[Nitin Bajaj]

Hey everyone, welcome to the industry show. I’m your host Nitin Bajaj and joining me today is Asha Saxena. Asha, welcome on the show.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you for having me Nitin.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Pleasure is all ours. So let’s start with, who is Asha?

 

[Asha Saxena]

Well, I would call or describe myself as just a passionate, driven person who super really cares about leaving an impact in the world I live in, leaving the place a better place than I came in.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks, and if we all do our bit, you know, we can really leave this place in a much better position for the next generation. So thank you for doing what you do. Let’s talk about women’s leaders in data and AI.

 

Tell us what it is, what is the mission, what is the vision, and most importantly, why do this?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, before I talk about women leaders in data and AI, I want to talk about especially what’s going on in the world today. I think it’s so important that we all care about doing the right thing, being a little extra compassionate towards people we meet on day-to-day basis, and as you said, do just our bit, just a little bit to make sure we make the people we meet and their lives easier. So, you know, this is really a personal journey and really extremely meaningful to what I’m doing right now for myself.

I’ve spent 30 years in the technology business, you know, I went to school, my undergrad and grad in computer science engineering, and I started my career as a programmer. I could have just stayed, you know, be a programmer, become a manager and a corporate path, but very early on in my career, I found a mentor who pushed me to become an entrepreneur, and I did. So I’ve spent three decades building companies and very fortunate to be able to teach at Columbia University where I get to pay forward, you know, really share with the graduate students I teach the lessons I’ve learned in my life and be able to pay forward.

And during the pandemic, I think it was really something that really bothered me was what was happening around the world. It was not only very close friends of mine who lost their loved ones, people I knew, and I think it was really a wake up call for a lot of us to reflect on our lives and what we were leaving behind. I think during that time, I had started working on my book during that time and I said, you know, everything that I learned in 30 years, I wanted to leave that, pay forward and share with the world.

And I saw during my consulting days that business and technology usually speak different language. And as they speak different language, they are constantly struggling and butting heads, even though they’re working towards the same goal, they just speaking different language. And so the whole idea for the book was to write the book, which came out in February, the AI factor was to bring these two communities together and talk about the digital world, how fast we are collecting the data and how the models are going to change our world.

But what I realized was, oh, my God, we are creating the digital world. And this model enhances all our biases. So even though I grew up in the world where being the only woman in the room, you know, we just were, we were taught to just speak a little louder or work a little extra hard and, you know, show up with your content.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

My worry was that in the digital world, that would not be applicable anymore. You know, we are building this digital world and these algorithms enhances our biases. And so the thought was that, you know, what can we do?

What can I do as a female leader in technology to leave our world a better place? How can I be a contributor to building a digital world and make it fair, a fair digital world with parity and equity and just start doing, you know, little steps towards doing the right thing. And, you know, the first thought was very daunting.

It’s like, what can I do? You know, I’m the only one person. What can I do?

And so the thought was, let me just call my friends. These are the C-suite leaders of Fortune 1000 companies and see if they would want to participate with me and come together. So I started this organization.

We call it Wilda, Women Leaders in Data and AI. It’s a mission-based organization, social entrepreneurial venture, where we bring together the senior leaders from corporate America to really come together for three pillars, which we stand on. Community, growth and impact.

So it’s really about these women leaders with our male allies. We bring the male allies together with the women leaders and make sure that together we are working towards building a better community. So we do it through mastermind circle, where peer-to-peer engagement.

We do it through events where we bring the thought leaders and we do it through creating impact by mentorship, making sure that we’re paying forward. And I have to say, Nitin, this has been the most rewarding experience of my career, where I wake up every day cheering for somebody else. I wake up every day to promote someone else.

Even though as a manager, as a leader in your organization, you’re always doing that, but you’re focusing on selling a product or looking at your P&L. But in this job, my whole and sole objective every day is, what can I do that I can build the next person stronger? If it’s a male ally or a female leader, you’re doing the right thing as the tech leaders.

This is the first professional career I’m in, where I wake up every morning and my whole sole objective is to cheer for someone else, build another leader, build another professional. If it’s a female leader or if it’s a male ally, just be there to cheer for them, make sure that they’re doing the right thing, I’m doing the right thing, and we’re building a better tech community. And it’s not just me, it’s every single member of the organization whose charter is to make sure that we pass the baton and make somebody else look good, feel better, and continue on the path of growth.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so, so amazing. And when you said this is a huge undertaking, it’s a daunting task, my immediate thought was, if not you, who else? Because I can’t think of anyone else to take this important, and important is not even doing it justice, but it is an important issue.

And I’m so happy that you are the one that’s leading it. And to your point of being able to get up and champion someone else’s success every single morning, it just brings a very different kind of energy. It’s very different than when we do it for a little more selfish reasons, such as selling more product or selling more service or growing my or our company.

This is so much bigger than that. This is giving back to the community, but the community then in turn gives you even more back. So I’m really happy for you.

But more importantly, kudos and congratulations for being able to do this and doing it at this scale. So on that note, I would love for you to share the impact of VILDA. And maybe a little, a few numbers that bring some perspective for our audience.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now, we do this member impact survey, and we really look for what our members are really getting out of an organization or having a community. And I always say that, listen, when we are adults, we learn the best from peer to peer experience share more than a classroom setting where you’re learning about that theory. So really, when the community comes together, the peers come together, and they’re sharing their experiences.

That’s when you start thinking about and reflecting about how you can use those tools and tips in your own life. When we did the survey, we found that 100% of our members have built deeper connection, because having a community where you can get a concentrated time to meet with your peers and get to know them, you build deeper connection. When you go to a conference, or you go to a association, it’s very hard because you are so many people, you’re going from session to session, it’s very hard to actually find that concentrated time, which being in a community you get.

So it’s not only monthly sessions, which you come to, you have your own cohort, which you stick to, you know, like how you went to college, and you have your cohort, you know, and we were talking how in graduate schools, you’ll end up learning more from your peers than you know, in the classroom, similar fashion in a community, you have a core we get, you know, when you join Wilda, you get your cohort.

And within your cohort, you have the senior leaders who are similar roles, similar responsibility. And that’s your group, that’s your circle. And then a bigger community where you go to a leadership offsite, or you go to a summit or a gala.

In fact, we have our signature event that’s coming up November 9, in New York City, which is the gala where, as I was saying that we are going to be giving awards to the industrial leaders. And I tell you, I’m like a little kid who’s jumping on the table cheering for these leaders as they come up, I’m like screaming the loudest and, you know, clapping the loudest. And so those awards mean a lot.

So I think it’s an 84% of the women and the allies have seen some professional growth in their personal growth, which is a very high number. And what has happened is that when you’re in a circle in a peer group, and you see that, that you have a title, which is a more, it’s a power title, I can go now and talk to my management team and say, you know what, this is what the industry is doing. Can I get that title?

So you get a little more courage to think about your role and responsibility differently, because now you actually have cross-industry experience. And you get a little bit more courage to talk about what should, you know, my role look like, what my contribution should look like, and what my compensation should look like. So you actually have these, you know, peers who can share with you how they are navigating their path.

And I also think dreaming big, you know, like when you are in your role in your day-to-day life, you get so stuck with doing what you’re doing. You very rarely think about what more can I do? You know, you get, you’re so stuck in just deliverables that it’s very hard to think about what could be the possibility, what is possible.

And I think the whole dream of what is possible comes when you have these inspirational leaders around you. And that’s why, you know, even when you’re a kid, your parents say, you know, look who you associate yourself with. And I think that’s what this is all about, is that, who are you associating with and are they inspiring you, motivating you, building you up or breaking you down?

And I think this community, the builder community is such a great community, because everybody’s building each other up. And everybody’s really focusing on each other’s growth. And a lot of our members really talk about the impact they’re having as a group, you know.

So a lot of times when you’re working, even though you try making an impact in your team, and you’re trying to build your team, very rarely you have the opportunity to bring, you know, the masses together to create the impact. We, you know, early on this year, and I think the audience knows the big layoffs that happened in tech industry. And the whole builder leaders rallied around and said, let’s do sessions around transitions, because these are senior leaders who are getting laid off.

And what can we do for our community? So a large volume of leaders came together, and we ran several webinars where we actually did breakout rooms, where people who had jobs came forward and said, let’s do the breakout room, show them what we have, who we are interviewing, what opportunities are available, so that these leaders have somewhere to go. So I thought that was such a great, and you know, when you say, if not you, who?

I say that to every single builder member who joins, is like, if not you, who will do it? And it’s not me and Nitin at all. It’s the community that does it.

One person can’t move the needle. It has to be the whole group which comes together to create the movement. And I think that’s really what I’m proud of, that there’s so much desire in this community, in tech community, to do the right thing.

And listen, as data leaders, these are the leaders who are creating history. They are the ones who are building these architectures. And if they care about building the world the right way, it will happen.

And I’m very hopeful that even though we don’t have the right diversity we need in the teams today, it will, because I see the commitment. We have waitlists of members who we are trying to get to, to bring them in. We have corporate members who are coming in and saying, we want to do the right thing.

And that inspires me every day, that there are still people who care about making this world a better place.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so cool. And I have to applaud and acknowledge the humility that you bring. And of course, it’s the team, it’s the community that ends up moving that big needle, the big picture, but having that leader in place who has that vision, who is humble, who is able to work with the crowd.

There are many different personalities involved, many different selfish motives, but to be able to work with all of those and still move us in the direction we want to go to, it takes a lot of effort. So, kudos again. And as you’re thinking and sharing all the accomplishments, one thought that comes to me is, again, many different personalities involved, many different perspectives, corporate entrepreneurs, big business, and small ones too.

What’s the one big challenge you’re facing as you think about all of this as an entrepreneur, as a leader, what’s that one big challenge?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the biggest challenge is when corporations and so there are two challenges. One is when people don’t think that they deserve to invest in themselves. A lot of times, you know, it’s like the syndrome, oh, I shouldn’t do it for me, I should take care of my team, I should take care of the world, I should be the last.

And I think that’s the biggest challenge when the leader starts saying, oh, I don’t need help, let me help everybody else. I think that’s my biggest challenge when I say, no, no, no, remember, when you’re sitting in the plane, they tell you to put the, you know, belt on yourself first or oxygen mask on yourself first. I think that’s what we need to do is that even if you’re a male or a female, you’re a minority or not a minority, it’s important for you to understand that in the movement, we need it all.

We need in the movement, we need everybody saying, I want to grow, I want to develop, I want to learn more, and I want to contribute. And I think that’s the first challenge is that when leaders say, oh, I cannot join the movement, because let others join, you know. And the second challenge I see is that when corporations put the funding, and of course, revenue generated activity, you know, and even though they know and acknowledge responsible ethical AI is important, building the digital world with parity and equity is important.

When the budget gets tight. And, you know, as we are in that middle of a lot of budget, you know, cuts, thinking about long term benefit, you know, becomes the secondary priority. And I think that becomes a challenge.

And I think if you think about retention of your employee, growth of your employee impact, diversity and inclusion is but natural, you know, and, and that’s what we do in our world is that we don’t say, oh, let’s focus on diversity and inclusion. I say it’s creating and changing the environment. So we focus a lot on speaker series.

So we have a program where we go into corporations and bring the role models we bring in the C suite leaders in corporate America who go into large organizations where they would talk about their journey. So it’s not only women or men, but everybody in the organization get to hear a female story from being an engineer or from mailroom to the C suite leader in fortune 50 company. And I think that’s inspirational.

So we do speaker series, we do data and AI literacy program. So our goal is to create this inclusive learning environment where professionals get to see and change the behavior without saying or pointing like, listen, when somebody tells me you have to do the diversity training, like, listen, I teach at Columbia, and I have to do diversity training. And that is so boring.

He’s like, oh, my God, yet another training, you know. So that’s not interesting. The way you do it is when you include, and you reason and you tell stories that people can relate.

And changing the behavior comes through, you know, really experience share. And when it becomes a, you know, you create those aha moments for employees that they then understand and change the behavior instead of telling you, they become the part of the conversation.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

So true. Asha, what’s the, you know, the flip side of challenge is opportunity. What’s the one that’s most exciting you at this point?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the yeses excites me. And those challenge, you know, is a challenging opportunity, right? As you said, when somebody says no, that gives you it makes you think, why no, why are they saying no?

And you think about why is this not an important initiative for them? So I think it makes you think differently and makes you become more creative and innovative. So I think yeses reassure gives you reassurance.

And the noes give you the opportunity to be creative and think outside the box. So I think if you had to say what is the opportunity, and I think the opportunity is, how do you continue creating the movement? So listen, any movement has been created.

It has not been easy. So I cannot say that it’s easy for what I’m building and creating. I personally have days when it is super hard. And oh my God, you know, how am I going to do it? How do I continue doing it? But I also think that when you get those yeses, it gives you a little relief. And when you get the noes, you say, okay, now let’s think about it a different way, you know, be more creative.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I love that perspective. I love how you put, you know, the reality is we are going to get a lot of noes. We are going to hit a lot of barriers, speed bumps, what have you. It’s what you make of it. And how do you use that as either reassurance or an opportunity to pivot or move in a direction where you may still achieve your goals, but you’re meeting kind of people where their heads are. So I love that. You know, as we look in the future, I am curious to learn and go back a little bit in your history. And I would love for you to share two instances, one, where things exceeded your own expectations, and became success beyond your imagination. And another one where things did not work out as you had expected, became a failure and became a lesson.

 

[Asha Saxena]

So many, oh my God, I can go on for hours on that. My God, so many failures. It’s crazy.

And when success is happening, you’re like, wonder, is it really happening? Like, let’s sit down for two minutes and say, oh my God, things are going right. You know, and just get ready because things are going to fall apart again, you know? So it makes you humble. You know, when you say being humble, it’s like, makes you humble because once you become successful, you realize you’re going to come down. And when you come down, hopefully you’ll go up again. So the positive, which was a surprise, is when I was writing the book, I worked two years on writing the book on 2019 to 2021. And my publisher said it’ll publish in October 22, 2022. And I was like, great, you know, I worked really hard, two years, put the effort in.

 

And then they called me in September and they said, sorry, there’s a huge line and backlog and we cannot publish until February of 2023. So I was like, you know, I was only writing it for me. I didn’t have any marketing budget. I didn’t have any promotions. I said, I don’t care. As long as I get my thoughts out in the world, that’s all I care about. And guess what happened in November? ChatGPT came out. What happened in January?

Microsoft invested $10 billion in open AI. What happened in February? My book comes out.

And who had, who could have timed that, that beautifully?

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That’s amazing.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now the book has been on the bestseller list on Amazon for 35 weeks.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Wow. Congratulations.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you. And you know, a part of me was like, it’s just luck. I was at the right time, you know, I just, everything. And then I found out another, somebody I know also wrote a book during that time. And I was like, Googling, I said, let me check what is their ranking. And their ranking was like 2000. And my ranking was like always between 50 and 70. So I was like, okay, there must be some credit to, you know, what I wrote. But that was definitely a happy surprise. And it would have to be like the right time at the right place. And, and I counted my blessing and I was very grateful to the universe for making it happen. And what was, and I’m telling you my, my healthcare business, it was a great business.

We had built a really solid data model and analytics on the patient data for healthcare system. It was used by Hackensack University Medical Center, Frederick Memorial, a great product. And then I had a VC come in. And, and I basically was politely removed from the CEO role. And that didn’t work out really well, the way I expected that company. And I cannot tell you, of all the companies I’ve built, I’ve built three companies, all the companies I’ve built, that was the most impactful company in the healthcare data set, because we were improving the quality of the patient outcome. And just because of the politics, you call it or the timing, it just, for me, it didn’t work out the way I expected it to. Externally, you could say it was a success, because it was implemented in big hospitals. But the way, I think when the VC came in, it was not the way I wanted the company to be operated. And that was a huge disappointment, because I spent so many hours, waking hours, I mean, I used to work 20 hours a day, every day. And I did everything I could. I mean, I had the right team, I had invested a lot in the business, you know, I did everything right by the book. And for me, I didn’t get the end result the way I wanted it. And that was the biggest disappointment, I would say in my career, because of what a great product that was. And you know, the exit wasn’t as ideal as I expected.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks again, for being so open and transparent. These things, these experiences are not easy to live through, but even more difficult to share openly. So I really applaud you being so transparent. And, you know, as for the success of the book, luck, maybe, but I do believe good things happen to good people. And, of course, all that experience from the past 30 years, bringing it all at the time when people actually care about this, and it’s all over the place. Yeah, couldn’t be happier for you. So that’s awesome.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Asha, this brings us to my favorite part of the show, which we call the one line life lessons. I’d love for you to share your one line life lessons with us.

