How do we encourage more women and girls into cyber security? Kara Sprague is Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at F5, a multi-cloud application services and security company. She believes that we need to re-brand cyber-security to make it more appealing to women and girls.Kara began her fascination with STEM when her father brought home the family's first computer. She quickly became the go-to person at school for any computer-related issues. Kara started her career in a technical role at Oracle but made the decision to pivot into consultancy. She has plenty to share about her transition from an individual contributor to a leader and mentor, and how we can all do our part to make things better in the world.Between 2015 and 2022 Kara spent time on the board of Girls Who Code, an organization that seeks to increase the number of girls moving into computer science. In this role, she was able to see real positive change in how girls were encouraged into the field.Join us every episode with hosts Suchi Srinivasan & Corin Lines from BCG to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, technology, and business.

Starting her career as an ER doctor has taught today’s guest that “so long as no one is dying, it’s not an emergency”. Dr. Sophie Chung is the Founder and CEO of Qunomedical, an organization that helps patients navigate often complicated healthcare systems to get the treatment they need. Sophie may have started on the path to cardiology, but she decided to pivot into management consulting. In this role, she soon realized that she could create a digital solution for many of the problems that patients and hospitals face when allocating appropriate care and services. Sophie is candid about the challenges women face in becoming entrepreneurs and has a solid support network around her helping her to survive and thrive.Sophie's parents emigrated from Cambodia in the 80s to start a new life. She’s often asked if her parents were also entrepreneurs, and in a way, she says, they were. The most important thing she learned from them was hard work and determination, no matter what the circumstances. Join us every episode with hosts Suchi Srinivasan & Corin Lines from BCG to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, technology, and business.

How can you harness your strengths and understand your weaknesses? FYLD’s CEO Shelley Copsey has spent her extensive career figuring out just that and has some great advice for anyone that is hard on themselves about their perceived shortcomings. At FYLD she spends time with junior colleagues, unlocking their potential and expanding their horizons.When she was thinking about her future, Shelley’s dad told her that she should keep her options open. That meant she studied a variety of subjects and ‘future-proofed’ her career through extra learning. When she decided to take a side step into technology, she continued to invest in herself. She practices this at FLYD by sponsoring junior colleagues in pursuing higher education and making time in her schedule to mentor and teach. In Shelley’s first consultancy role, she struggled to find women in senior leadership that she could look up to. Now she’s outspoken about the massive lack of encouragement that women receive during their tech career advancement.FLYD is a digital platform that helps utility field workers manage productivity and safety in real-time. Shelley finds satisfaction in her work by helping people work in a safer, more efficient way.Join us every episode with hosts Suchi Srinivasan & Corin Lines from BCG to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, technology and business.

When women are asked about their experiences at work, what challenges do they face and what are their significant milestones? Neveen Awad is a Managing Director and Partner at BCG and leads the Women in Technology Initiative in North America. This wide-ranging study surveys a diverse range of women, bringing their career experiences to life through data.When Neveen completed her Computer Science BSc at Yale, she was the only woman to graduate. There have been many other times in her career where she’s been the only woman in the room and has scrutinized whether this is because of her abilities, or tokenism. Neveen works in the digital, data, and technology space, mainly with clients in the healthcare and government spaces. She’s on a mission to streamline overly-bureaucratic processes to help citizens get the most out of their public services.Through her work on the Women In Technology Initiative, Neveen has some fascinating insights into senior women’s experiences to share in this episode.Join us every episode with hosts Suchi Srinivasan & Corin Lines from BCG to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, technology, and business.

May Habib has been a CEO for the past decade and always knew she wanted to build a company. She currently heads up Writer, an enterprise AI platform, and has an incredible support system that allows her to do her best work and also hang out with her two children.May is truly a global citizen. She was born and raised in Lebanon and moved to Canada when she was little. She went on to study in the USA and has worked across the world. Her parents worked incredibly hard and May recognizes that her work ethic was inspired by them. May’s goal has always been single-minded; to build something that outlasts her that has a positive impact on the world. Writer is an operating system that tackles the unstructured nature of written content to comply with brand, compliance, and all the other elements that enterprises struggle to align on. May believes that it is impossible to be groundbreaking and inspiring when you are in survival mode, and believes that many women don’t have the support they need to thrive.Join us every episode with hosts Suchi Srinivasan & Corin Lines from BCG to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, technology, and business. 

