognize the ripple effects of changing jobs, changing roles and make accommodations in lifestyle to absorb the ripple effects. Maybe even giving oneself the time to absorb the ripple effects? Thank you for listening to this episode. Do share your thoughts and feedback. I am on twitter @femmenectar. Until the next conversation. Cheers everyone!