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, I have to say my biggest life lesson is when you give you get more. And I think in life, if you’re a giver, you will be happier than if you’re a taker. And I think any relationship you want, which would prosper or do well, you need to be a giver in that relationship. And if that relationship is with life, you want to be a giver for life. And I think if you adopt that in your life, I cannot, I mean, I cannot express how it has benefited my life being a giver.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yeah, I mean, you’re doing that right now with Vilda. I mean, as we talked about it, you wake up every morning, trying to be a champion for one or several people in the community. And look at what you build, look at the energy you have the passion you have for it. So yeah, that’s awesome. Do you have any other life lessons you would love to share?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the giver is the biggest one. I would say that be hungry. And it’s so important to be hungry for knowledge for growth.And if you’re hungry to constantly learn and be a lifelong learner, I think it pays off really, because you have to constantly keep reinventing yourself. If you’re not reinventing yourself, you’re not going to go to the next stage. And if you’re hungry, you will focus on figuring out how do I get the knowledge to go to the next level. So I would say 100% focus on being hungry, learning and growing and investing in yourself.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so true and so valid at every stage of life. And again, you lead by example. Asha, thank you once again, for sharing your life lessons, for sharing your story, and your journey.

And more importantly, for being you and doing what you do. Really appreciate it. Thanks again for making the time to be with us. And congratulations, and wishing you all the success in the future here. We’d love to bring you back on in some time and talk about more of your successes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you so much, Nitin. I hope the listeners take one little bit and hopefully improve their lives.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I know they will, for sure. Thanks so much, Asha.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashasaxena101/ Linkedin: 

 

Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa),  is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, author, and data expert with extensive experience in the fields of data science, 

artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. She is the founder and CEO of Future Technologies Inc., a global consulting firm specializing in data management, analytics, and AI solutions. Asha is also the author of several books on data-driven business strategies and has been recognized for her contributions to the industry. She is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, known for her expertise in helping organizations leverage data to drive innovation and growth.

 

Youtube: 

In this episode of The Industry Show, host Nitin Bajaj interviews Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa), about her journey in technology, entrepreneurship, and her mission to bridge the gap between business and technology. Asha shares insights into the impact of WiLDa, challenges in promoting responsible AI, and her one-line life lessons. Join us to learn from Asha’s experiences and her passion for creating a positive impact in the world.

 

Highlights: 00:45 – Asha Saxena describes herself as a passionate, driven person who cares about leaving a positive impact in the world.

[Nitin Bajaj]

Hey everyone, welcome to the industry show. I’m your host Nitin Bajaj and joining me today is Asha Saxena. Asha, welcome on the show.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you for having me Nitin.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Pleasure is all ours. So let’s start with, who is Asha?

 

[Asha Saxena]

Well, I would call or describe myself as just a passionate, driven person who super really cares about leaving an impact in the world I live in, leaving the place a better place than I came in.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks, and if we all do our bit, you know, we can really leave this place in a much better position for the next generation. So thank you for doing what you do. Let’s talk about women’s leaders in data and AI.

 

Tell us what it is, what is the mission, what is the vision, and most importantly, why do this?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, before I talk about women leaders in data and AI, I want to talk about especially what’s going on in the world today. I think it’s so important that we all care about doing the right thing, being a little extra compassionate towards people we meet on day-to-day basis, and as you said, do just our bit, just a little bit to make sure we make the people we meet and their lives easier. So, you know, this is really a personal journey and really extremely meaningful to what I’m doing right now for myself.

I’ve spent 30 years in the technology business, you know, I went to school, my undergrad and grad in computer science engineering, and I started my career as a programmer. I could have just stayed, you know, be a programmer, become a manager and a corporate path, but very early on in my career, I found a mentor who pushed me to become an entrepreneur, and I did. So I’ve spent three decades building companies and very fortunate to be able to teach at Columbia University where I get to pay forward, you know, really share with the graduate students I teach the lessons I’ve learned in my life and be able to pay forward.

And during the pandemic, I think it was really something that really bothered me was what was happening around the world. It was not only very close friends of mine who lost their loved ones, people I knew, and I think it was really a wake up call for a lot of us to reflect on our lives and what we were leaving behind. I think during that time, I had started working on my book during that time and I said, you know, everything that I learned in 30 years, I wanted to leave that, pay forward and share with the world.

And I saw during my consulting days that business and technology usually speak different language. And as they speak different language, they are constantly struggling and butting heads, even though they’re working towards the same goal, they just speaking different language. And so the whole idea for the book was to write the book, which came out in February, the AI factor was to bring these two communities together and talk about the digital world, how fast we are collecting the data and how the models are going to change our world.

But what I realized was, oh, my God, we are creating the digital world. And this model enhances all our biases. So even though I grew up in the world where being the only woman in the room, you know, we just were, we were taught to just speak a little louder or work a little extra hard and, you know, show up with your content.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

My worry was that in the digital world, that would not be applicable anymore. You know, we are building this digital world and these algorithms enhances our biases. And so the thought was that, you know, what can we do?

What can I do as a female leader in technology to leave our world a better place? How can I be a contributor to building a digital world and make it fair, a fair digital world with parity and equity and just start doing, you know, little steps towards doing the right thing. And, you know, the first thought was very daunting.

It’s like, what can I do? You know, I’m the only one person. What can I do?

And so the thought was, let me just call my friends. These are the C-suite leaders of Fortune 1000 companies and see if they would want to participate with me and come together. So I started this organization.

We call it Wilda, Women Leaders in Data and AI. It’s a mission-based organization, social entrepreneurial venture, where we bring together the senior leaders from corporate America to really come together for three pillars, which we stand on. Community, growth and impact.

So it’s really about these women leaders with our male allies. We bring the male allies together with the women leaders and make sure that together we are working towards building a better community. So we do it through mastermind circle, where peer-to-peer engagement.

We do it through events where we bring the thought leaders and we do it through creating impact by mentorship, making sure that we’re paying forward. And I have to say, Nitin, this has been the most rewarding experience of my career, where I wake up every day cheering for somebody else. I wake up every day to promote someone else.

Even though as a manager, as a leader in your organization, you’re always doing that, but you’re focusing on selling a product or looking at your P&L. But in this job, my whole and sole objective every day is, what can I do that I can build the next person stronger? If it’s a male ally or a female leader, you’re doing the right thing as the tech leaders.

This is the first professional career I’m in, where I wake up every morning and my whole sole objective is to cheer for someone else, build another leader, build another professional. If it’s a female leader or if it’s a male ally, just be there to cheer for them, make sure that they’re doing the right thing, I’m doing the right thing, and we’re building a better tech community. And it’s not just me, it’s every single member of the organization whose charter is to make sure that we pass the baton and make somebody else look good, feel better, and continue on the path of growth.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so, so amazing. And when you said this is a huge undertaking, it’s a daunting task, my immediate thought was, if not you, who else? Because I can’t think of anyone else to take this important, and important is not even doing it justice, but it is an important issue.

And I’m so happy that you are the one that’s leading it. And to your point of being able to get up and champion someone else’s success every single morning, it just brings a very different kind of energy. It’s very different than when we do it for a little more selfish reasons, such as selling more product or selling more service or growing my or our company.

This is so much bigger than that. This is giving back to the community, but the community then in turn gives you even more back. So I’m really happy for you.

But more importantly, kudos and congratulations for being able to do this and doing it at this scale. So on that note, I would love for you to share the impact of VILDA. And maybe a little, a few numbers that bring some perspective for our audience.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now, we do this member impact survey, and we really look for what our members are really getting out of an organization or having a community. And I always say that, listen, when we are adults, we learn the best from peer to peer experience share more than a classroom setting where you’re learning about that theory. So really, when the community comes together, the peers come together, and they’re sharing their experiences.

That’s when you start thinking about and reflecting about how you can use those tools and tips in your own life. When we did the survey, we found that 100% of our members have built deeper connection, because having a community where you can get a concentrated time to meet with your peers and get to know them, you build deeper connection. When you go to a conference, or you go to a association, it’s very hard because you are so many people, you’re going from session to session, it’s very hard to actually find that concentrated time, which being in a community you get.

So it’s not only monthly sessions, which you come to, you have your own cohort, which you stick to, you know, like how you went to college, and you have your cohort, you know, and we were talking how in graduate schools, you’ll end up learning more from your peers than you know, in the classroom, similar fashion in a community, you have a core we get, you know, when you join Wilda, you get your cohort.

And within your cohort, you have the senior leaders who are similar roles, similar responsibility. And that’s your group, that’s your circle. And then a bigger community where you go to a leadership offsite, or you go to a summit or a gala.

In fact, we have our signature event that’s coming up November 9, in New York City, which is the gala where, as I was saying that we are going to be giving awards to the industrial leaders. And I tell you, I’m like a little kid who’s jumping on the table cheering for these leaders as they come up, I’m like screaming the loudest and, you know, clapping the loudest. And so those awards mean a lot.

So I think it’s an 84% of the women and the allies have seen some professional growth in their personal growth, which is a very high number. And what has happened is that when you’re in a circle in a peer group, and you see that, that you have a title, which is a more, it’s a power title, I can go now and talk to my management team and say, you know what, this is what the industry is doing. Can I get that title?

So you get a little more courage to think about your role and responsibility differently, because now you actually have cross-industry experience. And you get a little bit more courage to talk about what should, you know, my role look like, what my contribution should look like, and what my compensation should look like. So you actually have these, you know, peers who can share with you how they are navigating their path.

And I also think dreaming big, you know, like when you are in your role in your day-to-day life, you get so stuck with doing what you’re doing. You very rarely think about what more can I do? You know, you get, you’re so stuck in just deliverables that it’s very hard to think about what could be the possibility, what is possible.

And I think the whole dream of what is possible comes when you have these inspirational leaders around you. And that’s why, you know, even when you’re a kid, your parents say, you know, look who you associate yourself with. And I think that’s what this is all about, is that, who are you associating with and are they inspiring you, motivating you, building you up or breaking you down?

And I think this community, the builder community is such a great community, because everybody’s building each other up. And everybody’s really focusing on each other’s growth. And a lot of our members really talk about the impact they’re having as a group, you know.

So a lot of times when you’re working, even though you try making an impact in your team, and you’re trying to build your team, very rarely you have the opportunity to bring, you know, the masses together to create the impact. We, you know, early on this year, and I think the audience knows the big layoffs that happened in tech industry. And the whole builder leaders rallied around and said, let’s do sessions around transitions, because these are senior leaders who are getting laid off.

And what can we do for our community? So a large volume of leaders came together, and we ran several webinars where we actually did breakout rooms, where people who had jobs came forward and said, let’s do the breakout room, show them what we have, who we are interviewing, what opportunities are available, so that these leaders have somewhere to go. So I thought that was such a great, and you know, when you say, if not you, who?

I say that to every single builder member who joins, is like, if not you, who will do it? And it’s not me and Nitin at all. It’s the community that does it.

One person can’t move the needle. It has to be the whole group which comes together to create the movement. And I think that’s really what I’m proud of, that there’s so much desire in this community, in tech community, to do the right thing.

And listen, as data leaders, these are the leaders who are creating history. They are the ones who are building these architectures. And if they care about building the world the right way, it will happen.

And I’m very hopeful that even though we don’t have the right diversity we need in the teams today, it will, because I see the commitment. We have waitlists of members who we are trying to get to, to bring them in. We have corporate members who are coming in and saying, we want to do the right thing.

And that inspires me every day, that there are still people who care about making this world a better place.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so cool. And I have to applaud and acknowledge the humility that you bring. And of course, it’s the team, it’s the community that ends up moving that big needle, the big picture, but having that leader in place who has that vision, who is humble, who is able to work with the crowd.

There are many different personalities involved, many different selfish motives, but to be able to work with all of those and still move us in the direction we want to go to, it takes a lot of effort. So, kudos again. And as you’re thinking and sharing all the accomplishments, one thought that comes to me is, again, many different personalities involved, many different perspectives, corporate entrepreneurs, big business, and small ones too.

What’s the one big challenge you’re facing as you think about all of this as an entrepreneur, as a leader, what’s that one big challenge?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the biggest challenge is when corporations and so there are two challenges. One is when people don’t think that they deserve to invest in themselves. A lot of times, you know, it’s like the syndrome, oh, I shouldn’t do it for me, I should take care of my team, I should take care of the world, I should be the last.

And I think that’s the biggest challenge when the leader starts saying, oh, I don’t need help, let me help everybody else. I think that’s my biggest challenge when I say, no, no, no, remember, when you’re sitting in the plane, they tell you to put the, you know, belt on yourself first or oxygen mask on yourself first. I think that’s what we need to do is that even if you’re a male or a female, you’re a minority or not a minority, it’s important for you to understand that in the movement, we need it all.

We need in the movement, we need everybody saying, I want to grow, I want to develop, I want to learn more, and I want to contribute. And I think that’s the first challenge is that when leaders say, oh, I cannot join the movement, because let others join, you know. And the second challenge I see is that when corporations put the funding, and of course, revenue generated activity, you know, and even though they know and acknowledge responsible ethical AI is important, building the digital world with parity and equity is important.

When the budget gets tight. And, you know, as we are in that middle of a lot of budget, you know, cuts, thinking about long term benefit, you know, becomes the secondary priority. And I think that becomes a challenge.

And I think if you think about retention of your employee, growth of your employee impact, diversity and inclusion is but natural, you know, and, and that’s what we do in our world is that we don’t say, oh, let’s focus on diversity and inclusion. I say it’s creating and changing the environment. So we focus a lot on speaker series.

So we have a program where we go into corporations and bring the role models we bring in the C suite leaders in corporate America who go into large organizations where they would talk about their journey. So it’s not only women or men, but everybody in the organization get to hear a female story from being an engineer or from mailroom to the C suite leader in fortune 50 company. And I think that’s inspirational.

So we do speaker series, we do data and AI literacy program. So our goal is to create this inclusive learning environment where professionals get to see and change the behavior without saying or pointing like, listen, when somebody tells me you have to do the diversity training, like, listen, I teach at Columbia, and I have to do diversity training. And that is so boring.

He’s like, oh, my God, yet another training, you know. So that’s not interesting. The way you do it is when you include, and you reason and you tell stories that people can relate.

And changing the behavior comes through, you know, really experience share. And when it becomes a, you know, you create those aha moments for employees that they then understand and change the behavior instead of telling you, they become the part of the conversation.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

So true. Asha, what’s the, you know, the flip side of challenge is opportunity. What’s the one that’s most exciting you at this point?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the yeses excites me. And those challenge, you know, is a challenging opportunity, right? As you said, when somebody says no, that gives you it makes you think, why no, why are they saying no?

And you think about why is this not an important initiative for them? So I think it makes you think differently and makes you become more creative and innovative. So I think yeses reassure gives you reassurance.

And the noes give you the opportunity to be creative and think outside the box. So I think if you had to say what is the opportunity, and I think the opportunity is, how do you continue creating the movement? So listen, any movement has been created.

It has not been easy. So I cannot say that it’s easy for what I’m building and creating. I personally have days when it is super hard. And oh my God, you know, how am I going to do it? How do I continue doing it? But I also think that when you get those yeses, it gives you a little relief. And when you get the noes, you say, okay, now let’s think about it a different way, you know, be more creative.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I love that perspective. I love how you put, you know, the reality is we are going to get a lot of noes. We are going to hit a lot of barriers, speed bumps, what have you. It’s what you make of it. And how do you use that as either reassurance or an opportunity to pivot or move in a direction where you may still achieve your goals, but you’re meeting kind of people where their heads are. So I love that. You know, as we look in the future, I am curious to learn and go back a little bit in your history. And I would love for you to share two instances, one, where things exceeded your own expectations, and became success beyond your imagination. And another one where things did not work out as you had expected, became a failure and became a lesson.

 

[Asha Saxena]

So many, oh my God, I can go on for hours on that. My God, so many failures. It’s crazy.