Self-belief is a journey, and there will be bumps in the road. A lack of self-belief is something Professor Margot Gerritsen still experiences sometimes, even after achieving Professor Emeritus status at Stanford. Margot now dedicates her time to running Women in Data Science (WiDS)Margot began her career in computational science over thirty-five years ago, and she predictably found that she was one of the only women in her class at university. Unfortunately, she hasn’t really seen the number of women in STEM rise in her career. WiDS exists to help encourage more women into this field, by offering a community to help them learn and grow. Margot also hosts the WiDS Podcast which you can listen to on a podcast app of your choice.Join us every episode with hosts Suchi Srinivasan & Corin Lines from BCG to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, technology, and business.

Facing constant challenges can be daunting. How can you welcome them into your life? Shaku Kandan has always chased new challenges. From joining the groundbreaking startup AirAsia X to joining Malaysia Airlines at a difficult time, she’s always seeking out new ways to push herself further.Full Episode Description: Facing constant challenges can be daunting. How can you welcome them into your life? Shaku Kandan has always chased new challenges. From joining the groundbreaking startup AirAsia X to joining Malaysia Airlines at a difficult time, she’s always seeking out new ways to push herself further.Shaku loves to travel. If you name a country in the world, it’s likely she’s already visited. For her, she views challenges as opportunities, a chance to be part of history in the making. In both her airline roles she saw a huge transformation and relishes the chance to seek out innovative solutions.Shaku is also very thankful for the men in her life who have supported her. From her father to her male friends, they’ve all constantly reminded her that she is deserving of success. She also had two male mentors in her career who provided her with the self-belief she needed to succeed. Join us every episode with hosts Suchi Srinivasan & Corin Lines from BCG to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, technology, and business.

When Suma Nallapati was growing up, she didn’t have many women in STEM that she could look up to. During her extensive career in tech, and in her current role as CIO at Insight, she’s put herself forward, inspiring the next generation of talent and giving women and girls a role model to give them hope.Suma was one of only two women who graduated from her nuclear physics class in her home country of India. When she moved to Colorado, Suma began to build an impressive career in tech. Starting out in programming, she always held a deep love for her local community. She even worked in local government for a while, as Secretary of Technology, making her the first person of Indian descent to become a cabinet member. Insight is unusual in that its C-Suite includes many women, including its CEO. As CIO, Suma leads a global team of more than 400 information technology specialists and drives Insight’s digital transformation efforts. She’s also a central part of creating the new solutions integrator category, which she’ll be breaking down in this episode. Join us every episode with hosts Suchi Srinivasan & Corin Lines from BCG to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, technology, and business.

How do you use your leadership position to help women thrive? Today on In Her Ellement we’re welcoming our first-ever male guest - Christoph Schweizer, CEO of BCG. Christoph is vocal about how leaders have a responsibility to speak out and advocate for women in the workforce.Christoph has worked at BCG for over twenty-five years, rising up through the ranks from a  summer internship to become CEO in 2021. Throughout his time at BCG, Christoph has advocated for higher representation of women in the workforce and has mentored and sponsored several women colleagues to help them realize their potential.For the past three years, Christoph was recognized as a HERoes Advocate Executive Role Model by INvolve People for his work with Women@BCG related to the hiring, promotion, and retention of women.Join us every episode with hosts Suchi Srinivasan & Corin Lines from BCG to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, technology, and business.

How can we have the courage to tackle problems that seem insurmountable? Mariana Vasconcelos is the founder of Agrosmart, an agricultural startup that helps farmers use data to become more sustainable and thrive.Mariana grew up in a farming family and decided to try and find solutions for the types of issues that her father faced every day. From there she used her technology and leadership skills to found Agrosmart, a groundbreaking organization that charts a route to a brighter future for farmers. She’s open and honest about how nervous she feels when faced with the responsibility she’s taken on. However, she acknowledges that she has strong support networks that keep her afloat every day. Mariana encourages those who feel overwhelmed by the world’s problems to ask the question: who will rise to the challenge if not you?Alongside founding Agrosmart, Mariana has been selected as one of the WEF’s Young Glocal Leaders. She’s also made it onto Forbes 30 under 30 and Bloomberg’s Most Influential People in Latin America lists.Join us every episode with hosts Suchi Srinivasan & Corin Lines from BCG to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, technology, and business.