And when success is happening, you’re like, wonder, is it really happening? Like, let’s sit down for two minutes and say, oh my God, things are going right. You know, and just get ready because things are going to fall apart again, you know? So it makes you humble. You know, when you say being humble, it’s like, makes you humble because once you become successful, you realize you’re going to come down. And when you come down, hopefully you’ll go up again. So the positive, which was a surprise, is when I was writing the book, I worked two years on writing the book on 2019 to 2021. And my publisher said it’ll publish in October 22, 2022. And I was like, great, you know, I worked really hard, two years, put the effort in.

 

And then they called me in September and they said, sorry, there’s a huge line and backlog and we cannot publish until February of 2023. So I was like, you know, I was only writing it for me. I didn’t have any marketing budget. I didn’t have any promotions. I said, I don’t care. As long as I get my thoughts out in the world, that’s all I care about. And guess what happened in November? ChatGPT came out. What happened in January?

Microsoft invested $10 billion in open AI. What happened in February? My book comes out.

And who had, who could have timed that, that beautifully?

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That’s amazing.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now the book has been on the bestseller list on Amazon for 35 weeks.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Wow. Congratulations.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you. And you know, a part of me was like, it’s just luck. I was at the right time, you know, I just, everything. And then I found out another, somebody I know also wrote a book during that time. And I was like, Googling, I said, let me check what is their ranking. And their ranking was like 2000. And my ranking was like always between 50 and 70. So I was like, okay, there must be some credit to, you know, what I wrote. But that was definitely a happy surprise. And it would have to be like the right time at the right place. And, and I counted my blessing and I was very grateful to the universe for making it happen. And what was, and I’m telling you my, my healthcare business, it was a great business.

We had built a really solid data model and analytics on the patient data for healthcare system. It was used by Hackensack University Medical Center, Frederick Memorial, a great product. And then I had a VC come in. And, and I basically was politely removed from the CEO role. And that didn’t work out really well, the way I expected that company. And I cannot tell you, of all the companies I’ve built, I’ve built three companies, all the companies I’ve built, that was the most impactful company in the healthcare data set, because we were improving the quality of the patient outcome. And just because of the politics, you call it or the timing, it just, for me, it didn’t work out the way I expected it to. Externally, you could say it was a success, because it was implemented in big hospitals. But the way, I think when the VC came in, it was not the way I wanted the company to be operated. And that was a huge disappointment, because I spent so many hours, waking hours, I mean, I used to work 20 hours a day, every day. And I did everything I could. I mean, I had the right team, I had invested a lot in the business, you know, I did everything right by the book. And for me, I didn’t get the end result the way I wanted it. And that was the biggest disappointment, I would say in my career, because of what a great product that was. And you know, the exit wasn’t as ideal as I expected.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks again, for being so open and transparent. These things, these experiences are not easy to live through, but even more difficult to share openly. So I really applaud you being so transparent. And, you know, as for the success of the book, luck, maybe, but I do believe good things happen to good people. And, of course, all that experience from the past 30 years, bringing it all at the time when people actually care about this, and it’s all over the place. Yeah, couldn’t be happier for you. So that’s awesome.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Asha, this brings us to my favorite part of the show, which we call the one line life lessons. I’d love for you to share your one line life lessons with us.

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, I have to say my biggest life lesson is when you give you get more. And I think in life, if you’re a giver, you will be happier than if you’re a taker. And I think any relationship you want, which would prosper or do well, you need to be a giver in that relationship. And if that relationship is with life, you want to be a giver for life. And I think if you adopt that in your life, I cannot, I mean, I cannot express how it has benefited my life being a giver.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yeah, I mean, you’re doing that right now with Vilda. I mean, as we talked about it, you wake up every morning, trying to be a champion for one or several people in the community. And look at what you build, look at the energy you have the passion you have for it. So yeah, that’s awesome. Do you have any other life lessons you would love to share?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the giver is the biggest one. I would say that be hungry. And it’s so important to be hungry for knowledge for growth.And if you’re hungry to constantly learn and be a lifelong learner, I think it pays off really, because you have to constantly keep reinventing yourself. If you’re not reinventing yourself, you’re not going to go to the next stage. And if you’re hungry, you will focus on figuring out how do I get the knowledge to go to the next level. So I would say 100% focus on being hungry, learning and growing and investing in yourself.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so true and so valid at every stage of life. And again, you lead by example. Asha, thank you once again, for sharing your life lessons, for sharing your story, and your journey.

And more importantly, for being you and doing what you do. Really appreciate it. Thanks again for making the time to be with us. And congratulations, and wishing you all the success in the future here. We’d love to bring you back on in some time and talk about more of your successes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you so much, Nitin. I hope the listeners take one little bit and hopefully improve their lives.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I know they will, for sure. Thanks so much, Asha.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashasaxena101/ Linkedin: 

 

Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa),  is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, author, and data expert with extensive experience in the fields of data science, 

artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. She is the founder and CEO of Future Technologies Inc., a global consulting firm specializing in data management, analytics, and AI solutions. Asha is also the author of several books on data-driven business strategies and has been recognized for her contributions to the industry. She is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, known for her expertise in helping organizations leverage data to drive innovation and growth.

 

Youtube: 

In this episode of The Industry Show, host Nitin Bajaj interviews Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa), about her journey in technology, entrepreneurship, and her mission to bridge the gap between business and technology. Asha shares insights into the impact of WiLDa, challenges in promoting responsible AI, and her one-line life lessons. Join us to learn from Asha’s experiences and her passion for creating a positive impact in the world.

 

Highlights: 00:45 – Asha Saxena describes herself as a passionate, driven person who cares about leaving a positive impact in the world.

[Nitin Bajaj]

Hey everyone, welcome to the industry show. I’m your host Nitin Bajaj and joining me today is Asha Saxena. Asha, welcome on the show.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you for having me Nitin.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Pleasure is all ours. So let’s start with, who is Asha?

 

[Asha Saxena]

Well, I would call or describe myself as just a passionate, driven person who super really cares about leaving an impact in the world I live in, leaving the place a better place than I came in.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks, and if we all do our bit, you know, we can really leave this place in a much better position for the next generation. So thank you for doing what you do. Let’s talk about women’s leaders in data and AI.

 

Tell us what it is, what is the mission, what is the vision, and most importantly, why do this?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, before I talk about women leaders in data and AI, I want to talk about especially what’s going on in the world today. I think it’s so important that we all care about doing the right thing, being a little extra compassionate towards people we meet on day-to-day basis, and as you said, do just our bit, just a little bit to make sure we make the people we meet and their lives easier. So, you know, this is really a personal journey and really extremely meaningful to what I’m doing right now for myself.

I’ve spent 30 years in the technology business, you know, I went to school, my undergrad and grad in computer science engineering, and I started my career as a programmer. I could have just stayed, you know, be a programmer, become a manager and a corporate path, but very early on in my career, I found a mentor who pushed me to become an entrepreneur, and I did. So I’ve spent three decades building companies and very fortunate to be able to teach at Columbia University where I get to pay forward, you know, really share with the graduate students I teach the lessons I’ve learned in my life and be able to pay forward.

And during the pandemic, I think it was really something that really bothered me was what was happening around the world. It was not only very close friends of mine who lost their loved ones, people I knew, and I think it was really a wake up call for a lot of us to reflect on our lives and what we were leaving behind. I think during that time, I had started working on my book during that time and I said, you know, everything that I learned in 30 years, I wanted to leave that, pay forward and share with the world.

And I saw during my consulting days that business and technology usually speak different language. And as they speak different language, they are constantly struggling and butting heads, even though they’re working towards the same goal, they just speaking different language. And so the whole idea for the book was to write the book, which came out in February, the AI factor was to bring these two communities together and talk about the digital world, how fast we are collecting the data and how the models are going to change our world.

But what I realized was, oh, my God, we are creating the digital world. And this model enhances all our biases. So even though I grew up in the world where being the only woman in the room, you know, we just were, we were taught to just speak a little louder or work a little extra hard and, you know, show up with your content.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

My worry was that in the digital world, that would not be applicable anymore. You know, we are building this digital world and these algorithms enhances our biases. And so the thought was that, you know, what can we do?

What can I do as a female leader in technology to leave our world a better place? How can I be a contributor to building a digital world and make it fair, a fair digital world with parity and equity and just start doing, you know, little steps towards doing the right thing. And, you know, the first thought was very daunting.

It’s like, what can I do? You know, I’m the only one person. What can I do?

And so the thought was, let me just call my friends. These are the C-suite leaders of Fortune 1000 companies and see if they would want to participate with me and come together. So I started this organization.

We call it Wilda, Women Leaders in Data and AI. It’s a mission-based organization, social entrepreneurial venture, where we bring together the senior leaders from corporate America to really come together for three pillars, which we stand on. Community, growth and impact.

So it’s really about these women leaders with our male allies. We bring the male allies together with the women leaders and make sure that together we are working towards building a better community. So we do it through mastermind circle, where peer-to-peer engagement.

We do it through events where we bring the thought leaders and we do it through creating impact by mentorship, making sure that we’re paying forward. And I have to say, Nitin, this has been the most rewarding experience of my career, where I wake up every day cheering for somebody else. I wake up every day to promote someone else.

Even though as a manager, as a leader in your organization, you’re always doing that, but you’re focusing on selling a product or looking at your P&L. But in this job, my whole and sole objective every day is, what can I do that I can build the next person stronger? If it’s a male ally or a female leader, you’re doing the right thing as the tech leaders.

This is the first professional career I’m in, where I wake up every morning and my whole sole objective is to cheer for someone else, build another leader, build another professional. If it’s a female leader or if it’s a male ally, just be there to cheer for them, make sure that they’re doing the right thing, I’m doing the right thing, and we’re building a better tech community. And it’s not just me, it’s every single member of the organization whose charter is to make sure that we pass the baton and make somebody else look good, feel better, and continue on the path of growth.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so, so amazing. And when you said this is a huge undertaking, it’s a daunting task, my immediate thought was, if not you, who else? Because I can’t think of anyone else to take this important, and important is not even doing it justice, but it is an important issue.

And I’m so happy that you are the one that’s leading it. And to your point of being able to get up and champion someone else’s success every single morning, it just brings a very different kind of energy. It’s very different than when we do it for a little more selfish reasons, such as selling more product or selling more service or growing my or our company.

This is so much bigger than that. This is giving back to the community, but the community then in turn gives you even more back. So I’m really happy for you.

But more importantly, kudos and congratulations for being able to do this and doing it at this scale. So on that note, I would love for you to share the impact of VILDA. And maybe a little, a few numbers that bring some perspective for our audience.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now, we do this member impact survey, and we really look for what our members are really getting out of an organization or having a community. And I always say that, listen, when we are adults, we learn the best from peer to peer experience share more than a classroom setting where you’re learning about that theory. So really, when the community comes together, the peers come together, and they’re sharing their experiences.

That’s when you start thinking about and reflecting about how you can use those tools and tips in your own life. When we did the survey, we found that 100% of our members have built deeper connection, because having a community where you can get a concentrated time to meet with your peers and get to know them, you build deeper connection. When you go to a conference, or you go to a association, it’s very hard because you are so many people, you’re going from session to session, it’s very hard to actually find that concentrated time, which being in a community you get.

So it’s not only monthly sessions, which you come to, you have your own cohort, which you stick to, you know, like how you went to college, and you have your cohort, you know, and we were talking how in graduate schools, you’ll end up learning more from your peers than you know, in the classroom, similar fashion in a community, you have a core we get, you know, when you join Wilda, you get your cohort.

And within your cohort, you have the senior leaders who are similar roles, similar responsibility. And that’s your group, that’s your circle. And then a bigger community where you go to a leadership offsite, or you go to a summit or a gala.

In fact, we have our signature event that’s coming up November 9, in New York City, which is the gala where, as I was saying that we are going to be giving awards to the industrial leaders. And I tell you, I’m like a little kid who’s jumping on the table cheering for these leaders as they come up, I’m like screaming the loudest and, you know, clapping the loudest. And so those awards mean a lot.

So I think it’s an 84% of the women and the allies have seen some professional growth in their personal growth, which is a very high number. And what has happened is that when you’re in a circle in a peer group, and you see that, that you have a title, which is a more, it’s a power title, I can go now and talk to my management team and say, you know what, this is what the industry is doing. Can I get that title?

So you get a little more courage to think about your role and responsibility differently, because now you actually have cross-industry experience. And you get a little bit more courage to talk about what should, you know, my role look like, what my contribution should look like, and what my compensation should look like. So you actually have these, you know, peers who can share with you how they are navigating their path.

And I also think dreaming big, you know, like when you are in your role in your day-to-day life, you get so stuck with doing what you’re doing. You very rarely think about what more can I do? You know, you get, you’re so stuck in just deliverables that it’s very hard to think about what could be the possibility, what is possible.

And I think the whole dream of what is possible comes when you have these inspirational leaders around you. And that’s why, you know, even when you’re a kid, your parents say, you know, look who you associate yourself with. And I think that’s what this is all about, is that, who are you associating with and are they inspiring you, motivating you, building you up or breaking you down?

And I think this community, the builder community is such a great community, because everybody’s building each other up. And everybody’s really focusing on each other’s growth. And a lot of our members really talk about the impact they’re having as a group, you know.

So a lot of times when you’re working, even though you try making an impact in your team, and you’re trying to build your team, very rarely you have the opportunity to bring, you know, the masses together to create the impact. We, you know, early on this year, and I think the audience knows the big layoffs that happened in tech industry. And the whole builder leaders rallied around and said, let’s do sessions around transitions, because these are senior leaders who are getting laid off.

And what can we do for our community? So a large volume of leaders came together, and we ran several webinars where we actually did breakout rooms, where people who had jobs came forward and said, let’s do the breakout room, show them what we have, who we are interviewing, what opportunities are available, so that these leaders have somewhere to go. So I thought that was such a great, and you know, when you say, if not you, who?

I say that to every single builder member who joins, is like, if not you, who will do it? And it’s not me and Nitin at all. It’s the community that does it.

One person can’t move the needle. It has to be the whole group which comes together to create the movement. And I think that’s really what I’m proud of, that there’s so much desire in this community, in tech community, to do the right thing.

And listen, as data leaders, these are the leaders who are creating history. They are the ones who are building these architectures. And if they care about building the world the right way, it will happen.

And I’m very hopeful that even though we don’t have the right diversity we need in the teams today, it will, because I see the commitment. We have waitlists of members who we are trying to get to, to bring them in. We have corporate members who are coming in and saying, we want to do the right thing.

And that inspires me every day, that there are still people who care about making this world a better place.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so cool. And I have to applaud and acknowledge the humility that you bring. And of course, it’s the team, it’s the community that ends up moving that big needle, the big picture, but having that leader in place who has that vision, who is humble, who is able to work with the crowd.

There are many different personalities involved, many different selfish motives, but to be able to work with all of those and still move us in the direction we want to go to, it takes a lot of effort. So, kudos again. And as you’re thinking and sharing all the accomplishments, one thought that comes to me is, again, many different personalities involved, many different perspectives, corporate entrepreneurs, big business, and small ones too.

What’s the one big challenge you’re facing as you think about all of this as an entrepreneur, as a leader, what’s that one big challenge?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the biggest challenge is when corporations and so there are two challenges. One is when people don’t think that they deserve to invest in themselves. A lot of times, you know, it’s like the syndrome, oh, I shouldn’t do it for me, I should take care of my team, I should take care of the world, I should be the last.

And I think that’s the biggest challenge when the leader starts saying, oh, I don’t need help, let me help everybody else. I think that’s my biggest challenge when I say, no, no, no, remember, when you’re sitting in the plane, they tell you to put the, you know, belt on yourself first or oxygen mask on yourself first. I think that’s what we need to do is that even if you’re a male or a female, you’re a minority or not a minority, it’s important for you to understand that in the movement, we need it all.

We need in the movement, we need everybody saying, I want to grow, I want to develop, I want to learn more, and I want to contribute. And I think that’s the first challenge is that when leaders say, oh, I cannot join the movement, because let others join, you know. And the second challenge I see is that when corporations put the funding, and of course, revenue generated activity, you know, and even though they know and acknowledge responsible ethical AI is important, building the digital world with parity and equity is important.

When the budget gets tight. And, you know, as we are in that middle of a lot of budget, you know, cuts, thinking about long term benefit, you know, becomes the secondary priority. And I think that becomes a challenge.

And I think if you think about retention of your employee, growth of your employee impact, diversity and inclusion is but natural, you know, and, and that’s what we do in our world is that we don’t say, oh, let’s focus on diversity and inclusion. I say it’s creating and changing the environment. So we focus a lot on speaker series.

So we have a program where we go into corporations and bring the role models we bring in the C suite leaders in corporate America who go into large organizations where they would talk about their journey. So it’s not only women or men, but everybody in the organization get to hear a female story from being an engineer or from mailroom to the C suite leader in fortune 50 company. And I think that’s inspirational.

So we do speaker series, we do data and AI literacy program. So our goal is to create this inclusive learning environment where professionals get to see and change the behavior without saying or pointing like, listen, when somebody tells me you have to do the diversity training, like, listen, I teach at Columbia, and I have to do diversity training. And that is so boring.

He’s like, oh, my God, yet another training, you know. So that’s not interesting. The way you do it is when you include, and you reason and you tell stories that people can relate.

And changing the behavior comes through, you know, really experience share. And when it becomes a, you know, you create those aha moments for employees that they then understand and change the behavior instead of telling you, they become the part of the conversation.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

So true. Asha, what’s the, you know, the flip side of challenge is opportunity. What’s the one that’s most exciting you at this point?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the yeses excites me. And those challenge, you know, is a challenging opportunity, right? As you said, when somebody says no, that gives you it makes you think, why no, why are they saying no?

And you think about why is this not an important initiative for them? So I think it makes you think differently and makes you become more creative and innovative. So I think yeses reassure gives you reassurance.

And the noes give you the opportunity to be creative and think outside the box. So I think if you had to say what is the opportunity, and I think the opportunity is, how do you continue creating the movement? So listen, any movement has been created.

It has not been easy. So I cannot say that it’s easy for what I’m building and creating. I personally have days when it is super hard. And oh my God, you know, how am I going to do it? How do I continue doing it? But I also think that when you get those yeses, it gives you a little relief. And when you get the noes, you say, okay, now let’s think about it a different way, you know, be more creative.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I love that perspective. I love how you put, you know, the reality is we are going to get a lot of noes. We are going to hit a lot of barriers, speed bumps, what have you. It’s what you make of it. And how do you use that as either reassurance or an opportunity to pivot or move in a direction where you may still achieve your goals, but you’re meeting kind of people where their heads are. So I love that. You know, as we look in the future, I am curious to learn and go back a little bit in your history. And I would love for you to share two instances, one, where things exceeded your own expectations, and became success beyond your imagination. And another one where things did not work out as you had expected, became a failure and became a lesson.

 

[Asha Saxena]

So many, oh my God, I can go on for hours on that. My God, so many failures. It’s crazy.

And when success is happening, you’re like, wonder, is it really happening? Like, let’s sit down for two minutes and say, oh my God, things are going right. You know, and just get ready because things are going to fall apart again, you know? So it makes you humble. You know, when you say being humble, it’s like, makes you humble because once you become successful, you realize you’re going to come down. And when you come down, hopefully you’ll go up again. So the positive, which was a surprise, is when I was writing the book, I worked two years on writing the book on 2019 to 2021. And my publisher said it’ll publish in October 22, 2022. And I was like, great, you know, I worked really hard, two years, put the effort in.

 

And then they called me in September and they said, sorry, there’s a huge line and backlog and we cannot publish until February of 2023. So I was like, you know, I was only writing it for me. I didn’t have any marketing budget. I didn’t have any promotions. I said, I don’t care. As long as I get my thoughts out in the world, that’s all I care about. And guess what happened in November? ChatGPT came out. What happened in January?

Microsoft invested $10 billion in open AI. What happened in February? My book comes out.

And who had, who could have timed that, that beautifully?

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That’s amazing.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now the book has been on the bestseller list on Amazon for 35 weeks.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Wow. Congratulations.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you. And you know, a part of me was like, it’s just luck. I was at the right time, you know, I just, everything. And then I found out another, somebody I know also wrote a book during that time. And I was like, Googling, I said, let me check what is their ranking. And their ranking was like 2000. And my ranking was like always between 50 and 70. So I was like, okay, there must be some credit to, you know, what I wrote. But that was definitely a happy surprise. And it would have to be like the right time at the right place. And, and I counted my blessing and I was very grateful to the universe for making it happen. And what was, and I’m telling you my, my healthcare business, it was a great business.

We had built a really solid data model and analytics on the patient data for healthcare system. It was used by Hackensack University Medical Center, Frederick Memorial, a great product. And then I had a VC come in. And, and I basically was politely removed from the CEO role. And that didn’t work out really well, the way I expected that company. And I cannot tell you, of all the companies I’ve built, I’ve built three companies, all the companies I’ve built, that was the most impactful company in the healthcare data set, because we were improving the quality of the patient outcome. And just because of the politics, you call it or the timing, it just, for me, it didn’t work out the way I expected it to. Externally, you could say it was a success, because it was implemented in big hospitals. But the way, I think when the VC came in, it was not the way I wanted the company to be operated. And that was a huge disappointment, because I spent so many hours, waking hours, I mean, I used to work 20 hours a day, every day. And I did everything I could. I mean, I had the right team, I had invested a lot in the business, you know, I did everything right by the book. And for me, I didn’t get the end result the way I wanted it. And that was the biggest disappointment, I would say in my career, because of what a great product that was. And you know, the exit wasn’t as ideal as I expected.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks again, for being so open and transparent. These things, these experiences are not easy to live through, but even more difficult to share openly. So I really applaud you being so transparent. And, you know, as for the success of the book, luck, maybe, but I do believe good things happen to good people. And, of course, all that experience from the past 30 years, bringing it all at the time when people actually care about this, and it’s all over the place. Yeah, couldn’t be happier for you. So that’s awesome.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Asha, this brings us to my favorite part of the show, which we call the one line life lessons. I’d love for you to share your one line life lessons with us.

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, I have to say my biggest life lesson is when you give you get more. And I think in life, if you’re a giver, you will be happier than if you’re a taker. And I think any relationship you want, which would prosper or do well, you need to be a giver in that relationship. And if that relationship is with life, you want to be a giver for life. And I think if you adopt that in your life, I cannot, I mean, I cannot express how it has benefited my life being a giver.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yeah, I mean, you’re doing that right now with Vilda. I mean, as we talked about it, you wake up every morning, trying to be a champion for one or several people in the community. And look at what you build, look at the energy you have the passion you have for it. So yeah, that’s awesome. Do you have any other life lessons you would love to share?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the giver is the biggest one. I would say that be hungry. And it’s so important to be hungry for knowledge for growth.And if you’re hungry to constantly learn and be a lifelong learner, I think it pays off really, because you have to constantly keep reinventing yourself. If you’re not reinventing yourself, you’re not going to go to the next stage. And if you’re hungry, you will focus on figuring out how do I get the knowledge to go to the next level. So I would say 100% focus on being hungry, learning and growing and investing in yourself.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so true and so valid at every stage of life. And again, you lead by example. Asha, thank you once again, for sharing your life lessons, for sharing your story, and your journey.

And more importantly, for being you and doing what you do. Really appreciate it. Thanks again for making the time to be with us. And congratulations, and wishing you all the success in the future here. We’d love to bring you back on in some time and talk about more of your successes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you so much, Nitin. I hope the listeners take one little bit and hopefully improve their lives.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I know they will, for sure. Thanks so much, Asha.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashasaxena101/ Linkedin: 

 

Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa),  is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, author, and data expert with extensive experience in the fields of data science, 

artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. She is the founder and CEO of Future Technologies Inc., a global consulting firm specializing in data management, analytics, and AI solutions. Asha is also the author of several books on data-driven business strategies and has been recognized for her contributions to the industry. She is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, known for her expertise in helping organizations leverage data to drive innovation and growth.

 

Youtube: 

In this episode of The Industry Show, host Nitin Bajaj interviews Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa), about her journey in technology, entrepreneurship, and her mission to bridge the gap between business and technology. Asha shares insights into the impact of WiLDa, challenges in promoting responsible AI, and her one-line life lessons. Join us to learn from Asha’s experiences and her passion for creating a positive impact in the world.

 

Highlights: 00:45 – Asha Saxena describes herself as a passionate, driven person who cares about leaving a positive impact in the world.

[Nitin Bajaj]

Hey everyone, welcome to the industry show. I’m your host Nitin Bajaj and joining me today is Asha Saxena. Asha, welcome on the show.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you for having me Nitin.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Pleasure is all ours. So let’s start with, who is Asha?

 

[Asha Saxena]

Well, I would call or describe myself as just a passionate, driven person who super really cares about leaving an impact in the world I live in, leaving the place a better place than I came in.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks, and if we all do our bit, you know, we can really leave this place in a much better position for the next generation. So thank you for doing what you do. Let’s talk about women’s leaders in data and AI.

 

Tell us what it is, what is the mission, what is the vision, and most importantly, why do this?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, before I talk about women leaders in data and AI, I want to talk about especially what’s going on in the world today. I think it’s so important that we all care about doing the right thing, being a little extra compassionate towards people we meet on day-to-day basis, and as you said, do just our bit, just a little bit to make sure we make the people we meet and their lives easier. So, you know, this is really a personal journey and really extremely meaningful to what I’m doing right now for myself.

I’ve spent 30 years in the technology business, you know, I went to school, my undergrad and grad in computer science engineering, and I started my career as a programmer. I could have just stayed, you know, be a programmer, become a manager and a corporate path, but very early on in my career, I found a mentor who pushed me to become an entrepreneur, and I did. So I’ve spent three decades building companies and very fortunate to be able to teach at Columbia University where I get to pay forward, you know, really share with the graduate students I teach the lessons I’ve learned in my life and be able to pay forward.

And during the pandemic, I think it was really something that really bothered me was what was happening around the world. It was not only very close friends of mine who lost their loved ones, people I knew, and I think it was really a wake up call for a lot of us to reflect on our lives and what we were leaving behind. I think during that time, I had started working on my book during that time and I said, you know, everything that I learned in 30 years, I wanted to leave that, pay forward and share with the world.

And I saw during my consulting days that business and technology usually speak different language. And as they speak different language, they are constantly struggling and butting heads, even though they’re working towards the same goal, they just speaking different language. And so the whole idea for the book was to write the book, which came out in February, the AI factor was to bring these two communities together and talk about the digital world, how fast we are collecting the data and how the models are going to change our world.

But what I realized was, oh, my God, we are creating the digital world. And this model enhances all our biases. So even though I grew up in the world where being the only woman in the room, you know, we just were, we were taught to just speak a little louder or work a little extra hard and, you know, show up with your content.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

My worry was that in the digital world, that would not be applicable anymore. You know, we are building this digital world and these algorithms enhances our biases. And so the thought was that, you know, what can we do?

What can I do as a female leader in technology to leave our world a better place? How can I be a contributor to building a digital world and make it fair, a fair digital world with parity and equity and just start doing, you know, little steps towards doing the right thing. And, you know, the first thought was very daunting.

It’s like, what can I do? You know, I’m the only one person. What can I do?

And so the thought was, let me just call my friends. These are the C-suite leaders of Fortune 1000 companies and see if they would want to participate with me and come together. So I started this organization.

We call it Wilda, Women Leaders in Data and AI. It’s a mission-based organization, social entrepreneurial venture, where we bring together the senior leaders from corporate America to really come together for three pillars, which we stand on. Community, growth and impact.

So it’s really about these women leaders with our male allies. We bring the male allies together with the women leaders and make sure that together we are working towards building a better community. So we do it through mastermind circle, where peer-to-peer engagement.

We do it through events where we bring the thought leaders and we do it through creating impact by mentorship, making sure that we’re paying forward. And I have to say, Nitin, this has been the most rewarding experience of my career, where I wake up every day cheering for somebody else. I wake up every day to promote someone else.

Even though as a manager, as a leader in your organization, you’re always doing that, but you’re focusing on selling a product or looking at your P&L. But in this job, my whole and sole objective every day is, what can I do that I can build the next person stronger? If it’s a male ally or a female leader, you’re doing the right thing as the tech leaders.

This is the first professional career I’m in, where I wake up every morning and my whole sole objective is to cheer for someone else, build another leader, build another professional. If it’s a female leader or if it’s a male ally, just be there to cheer for them, make sure that they’re doing the right thing, I’m doing the right thing, and we’re building a better tech community. And it’s not just me, it’s every single member of the organization whose charter is to make sure that we pass the baton and make somebody else look good, feel better, and continue on the path of growth.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so, so amazing. And when you said this is a huge undertaking, it’s a daunting task, my immediate thought was, if not you, who else? Because I can’t think of anyone else to take this important, and important is not even doing it justice, but it is an important issue.

And I’m so happy that you are the one that’s leading it. And to your point of being able to get up and champion someone else’s success every single morning, it just brings a very different kind of energy. It’s very different than when we do it for a little more selfish reasons, such as selling more product or selling more service or growing my or our company.

This is so much bigger than that. This is giving back to the community, but the community then in turn gives you even more back. So I’m really happy for you.

But more importantly, kudos and congratulations for being able to do this and doing it at this scale. So on that note, I would love for you to share the impact of VILDA. And maybe a little, a few numbers that bring some perspective for our audience.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now, we do this member impact survey, and we really look for what our members are really getting out of an organization or having a community. And I always say that, listen, when we are adults, we learn the best from peer to peer experience share more than a classroom setting where you’re learning about that theory. So really, when the community comes together, the peers come together, and they’re sharing their experiences.

That’s when you start thinking about and reflecting about how you can use those tools and tips in your own life. When we did the survey, we found that 100% of our members have built deeper connection, because having a community where you can get a concentrated time to meet with your peers and get to know them, you build deeper connection. When you go to a conference, or you go to a association, it’s very hard because you are so many people, you’re going from session to session, it’s very hard to actually find that concentrated time, which being in a community you get.

So it’s not only monthly sessions, which you come to, you have your own cohort, which you stick to, you know, like how you went to college, and you have your cohort, you know, and we were talking how in graduate schools, you’ll end up learning more from your peers than you know, in the classroom, similar fashion in a community, you have a core we get, you know, when you join Wilda, you get your cohort.

And within your cohort, you have the senior leaders who are similar roles, similar responsibility. And that’s your group, that’s your circle. And then a bigger community where you go to a leadership offsite, or you go to a summit or a gala.

In fact, we have our signature event that’s coming up November 9, in New York City, which is the gala where, as I was saying that we are going to be giving awards to the industrial leaders. And I tell you, I’m like a little kid who’s jumping on the table cheering for these leaders as they come up, I’m like screaming the loudest and, you know, clapping the loudest. And so those awards mean a lot.

So I think it’s an 84% of the women and the allies have seen some professional growth in their personal growth, which is a very high number. And what has happened is that when you’re in a circle in a peer group, and you see that, that you have a title, which is a more, it’s a power title, I can go now and talk to my management team and say, you know what, this is what the industry is doing. Can I get that title?

So you get a little more courage to think about your role and responsibility differently, because now you actually have cross-industry experience. And you get a little bit more courage to talk about what should, you know, my role look like, what my contribution should look like, and what my compensation should look like. So you actually have these, you know, peers who can share with you how they are navigating their path.

And I also think dreaming big, you know, like when you are in your role in your day-to-day life, you get so stuck with doing what you’re doing. You very rarely think about what more can I do? You know, you get, you’re so stuck in just deliverables that it’s very hard to think about what could be the possibility, what is possible.

And I think the whole dream of what is possible comes when you have these inspirational leaders around you. And that’s why, you know, even when you’re a kid, your parents say, you know, look who you associate yourself with. And I think that’s what this is all about, is that, who are you associating with and are they inspiring you, motivating you, building you up or breaking you down?

And I think this community, the builder community is such a great community, because everybody’s building each other up. And everybody’s really focusing on each other’s growth. And a lot of our members really talk about the impact they’re having as a group, you know.

So a lot of times when you’re working, even though you try making an impact in your team, and you’re trying to build your team, very rarely you have the opportunity to bring, you know, the masses together to create the impact. We, you know, early on this year, and I think the audience knows the big layoffs that happened in tech industry. And the whole builder leaders rallied around and said, let’s do sessions around transitions, because these are senior leaders who are getting laid off.

And what can we do for our community? So a large volume of leaders came together, and we ran several webinars where we actually did breakout rooms, where people who had jobs came forward and said, let’s do the breakout room, show them what we have, who we are interviewing, what opportunities are available, so that these leaders have somewhere to go. So I thought that was such a great, and you know, when you say, if not you, who?

I say that to every single builder member who joins, is like, if not you, who will do it? And it’s not me and Nitin at all. It’s the community that does it.

One person can’t move the needle. It has to be the whole group which comes together to create the movement. And I think that’s really what I’m proud of, that there’s so much desire in this community, in tech community, to do the right thing.

And listen, as data leaders, these are the leaders who are creating history. They are the ones who are building these architectures. And if they care about building the world the right way, it will happen.

And I’m very hopeful that even though we don’t have the right diversity we need in the teams today, it will, because I see the commitment. We have waitlists of members who we are trying to get to, to bring them in. We have corporate members who are coming in and saying, we want to do the right thing.

And that inspires me every day, that there are still people who care about making this world a better place.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so cool. And I have to applaud and acknowledge the humility that you bring. And of course, it’s the team, it’s the community that ends up moving that big needle, the big picture, but having that leader in place who has that vision, who is humble, who is able to work with the crowd.

There are many different personalities involved, many different selfish motives, but to be able to work with all of those and still move us in the direction we want to go to, it takes a lot of effort. So, kudos again. And as you’re thinking and sharing all the accomplishments, one thought that comes to me is, again, many different personalities involved, many different perspectives, corporate entrepreneurs, big business, and small ones too.

What’s the one big challenge you’re facing as you think about all of this as an entrepreneur, as a leader, what’s that one big challenge?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the biggest challenge is when corporations and so there are two challenges. One is when people don’t think that they deserve to invest in themselves. A lot of times, you know, it’s like the syndrome, oh, I shouldn’t do it for me, I should take care of my team, I should take care of the world, I should be the last.

And I think that’s the biggest challenge when the leader starts saying, oh, I don’t need help, let me help everybody else. I think that’s my biggest challenge when I say, no, no, no, remember, when you’re sitting in the plane, they tell you to put the, you know, belt on yourself first or oxygen mask on yourself first. I think that’s what we need to do is that even if you’re a male or a female, you’re a minority or not a minority, it’s important for you to understand that in the movement, we need it all.

We need in the movement, we need everybody saying, I want to grow, I want to develop, I want to learn more, and I want to contribute. And I think that’s the first challenge is that when leaders say, oh, I cannot join the movement, because let others join, you know. And the second challenge I see is that when corporations put the funding, and of course, revenue generated activity, you know, and even though they know and acknowledge responsible ethical AI is important, building the digital world with parity and equity is important.

When the budget gets tight. And, you know, as we are in that middle of a lot of budget, you know, cuts, thinking about long term benefit, you know, becomes the secondary priority. And I think that becomes a challenge.

And I think if you think about retention of your employee, growth of your employee impact, diversity and inclusion is but natural, you know, and, and that’s what we do in our world is that we don’t say, oh, let’s focus on diversity and inclusion. I say it’s creating and changing the environment. So we focus a lot on speaker series.

So we have a program where we go into corporations and bring the role models we bring in the C suite leaders in corporate America who go into large organizations where they would talk about their journey. So it’s not only women or men, but everybody in the organization get to hear a female story from being an engineer or from mailroom to the C suite leader in fortune 50 company. And I think that’s inspirational.

So we do speaker series, we do data and AI literacy program. So our goal is to create this inclusive learning environment where professionals get to see and change the behavior without saying or pointing like, listen, when somebody tells me you have to do the diversity training, like, listen, I teach at Columbia, and I have to do diversity training. And that is so boring.

He’s like, oh, my God, yet another training, you know. So that’s not interesting. The way you do it is when you include, and you reason and you tell stories that people can relate.

And changing the behavior comes through, you know, really experience share. And when it becomes a, you know, you create those aha moments for employees that they then understand and change the behavior instead of telling you, they become the part of the conversation.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

So true. Asha, what’s the, you know, the flip side of challenge is opportunity. What’s the one that’s most exciting you at this point?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the yeses excites me. And those challenge, you know, is a challenging opportunity, right? As you said, when somebody says no, that gives you it makes you think, why no, why are they saying no?

And you think about why is this not an important initiative for them? So I think it makes you think differently and makes you become more creative and innovative. So I think yeses reassure gives you reassurance.

And the noes give you the opportunity to be creative and think outside the box. So I think if you had to say what is the opportunity, and I think the opportunity is, how do you continue creating the movement? So listen, any movement has been created.

It has not been easy. So I cannot say that it’s easy for what I’m building and creating. I personally have days when it is super hard. And oh my God, you know, how am I going to do it? How do I continue doing it? But I also think that when you get those yeses, it gives you a little relief. And when you get the noes, you say, okay, now let’s think about it a different way, you know, be more creative.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I love that perspective. I love how you put, you know, the reality is we are going to get a lot of noes. We are going to hit a lot of barriers, speed bumps, what have you. It’s what you make of it. And how do you use that as either reassurance or an opportunity to pivot or move in a direction where you may still achieve your goals, but you’re meeting kind of people where their heads are. So I love that. You know, as we look in the future, I am curious to learn and go back a little bit in your history. And I would love for you to share two instances, one, where things exceeded your own expectations, and became success beyond your imagination. And another one where things did not work out as you had expected, became a failure and became a lesson.

 

[Asha Saxena]

So many, oh my God, I can go on for hours on that. My God, so many failures. It’s crazy.

And when success is happening, you’re like, wonder, is it really happening? Like, let’s sit down for two minutes and say, oh my God, things are going right. You know, and just get ready because things are going to fall apart again, you know? So it makes you humble. You know, when you say being humble, it’s like, makes you humble because once you become successful, you realize you’re going to come down. And when you come down, hopefully you’ll go up again. So the positive, which was a surprise, is when I was writing the book, I worked two years on writing the book on 2019 to 2021. And my publisher said it’ll publish in October 22, 2022. And I was like, great, you know, I worked really hard, two years, put the effort in.

 

And then they called me in September and they said, sorry, there’s a huge line and backlog and we cannot publish until February of 2023. So I was like, you know, I was only writing it for me. I didn’t have any marketing budget. I didn’t have any promotions. I said, I don’t care. As long as I get my thoughts out in the world, that’s all I care about. And guess what happened in November? ChatGPT came out. What happened in January?

Microsoft invested $10 billion in open AI. What happened in February? My book comes out.

And who had, who could have timed that, that beautifully?

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That’s amazing.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now the book has been on the bestseller list on Amazon for 35 weeks.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Wow. Congratulations.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you. And you know, a part of me was like, it’s just luck. I was at the right time, you know, I just, everything. And then I found out another, somebody I know also wrote a book during that time. And I was like, Googling, I said, let me check what is their ranking. And their ranking was like 2000. And my ranking was like always between 50 and 70. So I was like, okay, there must be some credit to, you know, what I wrote. But that was definitely a happy surprise. And it would have to be like the right time at the right place. And, and I counted my blessing and I was very grateful to the universe for making it happen. And what was, and I’m telling you my, my healthcare business, it was a great business.

We had built a really solid data model and analytics on the patient data for healthcare system. It was used by Hackensack University Medical Center, Frederick Memorial, a great product. And then I had a VC come in. And, and I basically was politely removed from the CEO role. And that didn’t work out really well, the way I expected that company. And I cannot tell you, of all the companies I’ve built, I’ve built three companies, all the companies I’ve built, that was the most impactful company in the healthcare data set, because we were improving the quality of the patient outcome. And just because of the politics, you call it or the timing, it just, for me, it didn’t work out the way I expected it to. Externally, you could say it was a success, because it was implemented in big hospitals. But the way, I think when the VC came in, it was not the way I wanted the company to be operated. And that was a huge disappointment, because I spent so many hours, waking hours, I mean, I used to work 20 hours a day, every day. And I did everything I could. I mean, I had the right team, I had invested a lot in the business, you know, I did everything right by the book. And for me, I didn’t get the end result the way I wanted it. And that was the biggest disappointment, I would say in my career, because of what a great product that was. And you know, the exit wasn’t as ideal as I expected.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks again, for being so open and transparent. These things, these experiences are not easy to live through, but even more difficult to share openly. So I really applaud you being so transparent. And, you know, as for the success of the book, luck, maybe, but I do believe good things happen to good people. And, of course, all that experience from the past 30 years, bringing it all at the time when people actually care about this, and it’s all over the place. Yeah, couldn’t be happier for you. So that’s awesome.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Asha, this brings us to my favorite part of the show, which we call the one line life lessons. I’d love for you to share your one line life lessons with us.

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, I have to say my biggest life lesson is when you give you get more. And I think in life, if you’re a giver, you will be happier than if you’re a taker. And I think any relationship you want, which would prosper or do well, you need to be a giver in that relationship. And if that relationship is with life, you want to be a giver for life. And I think if you adopt that in your life, I cannot, I mean, I cannot express how it has benefited my life being a giver.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yeah, I mean, you’re doing that right now with Vilda. I mean, as we talked about it, you wake up every morning, trying to be a champion for one or several people in the community. And look at what you build, look at the energy you have the passion you have for it. So yeah, that’s awesome. Do you have any other life lessons you would love to share?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the giver is the biggest one. I would say that be hungry. And it’s so important to be hungry for knowledge for growth.And if you’re hungry to constantly learn and be a lifelong learner, I think it pays off really, because you have to constantly keep reinventing yourself. If you’re not reinventing yourself, you’re not going to go to the next stage. And if you’re hungry, you will focus on figuring out how do I get the knowledge to go to the next level. So I would say 100% focus on being hungry, learning and growing and investing in yourself.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so true and so valid at every stage of life. And again, you lead by example. Asha, thank you once again, for sharing your life lessons, for sharing your story, and your journey.

And more importantly, for being you and doing what you do. Really appreciate it. Thanks again for making the time to be with us. And congratulations, and wishing you all the success in the future here. We’d love to bring you back on in some time and talk about more of your successes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you so much, Nitin. I hope the listeners take one little bit and hopefully improve their lives.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I know they will, for sure. Thanks so much, Asha.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashasaxena101/ Linkedin: 

 

Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa),  is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, author, and data expert with extensive experience in the fields of data science, 

artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. She is the founder and CEO of Future Technologies Inc., a global consulting firm specializing in data management, analytics, and AI solutions. Asha is also the author of several books on data-driven business strategies and has been recognized for her contributions to the industry. She is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, known for her expertise in helping organizations leverage data to drive innovation and growth.

 

Youtube: 

In this episode of The Industry Show, host Nitin Bajaj interviews Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa), about her journey in technology, entrepreneurship, and her mission to bridge the gap between business and technology. Asha shares insights into the impact of WiLDa, challenges in promoting responsible AI, and her one-line life lessons. Join us to learn from Asha’s experiences and her passion for creating a positive impact in the world.

 

Highlights: 00:45 – Asha Saxena describes herself as a passionate, driven person who cares about leaving a positive impact in the world.

[Nitin Bajaj]

Hey everyone, welcome to the industry show. I’m your host Nitin Bajaj and joining me today is Asha Saxena. Asha, welcome on the show.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you for having me Nitin.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Pleasure is all ours. So let’s start with, who is Asha?

 

[Asha Saxena]

Well, I would call or describe myself as just a passionate, driven person who super really cares about leaving an impact in the world I live in, leaving the place a better place than I came in.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks, and if we all do our bit, you know, we can really leave this place in a much better position for the next generation. So thank you for doing what you do. Let’s talk about women’s leaders in data and AI.

 

Tell us what it is, what is the mission, what is the vision, and most importantly, why do this?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, before I talk about women leaders in data and AI, I want to talk about especially what’s going on in the world today. I think it’s so important that we all care about doing the right thing, being a little extra compassionate towards people we meet on day-to-day basis, and as you said, do just our bit, just a little bit to make sure we make the people we meet and their lives easier. So, you know, this is really a personal journey and really extremely meaningful to what I’m doing right now for myself.

I’ve spent 30 years in the technology business, you know, I went to school, my undergrad and grad in computer science engineering, and I started my career as a programmer. I could have just stayed, you know, be a programmer, become a manager and a corporate path, but very early on in my career, I found a mentor who pushed me to become an entrepreneur, and I did. So I’ve spent three decades building companies and very fortunate to be able to teach at Columbia University where I get to pay forward, you know, really share with the graduate students I teach the lessons I’ve learned in my life and be able to pay forward.

And during the pandemic, I think it was really something that really bothered me was what was happening around the world. It was not only very close friends of mine who lost their loved ones, people I knew, and I think it was really a wake up call for a lot of us to reflect on our lives and what we were leaving behind. I think during that time, I had started working on my book during that time and I said, you know, everything that I learned in 30 years, I wanted to leave that, pay forward and share with the world.

And I saw during my consulting days that business and technology usually speak different language. And as they speak different language, they are constantly struggling and butting heads, even though they’re working towards the same goal, they just speaking different language. And so the whole idea for the book was to write the book, which came out in February, the AI factor was to bring these two communities together and talk about the digital world, how fast we are collecting the data and how the models are going to change our world.

But what I realized was, oh, my God, we are creating the digital world. And this model enhances all our biases. So even though I grew up in the world where being the only woman in the room, you know, we just were, we were taught to just speak a little louder or work a little extra hard and, you know, show up with your content.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

My worry was that in the digital world, that would not be applicable anymore. You know, we are building this digital world and these algorithms enhances our biases. And so the thought was that, you know, what can we do?

What can I do as a female leader in technology to leave our world a better place? How can I be a contributor to building a digital world and make it fair, a fair digital world with parity and equity and just start doing, you know, little steps towards doing the right thing. And, you know, the first thought was very daunting.

It’s like, what can I do? You know, I’m the only one person. What can I do?

And so the thought was, let me just call my friends. These are the C-suite leaders of Fortune 1000 companies and see if they would want to participate with me and come together. So I started this organization.

We call it Wilda, Women Leaders in Data and AI. It’s a mission-based organization, social entrepreneurial venture, where we bring together the senior leaders from corporate America to really come together for three pillars, which we stand on. Community, growth and impact.

So it’s really about these women leaders with our male allies. We bring the male allies together with the women leaders and make sure that together we are working towards building a better community. So we do it through mastermind circle, where peer-to-peer engagement.

We do it through events where we bring the thought leaders and we do it through creating impact by mentorship, making sure that we’re paying forward. And I have to say, Nitin, this has been the most rewarding experience of my career, where I wake up every day cheering for somebody else. I wake up every day to promote someone else.

Even though as a manager, as a leader in your organization, you’re always doing that, but you’re focusing on selling a product or looking at your P&L. But in this job, my whole and sole objective every day is, what can I do that I can build the next person stronger? If it’s a male ally or a female leader, you’re doing the right thing as the tech leaders.

This is the first professional career I’m in, where I wake up every morning and my whole sole objective is to cheer for someone else, build another leader, build another professional. If it’s a female leader or if it’s a male ally, just be there to cheer for them, make sure that they’re doing the right thing, I’m doing the right thing, and we’re building a better tech community. And it’s not just me, it’s every single member of the organization whose charter is to make sure that we pass the baton and make somebody else look good, feel better, and continue on the path of growth.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so, so amazing. And when you said this is a huge undertaking, it’s a daunting task, my immediate thought was, if not you, who else? Because I can’t think of anyone else to take this important, and important is not even doing it justice, but it is an important issue.

And I’m so happy that you are the one that’s leading it. And to your point of being able to get up and champion someone else’s success every single morning, it just brings a very different kind of energy. It’s very different than when we do it for a little more selfish reasons, such as selling more product or selling more service or growing my or our company.

This is so much bigger than that. This is giving back to the community, but the community then in turn gives you even more back. So I’m really happy for you.

But more importantly, kudos and congratulations for being able to do this and doing it at this scale. So on that note, I would love for you to share the impact of VILDA. And maybe a little, a few numbers that bring some perspective for our audience.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now, we do this member impact survey, and we really look for what our members are really getting out of an organization or having a community. And I always say that, listen, when we are adults, we learn the best from peer to peer experience share more than a classroom setting where you’re learning about that theory. So really, when the community comes together, the peers come together, and they’re sharing their experiences.

That’s when you start thinking about and reflecting about how you can use those tools and tips in your own life. When we did the survey, we found that 100% of our members have built deeper connection, because having a community where you can get a concentrated time to meet with your peers and get to know them, you build deeper connection. When you go to a conference, or you go to a association, it’s very hard because you are so many people, you’re going from session to session, it’s very hard to actually find that concentrated time, which being in a community you get.

So it’s not only monthly sessions, which you come to, you have your own cohort, which you stick to, you know, like how you went to college, and you have your cohort, you know, and we were talking how in graduate schools, you’ll end up learning more from your peers than you know, in the classroom, similar fashion in a community, you have a core we get, you know, when you join Wilda, you get your cohort.

And within your cohort, you have the senior leaders who are similar roles, similar responsibility. And that’s your group, that’s your circle. And then a bigger community where you go to a leadership offsite, or you go to a summit or a gala.

In fact, we have our signature event that’s coming up November 9, in New York City, which is the gala where, as I was saying that we are going to be giving awards to the industrial leaders. And I tell you, I’m like a little kid who’s jumping on the table cheering for these leaders as they come up, I’m like screaming the loudest and, you know, clapping the loudest. And so those awards mean a lot.

So I think it’s an 84% of the women and the allies have seen some professional growth in their personal growth, which is a very high number. And what has happened is that when you’re in a circle in a peer group, and you see that, that you have a title, which is a more, it’s a power title, I can go now and talk to my management team and say, you know what, this is what the industry is doing. Can I get that title?

So you get a little more courage to think about your role and responsibility differently, because now you actually have cross-industry experience. And you get a little bit more courage to talk about what should, you know, my role look like, what my contribution should look like, and what my compensation should look like. So you actually have these, you know, peers who can share with you how they are navigating their path.

And I also think dreaming big, you know, like when you are in your role in your day-to-day life, you get so stuck with doing what you’re doing. You very rarely think about what more can I do? You know, you get, you’re so stuck in just deliverables that it’s very hard to think about what could be the possibility, what is possible.

And I think the whole dream of what is possible comes when you have these inspirational leaders around you. And that’s why, you know, even when you’re a kid, your parents say, you know, look who you associate yourself with. And I think that’s what this is all about, is that, who are you associating with and are they inspiring you, motivating you, building you up or breaking you down?

And I think this community, the builder community is such a great community, because everybody’s building each other up. And everybody’s really focusing on each other’s growth. And a lot of our members really talk about the impact they’re having as a group, you know.

So a lot of times when you’re working, even though you try making an impact in your team, and you’re trying to build your team, very rarely you have the opportunity to bring, you know, the masses together to create the impact. We, you know, early on this year, and I think the audience knows the big layoffs that happened in tech industry. And the whole builder leaders rallied around and said, let’s do sessions around transitions, because these are senior leaders who are getting laid off.

And what can we do for our community? So a large volume of leaders came together, and we ran several webinars where we actually did breakout rooms, where people who had jobs came forward and said, let’s do the breakout room, show them what we have, who we are interviewing, what opportunities are available, so that these leaders have somewhere to go. So I thought that was such a great, and you know, when you say, if not you, who?

I say that to every single builder member who joins, is like, if not you, who will do it? And it’s not me and Nitin at all. It’s the community that does it.

One person can’t move the needle. It has to be the whole group which comes together to create the movement. And I think that’s really what I’m proud of, that there’s so much desire in this community, in tech community, to do the right thing.

And listen, as data leaders, these are the leaders who are creating history. They are the ones who are building these architectures. And if they care about building the world the right way, it will happen.

And I’m very hopeful that even though we don’t have the right diversity we need in the teams today, it will, because I see the commitment. We have waitlists of members who we are trying to get to, to bring them in. We have corporate members who are coming in and saying, we want to do the right thing.

And that inspires me every day, that there are still people who care about making this world a better place.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so cool. And I have to applaud and acknowledge the humility that you bring. And of course, it’s the team, it’s the community that ends up moving that big needle, the big picture, but having that leader in place who has that vision, who is humble, who is able to work with the crowd.

There are many different personalities involved, many different selfish motives, but to be able to work with all of those and still move us in the direction we want to go to, it takes a lot of effort. So, kudos again. And as you’re thinking and sharing all the accomplishments, one thought that comes to me is, again, many different personalities involved, many different perspectives, corporate entrepreneurs, big business, and small ones too.

What’s the one big challenge you’re facing as you think about all of this as an entrepreneur, as a leader, what’s that one big challenge?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the biggest challenge is when corporations and so there are two challenges. One is when people don’t think that they deserve to invest in themselves. A lot of times, you know, it’s like the syndrome, oh, I shouldn’t do it for me, I should take care of my team, I should take care of the world, I should be the last.

And I think that’s the biggest challenge when the leader starts saying, oh, I don’t need help, let me help everybody else. I think that’s my biggest challenge when I say, no, no, no, remember, when you’re sitting in the plane, they tell you to put the, you know, belt on yourself first or oxygen mask on yourself first. I think that’s what we need to do is that even if you’re a male or a female, you’re a minority or not a minority, it’s important for you to understand that in the movement, we need it all.

We need in the movement, we need everybody saying, I want to grow, I want to develop, I want to learn more, and I want to contribute. And I think that’s the first challenge is that when leaders say, oh, I cannot join the movement, because let others join, you know. And the second challenge I see is that when corporations put the funding, and of course, revenue generated activity, you know, and even though they know and acknowledge responsible ethical AI is important, building the digital world with parity and equity is important.

When the budget gets tight. And, you know, as we are in that middle of a lot of budget, you know, cuts, thinking about long term benefit, you know, becomes the secondary priority. And I think that becomes a challenge.

And I think if you think about retention of your employee, growth of your employee impact, diversity and inclusion is but natural, you know, and, and that’s what we do in our world is that we don’t say, oh, let’s focus on diversity and inclusion. I say it’s creating and changing the environment. So we focus a lot on speaker series.

So we have a program where we go into corporations and bring the role models we bring in the C suite leaders in corporate America who go into large organizations where they would talk about their journey. So it’s not only women or men, but everybody in the organization get to hear a female story from being an engineer or from mailroom to the C suite leader in fortune 50 company. And I think that’s inspirational.

So we do speaker series, we do data and AI literacy program. So our goal is to create this inclusive learning environment where professionals get to see and change the behavior without saying or pointing like, listen, when somebody tells me you have to do the diversity training, like, listen, I teach at Columbia, and I have to do diversity training. And that is so boring.

He’s like, oh, my God, yet another training, you know. So that’s not interesting. The way you do it is when you include, and you reason and you tell stories that people can relate.

And changing the behavior comes through, you know, really experience share. And when it becomes a, you know, you create those aha moments for employees that they then understand and change the behavior instead of telling you, they become the part of the conversation.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

So true. Asha, what’s the, you know, the flip side of challenge is opportunity. What’s the one that’s most exciting you at this point?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the yeses excites me. And those challenge, you know, is a challenging opportunity, right? As you said, when somebody says no, that gives you it makes you think, why no, why are they saying no?

And you think about why is this not an important initiative for them? So I think it makes you think differently and makes you become more creative and innovative. So I think yeses reassure gives you reassurance.

And the noes give you the opportunity to be creative and think outside the box. So I think if you had to say what is the opportunity, and I think the opportunity is, how do you continue creating the movement? So listen, any movement has been created.

It has not been easy. So I cannot say that it’s easy for what I’m building and creating. I personally have days when it is super hard. And oh my God, you know, how am I going to do it? How do I continue doing it? But I also think that when you get those yeses, it gives you a little relief. And when you get the noes, you say, okay, now let’s think about it a different way, you know, be more creative.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I love that perspective. I love how you put, you know, the reality is we are going to get a lot of noes. We are going to hit a lot of barriers, speed bumps, what have you. It’s what you make of it. And how do you use that as either reassurance or an opportunity to pivot or move in a direction where you may still achieve your goals, but you’re meeting kind of people where their heads are. So I love that. You know, as we look in the future, I am curious to learn and go back a little bit in your history. And I would love for you to share two instances, one, where things exceeded your own expectations, and became success beyond your imagination. And another one where things did not work out as you had expected, became a failure and became a lesson.

 

[Asha Saxena]

So many, oh my God, I can go on for hours on that. My God, so many failures. It’s crazy.

And when success is happening, you’re like, wonder, is it really happening? Like, let’s sit down for two minutes and say, oh my God, things are going right. You know, and just get ready because things are going to fall apart again, you know? So it makes you humble. You know, when you say being humble, it’s like, makes you humble because once you become successful, you realize you’re going to come down. And when you come down, hopefully you’ll go up again. So the positive, which was a surprise, is when I was writing the book, I worked two years on writing the book on 2019 to 2021. And my publisher said it’ll publish in October 22, 2022. And I was like, great, you know, I worked really hard, two years, put the effort in.

 

And then they called me in September and they said, sorry, there’s a huge line and backlog and we cannot publish until February of 2023. So I was like, you know, I was only writing it for me. I didn’t have any marketing budget. I didn’t have any promotions. I said, I don’t care. As long as I get my thoughts out in the world, that’s all I care about. And guess what happened in November? ChatGPT came out. What happened in January?

Microsoft invested $10 billion in open AI. What happened in February? My book comes out.

And who had, who could have timed that, that beautifully?

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That’s amazing.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now the book has been on the bestseller list on Amazon for 35 weeks.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Wow. Congratulations.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you. And you know, a part of me was like, it’s just luck. I was at the right time, you know, I just, everything. And then I found out another, somebody I know also wrote a book during that time. And I was like, Googling, I said, let me check what is their ranking. And their ranking was like 2000. And my ranking was like always between 50 and 70. So I was like, okay, there must be some credit to, you know, what I wrote. But that was definitely a happy surprise. And it would have to be like the right time at the right place. And, and I counted my blessing and I was very grateful to the universe for making it happen. And what was, and I’m telling you my, my healthcare business, it was a great business.

We had built a really solid data model and analytics on the patient data for healthcare system. It was used by Hackensack University Medical Center, Frederick Memorial, a great product. And then I had a VC come in. And, and I basically was politely removed from the CEO role. And that didn’t work out really well, the way I expected that company. And I cannot tell you, of all the companies I’ve built, I’ve built three companies, all the companies I’ve built, that was the most impactful company in the healthcare data set, because we were improving the quality of the patient outcome. And just because of the politics, you call it or the timing, it just, for me, it didn’t work out the way I expected it to. Externally, you could say it was a success, because it was implemented in big hospitals. But the way, I think when the VC came in, it was not the way I wanted the company to be operated. And that was a huge disappointment, because I spent so many hours, waking hours, I mean, I used to work 20 hours a day, every day. And I did everything I could. I mean, I had the right team, I had invested a lot in the business, you know, I did everything right by the book. And for me, I didn’t get the end result the way I wanted it. And that was the biggest disappointment, I would say in my career, because of what a great product that was. And you know, the exit wasn’t as ideal as I expected.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks again, for being so open and transparent. These things, these experiences are not easy to live through, but even more difficult to share openly. So I really applaud you being so transparent. And, you know, as for the success of the book, luck, maybe, but I do believe good things happen to good people. And, of course, all that experience from the past 30 years, bringing it all at the time when people actually care about this, and it’s all over the place. Yeah, couldn’t be happier for you. So that’s awesome.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Asha, this brings us to my favorite part of the show, which we call the one line life lessons. I’d love for you to share your one line life lessons with us.

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, I have to say my biggest life lesson is when you give you get more. And I think in life, if you’re a giver, you will be happier than if you’re a taker. And I think any relationship you want, which would prosper or do well, you need to be a giver in that relationship. And if that relationship is with life, you want to be a giver for life. And I think if you adopt that in your life, I cannot, I mean, I cannot express how it has benefited my life being a giver.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yeah, I mean, you’re doing that right now with Vilda. I mean, as we talked about it, you wake up every morning, trying to be a champion for one or several people in the community. And look at what you build, look at the energy you have the passion you have for it. So yeah, that’s awesome. Do you have any other life lessons you would love to share?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the giver is the biggest one. I would say that be hungry. And it’s so important to be hungry for knowledge for growth.And if you’re hungry to constantly learn and be a lifelong learner, I think it pays off really, because you have to constantly keep reinventing yourself. If you’re not reinventing yourself, you’re not going to go to the next stage. And if you’re hungry, you will focus on figuring out how do I get the knowledge to go to the next level. So I would say 100% focus on being hungry, learning and growing and investing in yourself.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so true and so valid at every stage of life. And again, you lead by example. Asha, thank you once again, for sharing your life lessons, for sharing your story, and your journey.

And more importantly, for being you and doing what you do. Really appreciate it. Thanks again for making the time to be with us. And congratulations, and wishing you all the success in the future here. We’d love to bring you back on in some time and talk about more of your successes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you so much, Nitin. I hope the listeners take one little bit and hopefully improve their lives.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I know they will, for sure. Thanks so much, Asha.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashasaxena101/ Linkedin: 

 

Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa),  is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, author, and data expert with extensive experience in the fields of data science, 

artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. She is the founder and CEO of Future Technologies Inc., a global consulting firm specializing in data management, analytics, and AI solutions. Asha is also the author of several books on data-driven business strategies and has been recognized for her contributions to the industry. She is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, known for her expertise in helping organizations leverage data to drive innovation and growth.

 

Youtube: 

In this episode of The Industry Show, host Nitin Bajaj interviews Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa), about her journey in technology, entrepreneurship, and her mission to bridge the gap between business and technology. Asha shares insights into the impact of WiLDa, challenges in promoting responsible AI, and her one-line life lessons. Join us to learn from Asha’s experiences and her passion for creating a positive impact in the world.

 

Highlights: 00:45 – Asha Saxena describes herself as a passionate, driven person who cares about leaving a positive impact in the world.

[Nitin Bajaj]

Hey everyone, welcome to the industry show. I’m your host Nitin Bajaj and joining me today is Asha Saxena. Asha, welcome on the show.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you for having me Nitin.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Pleasure is all ours. So let’s start with, who is Asha?

 

[Asha Saxena]

Well, I would call or describe myself as just a passionate, driven person who super really cares about leaving an impact in the world I live in, leaving the place a better place than I came in.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks, and if we all do our bit, you know, we can really leave this place in a much better position for the next generation. So thank you for doing what you do. Let’s talk about women’s leaders in data and AI.

 

Tell us what it is, what is the mission, what is the vision, and most importantly, why do this?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, before I talk about women leaders in data and AI, I want to talk about especially what’s going on in the world today. I think it’s so important that we all care about doing the right thing, being a little extra compassionate towards people we meet on day-to-day basis, and as you said, do just our bit, just a little bit to make sure we make the people we meet and their lives easier. So, you know, this is really a personal journey and really extremely meaningful to what I’m doing right now for myself.

I’ve spent 30 years in the technology business, you know, I went to school, my undergrad and grad in computer science engineering, and I started my career as a programmer. I could have just stayed, you know, be a programmer, become a manager and a corporate path, but very early on in my career, I found a mentor who pushed me to become an entrepreneur, and I did. So I’ve spent three decades building companies and very fortunate to be able to teach at Columbia University where I get to pay forward, you know, really share with the graduate students I teach the lessons I’ve learned in my life and be able to pay forward.

And during the pandemic, I think it was really something that really bothered me was what was happening around the world. It was not only very close friends of mine who lost their loved ones, people I knew, and I think it was really a wake up call for a lot of us to reflect on our lives and what we were leaving behind. I think during that time, I had started working on my book during that time and I said, you know, everything that I learned in 30 years, I wanted to leave that, pay forward and share with the world.

And I saw during my consulting days that business and technology usually speak different language. And as they speak different language, they are constantly struggling and butting heads, even though they’re working towards the same goal, they just speaking different language. And so the whole idea for the book was to write the book, which came out in February, the AI factor was to bring these two communities together and talk about the digital world, how fast we are collecting the data and how the models are going to change our world.

But what I realized was, oh, my God, we are creating the digital world. And this model enhances all our biases. So even though I grew up in the world where being the only woman in the room, you know, we just were, we were taught to just speak a little louder or work a little extra hard and, you know, show up with your content.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

My worry was that in the digital world, that would not be applicable anymore. You know, we are building this digital world and these algorithms enhances our biases. And so the thought was that, you know, what can we do?

What can I do as a female leader in technology to leave our world a better place? How can I be a contributor to building a digital world and make it fair, a fair digital world with parity and equity and just start doing, you know, little steps towards doing the right thing. And, you know, the first thought was very daunting.

It’s like, what can I do? You know, I’m the only one person. What can I do?

And so the thought was, let me just call my friends. These are the C-suite leaders of Fortune 1000 companies and see if they would want to participate with me and come together. So I started this organization.

We call it Wilda, Women Leaders in Data and AI. It’s a mission-based organization, social entrepreneurial venture, where we bring together the senior leaders from corporate America to really come together for three pillars, which we stand on. Community, growth and impact.

So it’s really about these women leaders with our male allies. We bring the male allies together with the women leaders and make sure that together we are working towards building a better community. So we do it through mastermind circle, where peer-to-peer engagement.

We do it through events where we bring the thought leaders and we do it through creating impact by mentorship, making sure that we’re paying forward. And I have to say, Nitin, this has been the most rewarding experience of my career, where I wake up every day cheering for somebody else. I wake up every day to promote someone else.

Even though as a manager, as a leader in your organization, you’re always doing that, but you’re focusing on selling a product or looking at your P&L. But in this job, my whole and sole objective every day is, what can I do that I can build the next person stronger? If it’s a male ally or a female leader, you’re doing the right thing as the tech leaders.

This is the first professional career I’m in, where I wake up every morning and my whole sole objective is to cheer for someone else, build another leader, build another professional. If it’s a female leader or if it’s a male ally, just be there to cheer for them, make sure that they’re doing the right thing, I’m doing the right thing, and we’re building a better tech community. And it’s not just me, it’s every single member of the organization whose charter is to make sure that we pass the baton and make somebody else look good, feel better, and continue on the path of growth.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so, so amazing. And when you said this is a huge undertaking, it’s a daunting task, my immediate thought was, if not you, who else? Because I can’t think of anyone else to take this important, and important is not even doing it justice, but it is an important issue.

And I’m so happy that you are the one that’s leading it. And to your point of being able to get up and champion someone else’s success every single morning, it just brings a very different kind of energy. It’s very different than when we do it for a little more selfish reasons, such as selling more product or selling more service or growing my or our company.

This is so much bigger than that. This is giving back to the community, but the community then in turn gives you even more back. So I’m really happy for you.

But more importantly, kudos and congratulations for being able to do this and doing it at this scale. So on that note, I would love for you to share the impact of VILDA. And maybe a little, a few numbers that bring some perspective for our audience.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now, we do this member impact survey, and we really look for what our members are really getting out of an organization or having a community. And I always say that, listen, when we are adults, we learn the best from peer to peer experience share more than a classroom setting where you’re learning about that theory. So really, when the community comes together, the peers come together, and they’re sharing their experiences.

That’s when you start thinking about and reflecting about how you can use those tools and tips in your own life. When we did the survey, we found that 100% of our members have built deeper connection, because having a community where you can get a concentrated time to meet with your peers and get to know them, you build deeper connection. When you go to a conference, or you go to a association, it’s very hard because you are so many people, you’re going from session to session, it’s very hard to actually find that concentrated time, which being in a community you get.

So it’s not only monthly sessions, which you come to, you have your own cohort, which you stick to, you know, like how you went to college, and you have your cohort, you know, and we were talking how in graduate schools, you’ll end up learning more from your peers than you know, in the classroom, similar fashion in a community, you have a core we get, you know, when you join Wilda, you get your cohort.

And within your cohort, you have the senior leaders who are similar roles, similar responsibility. And that’s your group, that’s your circle. And then a bigger community where you go to a leadership offsite, or you go to a summit or a gala.

In fact, we have our signature event that’s coming up November 9, in New York City, which is the gala where, as I was saying that we are going to be giving awards to the industrial leaders. And I tell you, I’m like a little kid who’s jumping on the table cheering for these leaders as they come up, I’m like screaming the loudest and, you know, clapping the loudest. And so those awards mean a lot.

So I think it’s an 84% of the women and the allies have seen some professional growth in their personal growth, which is a very high number. And what has happened is that when you’re in a circle in a peer group, and you see that, that you have a title, which is a more, it’s a power title, I can go now and talk to my management team and say, you know what, this is what the industry is doing. Can I get that title?

So you get a little more courage to think about your role and responsibility differently, because now you actually have cross-industry experience. And you get a little bit more courage to talk about what should, you know, my role look like, what my contribution should look like, and what my compensation should look like. So you actually have these, you know, peers who can share with you how they are navigating their path.

And I also think dreaming big, you know, like when you are in your role in your day-to-day life, you get so stuck with doing what you’re doing. You very rarely think about what more can I do? You know, you get, you’re so stuck in just deliverables that it’s very hard to think about what could be the possibility, what is possible.

And I think the whole dream of what is possible comes when you have these inspirational leaders around you. And that’s why, you know, even when you’re a kid, your parents say, you know, look who you associate yourself with. And I think that’s what this is all about, is that, who are you associating with and are they inspiring you, motivating you, building you up or breaking you down?

And I think this community, the builder community is such a great community, because everybody’s building each other up. And everybody’s really focusing on each other’s growth. And a lot of our members really talk about the impact they’re having as a group, you know.

So a lot of times when you’re working, even though you try making an impact in your team, and you’re trying to build your team, very rarely you have the opportunity to bring, you know, the masses together to create the impact. We, you know, early on this year, and I think the audience knows the big layoffs that happened in tech industry. And the whole builder leaders rallied around and said, let’s do sessions around transitions, because these are senior leaders who are getting laid off.

And what can we do for our community? So a large volume of leaders came together, and we ran several webinars where we actually did breakout rooms, where people who had jobs came forward and said, let’s do the breakout room, show them what we have, who we are interviewing, what opportunities are available, so that these leaders have somewhere to go. So I thought that was such a great, and you know, when you say, if not you, who?

I say that to every single builder member who joins, is like, if not you, who will do it? And it’s not me and Nitin at all. It’s the community that does it.

One person can’t move the needle. It has to be the whole group which comes together to create the movement. And I think that’s really what I’m proud of, that there’s so much desire in this community, in tech community, to do the right thing.

And listen, as data leaders, these are the leaders who are creating history. They are the ones who are building these architectures. And if they care about building the world the right way, it will happen.

And I’m very hopeful that even though we don’t have the right diversity we need in the teams today, it will, because I see the commitment. We have waitlists of members who we are trying to get to, to bring them in. We have corporate members who are coming in and saying, we want to do the right thing.

And that inspires me every day, that there are still people who care about making this world a better place.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so cool. And I have to applaud and acknowledge the humility that you bring. And of course, it’s the team, it’s the community that ends up moving that big needle, the big picture, but having that leader in place who has that vision, who is humble, who is able to work with the crowd.

There are many different personalities involved, many different selfish motives, but to be able to work with all of those and still move us in the direction we want to go to, it takes a lot of effort. So, kudos again. And as you’re thinking and sharing all the accomplishments, one thought that comes to me is, again, many different personalities involved, many different perspectives, corporate entrepreneurs, big business, and small ones too.

What’s the one big challenge you’re facing as you think about all of this as an entrepreneur, as a leader, what’s that one big challenge?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the biggest challenge is when corporations and so there are two challenges. One is when people don’t think that they deserve to invest in themselves. A lot of times, you know, it’s like the syndrome, oh, I shouldn’t do it for me, I should take care of my team, I should take care of the world, I should be the last.

And I think that’s the biggest challenge when the leader starts saying, oh, I don’t need help, let me help everybody else. I think that’s my biggest challenge when I say, no, no, no, remember, when you’re sitting in the plane, they tell you to put the, you know, belt on yourself first or oxygen mask on yourself first. I think that’s what we need to do is that even if you’re a male or a female, you’re a minority or not a minority, it’s important for you to understand that in the movement, we need it all.

We need in the movement, we need everybody saying, I want to grow, I want to develop, I want to learn more, and I want to contribute. And I think that’s the first challenge is that when leaders say, oh, I cannot join the movement, because let others join, you know. And the second challenge I see is that when corporations put the funding, and of course, revenue generated activity, you know, and even though they know and acknowledge responsible ethical AI is important, building the digital world with parity and equity is important.

When the budget gets tight. And, you know, as we are in that middle of a lot of budget, you know, cuts, thinking about long term benefit, you know, becomes the secondary priority. And I think that becomes a challenge.

And I think if you think about retention of your employee, growth of your employee impact, diversity and inclusion is but natural, you know, and, and that’s what we do in our world is that we don’t say, oh, let’s focus on diversity and inclusion. I say it’s creating and changing the environment. So we focus a lot on speaker series.

So we have a program where we go into corporations and bring the role models we bring in the C suite leaders in corporate America who go into large organizations where they would talk about their journey. So it’s not only women or men, but everybody in the organization get to hear a female story from being an engineer or from mailroom to the C suite leader in fortune 50 company. And I think that’s inspirational.

So we do speaker series, we do data and AI literacy program. So our goal is to create this inclusive learning environment where professionals get to see and change the behavior without saying or pointing like, listen, when somebody tells me you have to do the diversity training, like, listen, I teach at Columbia, and I have to do diversity training. And that is so boring.

He’s like, oh, my God, yet another training, you know. So that’s not interesting. The way you do it is when you include, and you reason and you tell stories that people can relate.

And changing the behavior comes through, you know, really experience share. And when it becomes a, you know, you create those aha moments for employees that they then understand and change the behavior instead of telling you, they become the part of the conversation.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

So true. Asha, what’s the, you know, the flip side of challenge is opportunity. What’s the one that’s most exciting you at this point?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the yeses excites me. And those challenge, you know, is a challenging opportunity, right? As you said, when somebody says no, that gives you it makes you think, why no, why are they saying no?

And you think about why is this not an important initiative for them? So I think it makes you think differently and makes you become more creative and innovative. So I think yeses reassure gives you reassurance.

And the noes give you the opportunity to be creative and think outside the box. So I think if you had to say what is the opportunity, and I think the opportunity is, how do you continue creating the movement? So listen, any movement has been created.

It has not been easy. So I cannot say that it’s easy for what I’m building and creating. I personally have days when it is super hard. And oh my God, you know, how am I going to do it? How do I continue doing it? But I also think that when you get those yeses, it gives you a little relief. And when you get the noes, you say, okay, now let’s think about it a different way, you know, be more creative.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I love that perspective. I love how you put, you know, the reality is we are going to get a lot of noes. We are going to hit a lot of barriers, speed bumps, what have you. It’s what you make of it. And how do you use that as either reassurance or an opportunity to pivot or move in a direction where you may still achieve your goals, but you’re meeting kind of people where their heads are. So I love that. You know, as we look in the future, I am curious to learn and go back a little bit in your history. And I would love for you to share two instances, one, where things exceeded your own expectations, and became success beyond your imagination. And another one where things did not work out as you had expected, became a failure and became a lesson.

 

[Asha Saxena]

So many, oh my God, I can go on for hours on that. My God, so many failures. It’s crazy.

And when success is happening, you’re like, wonder, is it really happening? Like, let’s sit down for two minutes and say, oh my God, things are going right. You know, and just get ready because things are going to fall apart again, you know? So it makes you humble. You know, when you say being humble, it’s like, makes you humble because once you become successful, you realize you’re going to come down. And when you come down, hopefully you’ll go up again. So the positive, which was a surprise, is when I was writing the book, I worked two years on writing the book on 2019 to 2021. And my publisher said it’ll publish in October 22, 2022. And I was like, great, you know, I worked really hard, two years, put the effort in.

 

And then they called me in September and they said, sorry, there’s a huge line and backlog and we cannot publish until February of 2023. So I was like, you know, I was only writing it for me. I didn’t have any marketing budget. I didn’t have any promotions. I said, I don’t care. As long as I get my thoughts out in the world, that’s all I care about. And guess what happened in November? ChatGPT came out. What happened in January?

Microsoft invested $10 billion in open AI. What happened in February? My book comes out.

And who had, who could have timed that, that beautifully?

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That’s amazing.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now the book has been on the bestseller list on Amazon for 35 weeks.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Wow. Congratulations.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you. And you know, a part of me was like, it’s just luck. I was at the right time, you know, I just, everything. And then I found out another, somebody I know also wrote a book during that time. And I was like, Googling, I said, let me check what is their ranking. And their ranking was like 2000. And my ranking was like always between 50 and 70. So I was like, okay, there must be some credit to, you know, what I wrote. But that was definitely a happy surprise. And it would have to be like the right time at the right place. And, and I counted my blessing and I was very grateful to the universe for making it happen. And what was, and I’m telling you my, my healthcare business, it was a great business.

We had built a really solid data model and analytics on the patient data for healthcare system. It was used by Hackensack University Medical Center, Frederick Memorial, a great product. And then I had a VC come in. And, and I basically was politely removed from the CEO role. And that didn’t work out really well, the way I expected that company. And I cannot tell you, of all the companies I’ve built, I’ve built three companies, all the companies I’ve built, that was the most impactful company in the healthcare data set, because we were improving the quality of the patient outcome. And just because of the politics, you call it or the timing, it just, for me, it didn’t work out the way I expected it to. Externally, you could say it was a success, because it was implemented in big hospitals. But the way, I think when the VC came in, it was not the way I wanted the company to be operated. And that was a huge disappointment, because I spent so many hours, waking hours, I mean, I used to work 20 hours a day, every day. And I did everything I could. I mean, I had the right team, I had invested a lot in the business, you know, I did everything right by the book. And for me, I didn’t get the end result the way I wanted it. And that was the biggest disappointment, I would say in my career, because of what a great product that was. And you know, the exit wasn’t as ideal as I expected.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks again, for being so open and transparent. These things, these experiences are not easy to live through, but even more difficult to share openly. So I really applaud you being so transparent. And, you know, as for the success of the book, luck, maybe, but I do believe good things happen to good people. And, of course, all that experience from the past 30 years, bringing it all at the time when people actually care about this, and it’s all over the place. Yeah, couldn’t be happier for you. So that’s awesome.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Asha, this brings us to my favorite part of the show, which we call the one line life lessons. I’d love for you to share your one line life lessons with us.

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, I have to say my biggest life lesson is when you give you get more. And I think in life, if you’re a giver, you will be happier than if you’re a taker. And I think any relationship you want, which would prosper or do well, you need to be a giver in that relationship. And if that relationship is with life, you want to be a giver for life. And I think if you adopt that in your life, I cannot, I mean, I cannot express how it has benefited my life being a giver.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yeah, I mean, you’re doing that right now with Vilda. I mean, as we talked about it, you wake up every morning, trying to be a champion for one or several people in the community. And look at what you build, look at the energy you have the passion you have for it. So yeah, that’s awesome. Do you have any other life lessons you would love to share?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the giver is the biggest one. I would say that be hungry. And it’s so important to be hungry for knowledge for growth.And if you’re hungry to constantly learn and be a lifelong learner, I think it pays off really, because you have to constantly keep reinventing yourself. If you’re not reinventing yourself, you’re not going to go to the next stage. And if you’re hungry, you will focus on figuring out how do I get the knowledge to go to the next level. So I would say 100% focus on being hungry, learning and growing and investing in yourself.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so true and so valid at every stage of life. And again, you lead by example. Asha, thank you once again, for sharing your life lessons, for sharing your story, and your journey.

And more importantly, for being you and doing what you do. Really appreciate it. Thanks again for making the time to be with us. And congratulations, and wishing you all the success in the future here. We’d love to bring you back on in some time and talk about more of your successes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you so much, Nitin. I hope the listeners take one little bit and hopefully improve their lives.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I know they will, for sure. Thanks so much, Asha.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashasaxena101/ Linkedin: 

 

Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa),  is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, author, and data expert with extensive experience in the fields of data science, 

artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. She is the founder and CEO of Future Technologies Inc., a global consulting firm specializing in data management, analytics, and AI solutions. Asha is also the author of several books on data-driven business strategies and has been recognized for her contributions to the industry. She is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, known for her expertise in helping organizations leverage data to drive innovation and growth.

 

Youtube: 

In this episode of The Industry Show, host Nitin Bajaj interviews Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa), about her journey in technology, entrepreneurship, and her mission to bridge the gap between business and technology. Asha shares insights into the impact of WiLDa, challenges in promoting responsible AI, and her one-line life lessons. Join us to learn from Asha’s experiences and her passion for creating a positive impact in the world.

 

Highlights: 00:45 – Asha Saxena describes herself as a passionate, driven person who cares about leaving a positive impact in the world.

[Nitin Bajaj]

Hey everyone, welcome to the industry show. I’m your host Nitin Bajaj and joining me today is Asha Saxena. Asha, welcome on the show.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you for having me Nitin.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Pleasure is all ours. So let’s start with, who is Asha?

 

[Asha Saxena]

Well, I would call or describe myself as just a passionate, driven person who super really cares about leaving an impact in the world I live in, leaving the place a better place than I came in.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks, and if we all do our bit, you know, we can really leave this place in a much better position for the next generation. So thank you for doing what you do. Let’s talk about women’s leaders in data and AI.

 

Tell us what it is, what is the mission, what is the vision, and most importantly, why do this?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, before I talk about women leaders in data and AI, I want to talk about especially what’s going on in the world today. I think it’s so important that we all care about doing the right thing, being a little extra compassionate towards people we meet on day-to-day basis, and as you said, do just our bit, just a little bit to make sure we make the people we meet and their lives easier. So, you know, this is really a personal journey and really extremely meaningful to what I’m doing right now for myself.

I’ve spent 30 years in the technology business, you know, I went to school, my undergrad and grad in computer science engineering, and I started my career as a programmer. I could have just stayed, you know, be a programmer, become a manager and a corporate path, but very early on in my career, I found a mentor who pushed me to become an entrepreneur, and I did. So I’ve spent three decades building companies and very fortunate to be able to teach at Columbia University where I get to pay forward, you know, really share with the graduate students I teach the lessons I’ve learned in my life and be able to pay forward.

And during the pandemic, I think it was really something that really bothered me was what was happening around the world. It was not only very close friends of mine who lost their loved ones, people I knew, and I think it was really a wake up call for a lot of us to reflect on our lives and what we were leaving behind. I think during that time, I had started working on my book during that time and I said, you know, everything that I learned in 30 years, I wanted to leave that, pay forward and share with the world.

And I saw during my consulting days that business and technology usually speak different language. And as they speak different language, they are constantly struggling and butting heads, even though they’re working towards the same goal, they just speaking different language. And so the whole idea for the book was to write the book, which came out in February, the AI factor was to bring these two communities together and talk about the digital world, how fast we are collecting the data and how the models are going to change our world.

But what I realized was, oh, my God, we are creating the digital world. And this model enhances all our biases. So even though I grew up in the world where being the only woman in the room, you know, we just were, we were taught to just speak a little louder or work a little extra hard and, you know, show up with your content.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

My worry was that in the digital world, that would not be applicable anymore. You know, we are building this digital world and these algorithms enhances our biases. And so the thought was that, you know, what can we do?

What can I do as a female leader in technology to leave our world a better place? How can I be a contributor to building a digital world and make it fair, a fair digital world with parity and equity and just start doing, you know, little steps towards doing the right thing. And, you know, the first thought was very daunting.

It’s like, what can I do? You know, I’m the only one person. What can I do?

And so the thought was, let me just call my friends. These are the C-suite leaders of Fortune 1000 companies and see if they would want to participate with me and come together. So I started this organization.

We call it Wilda, Women Leaders in Data and AI. It’s a mission-based organization, social entrepreneurial venture, where we bring together the senior leaders from corporate America to really come together for three pillars, which we stand on. Community, growth and impact.

So it’s really about these women leaders with our male allies. We bring the male allies together with the women leaders and make sure that together we are working towards building a better community. So we do it through mastermind circle, where peer-to-peer engagement.

We do it through events where we bring the thought leaders and we do it through creating impact by mentorship, making sure that we’re paying forward. And I have to say, Nitin, this has been the most rewarding experience of my career, where I wake up every day cheering for somebody else. I wake up every day to promote someone else.

Even though as a manager, as a leader in your organization, you’re always doing that, but you’re focusing on selling a product or looking at your P&L. But in this job, my whole and sole objective every day is, what can I do that I can build the next person stronger? If it’s a male ally or a female leader, you’re doing the right thing as the tech leaders.

This is the first professional career I’m in, where I wake up every morning and my whole sole objective is to cheer for someone else, build another leader, build another professional. If it’s a female leader or if it’s a male ally, just be there to cheer for them, make sure that they’re doing the right thing, I’m doing the right thing, and we’re building a better tech community. And it’s not just me, it’s every single member of the organization whose charter is to make sure that we pass the baton and make somebody else look good, feel better, and continue on the path of growth.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so, so amazing. And when you said this is a huge undertaking, it’s a daunting task, my immediate thought was, if not you, who else? Because I can’t think of anyone else to take this important, and important is not even doing it justice, but it is an important issue.

And I’m so happy that you are the one that’s leading it. And to your point of being able to get up and champion someone else’s success every single morning, it just brings a very different kind of energy. It’s very different than when we do it for a little more selfish reasons, such as selling more product or selling more service or growing my or our company.

This is so much bigger than that. This is giving back to the community, but the community then in turn gives you even more back. So I’m really happy for you.

But more importantly, kudos and congratulations for being able to do this and doing it at this scale. So on that note, I would love for you to share the impact of VILDA. And maybe a little, a few numbers that bring some perspective for our audience.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now, we do this member impact survey, and we really look for what our members are really getting out of an organization or having a community. And I always say that, listen, when we are adults, we learn the best from peer to peer experience share more than a classroom setting where you’re learning about that theory. So really, when the community comes together, the peers come together, and they’re sharing their experiences.

That’s when you start thinking about and reflecting about how you can use those tools and tips in your own life. When we did the survey, we found that 100% of our members have built deeper connection, because having a community where you can get a concentrated time to meet with your peers and get to know them, you build deeper connection. When you go to a conference, or you go to a association, it’s very hard because you are so many people, you’re going from session to session, it’s very hard to actually find that concentrated time, which being in a community you get.

So it’s not only monthly sessions, which you come to, you have your own cohort, which you stick to, you know, like how you went to college, and you have your cohort, you know, and we were talking how in graduate schools, you’ll end up learning more from your peers than you know, in the classroom, similar fashion in a community, you have a core we get, you know, when you join Wilda, you get your cohort.

And within your cohort, you have the senior leaders who are similar roles, similar responsibility. And that’s your group, that’s your circle. And then a bigger community where you go to a leadership offsite, or you go to a summit or a gala.

In fact, we have our signature event that’s coming up November 9, in New York City, which is the gala where, as I was saying that we are going to be giving awards to the industrial leaders. And I tell you, I’m like a little kid who’s jumping on the table cheering for these leaders as they come up, I’m like screaming the loudest and, you know, clapping the loudest. And so those awards mean a lot.

So I think it’s an 84% of the women and the allies have seen some professional growth in their personal growth, which is a very high number. And what has happened is that when you’re in a circle in a peer group, and you see that, that you have a title, which is a more, it’s a power title, I can go now and talk to my management team and say, you know what, this is what the industry is doing. Can I get that title?

So you get a little more courage to think about your role and responsibility differently, because now you actually have cross-industry experience. And you get a little bit more courage to talk about what should, you know, my role look like, what my contribution should look like, and what my compensation should look like. So you actually have these, you know, peers who can share with you how they are navigating their path.

And I also think dreaming big, you know, like when you are in your role in your day-to-day life, you get so stuck with doing what you’re doing. You very rarely think about what more can I do? You know, you get, you’re so stuck in just deliverables that it’s very hard to think about what could be the possibility, what is possible.

And I think the whole dream of what is possible comes when you have these inspirational leaders around you. And that’s why, you know, even when you’re a kid, your parents say, you know, look who you associate yourself with. And I think that’s what this is all about, is that, who are you associating with and are they inspiring you, motivating you, building you up or breaking you down?

And I think this community, the builder community is such a great community, because everybody’s building each other up. And everybody’s really focusing on each other’s growth. And a lot of our members really talk about the impact they’re having as a group, you know.

So a lot of times when you’re working, even though you try making an impact in your team, and you’re trying to build your team, very rarely you have the opportunity to bring, you know, the masses together to create the impact. We, you know, early on this year, and I think the audience knows the big layoffs that happened in tech industry. And the whole builder leaders rallied around and said, let’s do sessions around transitions, because these are senior leaders who are getting laid off.

And what can we do for our community? So a large volume of leaders came together, and we ran several webinars where we actually did breakout rooms, where people who had jobs came forward and said, let’s do the breakout room, show them what we have, who we are interviewing, what opportunities are available, so that these leaders have somewhere to go. So I thought that was such a great, and you know, when you say, if not you, who?

I say that to every single builder member who joins, is like, if not you, who will do it? And it’s not me and Nitin at all. It’s the community that does it.

One person can’t move the needle. It has to be the whole group which comes together to create the movement. And I think that’s really what I’m proud of, that there’s so much desire in this community, in tech community, to do the right thing.

And listen, as data leaders, these are the leaders who are creating history. They are the ones who are building these architectures. And if they care about building the world the right way, it will happen.

And I’m very hopeful that even though we don’t have the right diversity we need in the teams today, it will, because I see the commitment. We have waitlists of members who we are trying to get to, to bring them in. We have corporate members who are coming in and saying, we want to do the right thing.

And that inspires me every day, that there are still people who care about making this world a better place.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so cool. And I have to applaud and acknowledge the humility that you bring. And of course, it’s the team, it’s the community that ends up moving that big needle, the big picture, but having that leader in place who has that vision, who is humble, who is able to work with the crowd.

There are many different personalities involved, many different selfish motives, but to be able to work with all of those and still move us in the direction we want to go to, it takes a lot of effort. So, kudos again. And as you’re thinking and sharing all the accomplishments, one thought that comes to me is, again, many different personalities involved, many different perspectives, corporate entrepreneurs, big business, and small ones too.

What’s the one big challenge you’re facing as you think about all of this as an entrepreneur, as a leader, what’s that one big challenge?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the biggest challenge is when corporations and so there are two challenges. One is when people don’t think that they deserve to invest in themselves. A lot of times, you know, it’s like the syndrome, oh, I shouldn’t do it for me, I should take care of my team, I should take care of the world, I should be the last.

And I think that’s the biggest challenge when the leader starts saying, oh, I don’t need help, let me help everybody else. I think that’s my biggest challenge when I say, no, no, no, remember, when you’re sitting in the plane, they tell you to put the, you know, belt on yourself first or oxygen mask on yourself first. I think that’s what we need to do is that even if you’re a male or a female, you’re a minority or not a minority, it’s important for you to understand that in the movement, we need it all.

We need in the movement, we need everybody saying, I want to grow, I want to develop, I want to learn more, and I want to contribute. And I think that’s the first challenge is that when leaders say, oh, I cannot join the movement, because let others join, you know. And the second challenge I see is that when corporations put the funding, and of course, revenue generated activity, you know, and even though they know and acknowledge responsible ethical AI is important, building the digital world with parity and equity is important.

When the budget gets tight. And, you know, as we are in that middle of a lot of budget, you know, cuts, thinking about long term benefit, you know, becomes the secondary priority. And I think that becomes a challenge.

And I think if you think about retention of your employee, growth of your employee impact, diversity and inclusion is but natural, you know, and, and that’s what we do in our world is that we don’t say, oh, let’s focus on diversity and inclusion. I say it’s creating and changing the environment. So we focus a lot on speaker series.

So we have a program where we go into corporations and bring the role models we bring in the C suite leaders in corporate America who go into large organizations where they would talk about their journey. So it’s not only women or men, but everybody in the organization get to hear a female story from being an engineer or from mailroom to the C suite leader in fortune 50 company. And I think that’s inspirational.

So we do speaker series, we do data and AI literacy program. So our goal is to create this inclusive learning environment where professionals get to see and change the behavior without saying or pointing like, listen, when somebody tells me you have to do the diversity training, like, listen, I teach at Columbia, and I have to do diversity training. And that is so boring.

He’s like, oh, my God, yet another training, you know. So that’s not interesting. The way you do it is when you include, and you reason and you tell stories that people can relate.

And changing the behavior comes through, you know, really experience share. And when it becomes a, you know, you create those aha moments for employees that they then understand and change the behavior instead of telling you, they become the part of the conversation.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

So true. Asha, what’s the, you know, the flip side of challenge is opportunity. What’s the one that’s most exciting you at this point?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the yeses excites me. And those challenge, you know, is a challenging opportunity, right? As you said, when somebody says no, that gives you it makes you think, why no, why are they saying no?

And you think about why is this not an important initiative for them? So I think it makes you think differently and makes you become more creative and innovative. So I think yeses reassure gives you reassurance.

And the noes give you the opportunity to be creative and think outside the box. So I think if you had to say what is the opportunity, and I think the opportunity is, how do you continue creating the movement? So listen, any movement has been created.

It has not been easy. So I cannot say that it’s easy for what I’m building and creating. I personally have days when it is super hard. And oh my God, you know, how am I going to do it? How do I continue doing it? But I also think that when you get those yeses, it gives you a little relief. And when you get the noes, you say, okay, now let’s think about it a different way, you know, be more creative.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I love that perspective. I love how you put, you know, the reality is we are going to get a lot of noes. We are going to hit a lot of barriers, speed bumps, what have you. It’s what you make of it. And how do you use that as either reassurance or an opportunity to pivot or move in a direction where you may still achieve your goals, but you’re meeting kind of people where their heads are. So I love that. You know, as we look in the future, I am curious to learn and go back a little bit in your history. And I would love for you to share two instances, one, where things exceeded your own expectations, and became success beyond your imagination. And another one where things did not work out as you had expected, became a failure and became a lesson.

 

[Asha Saxena]

So many, oh my God, I can go on for hours on that. My God, so many failures. It’s crazy.

And when success is happening, you’re like, wonder, is it really happening? Like, let’s sit down for two minutes and say, oh my God, things are going right. You know, and just get ready because things are going to fall apart again, you know? So it makes you humble. You know, when you say being humble, it’s like, makes you humble because once you become successful, you realize you’re going to come down. And when you come down, hopefully you’ll go up again. So the positive, which was a surprise, is when I was writing the book, I worked two years on writing the book on 2019 to 2021. And my publisher said it’ll publish in October 22, 2022. And I was like, great, you know, I worked really hard, two years, put the effort in.

 

And then they called me in September and they said, sorry, there’s a huge line and backlog and we cannot publish until February of 2023. So I was like, you know, I was only writing it for me. I didn’t have any marketing budget. I didn’t have any promotions. I said, I don’t care. As long as I get my thoughts out in the world, that’s all I care about. And guess what happened in November? ChatGPT came out. What happened in January?

Microsoft invested $10 billion in open AI. What happened in February? My book comes out.

And who had, who could have timed that, that beautifully?

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That’s amazing.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now the book has been on the bestseller list on Amazon for 35 weeks.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Wow. Congratulations.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you. And you know, a part of me was like, it’s just luck. I was at the right time, you know, I just, everything. And then I found out another, somebody I know also wrote a book during that time. And I was like, Googling, I said, let me check what is their ranking. And their ranking was like 2000. And my ranking was like always between 50 and 70. So I was like, okay, there must be some credit to, you know, what I wrote. But that was definitely a happy surprise. And it would have to be like the right time at the right place. And, and I counted my blessing and I was very grateful to the universe for making it happen. And what was, and I’m telling you my, my healthcare business, it was a great business.

We had built a really solid data model and analytics on the patient data for healthcare system. It was used by Hackensack University Medical Center, Frederick Memorial, a great product. And then I had a VC come in. And, and I basically was politely removed from the CEO role. And that didn’t work out really well, the way I expected that company. And I cannot tell you, of all the companies I’ve built, I’ve built three companies, all the companies I’ve built, that was the most impactful company in the healthcare data set, because we were improving the quality of the patient outcome. And just because of the politics, you call it or the timing, it just, for me, it didn’t work out the way I expected it to. Externally, you could say it was a success, because it was implemented in big hospitals. But the way, I think when the VC came in, it was not the way I wanted the company to be operated. And that was a huge disappointment, because I spent so many hours, waking hours, I mean, I used to work 20 hours a day, every day. And I did everything I could. I mean, I had the right team, I had invested a lot in the business, you know, I did everything right by the book. And for me, I didn’t get the end result the way I wanted it. And that was the biggest disappointment, I would say in my career, because of what a great product that was. And you know, the exit wasn’t as ideal as I expected.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks again, for being so open and transparent. These things, these experiences are not easy to live through, but even more difficult to share openly. So I really applaud you being so transparent. And, you know, as for the success of the book, luck, maybe, but I do believe good things happen to good people. And, of course, all that experience from the past 30 years, bringing it all at the time when people actually care about this, and it’s all over the place. Yeah, couldn’t be happier for you. So that’s awesome.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Asha, this brings us to my favorite part of the show, which we call the one line life lessons. I’d love for you to share your one line life lessons with us.

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, I have to say my biggest life lesson is when you give you get more. And I think in life, if you’re a giver, you will be happier than if you’re a taker. And I think any relationship you want, which would prosper or do well, you need to be a giver in that relationship. And if that relationship is with life, you want to be a giver for life. And I think if you adopt that in your life, I cannot, I mean, I cannot express how it has benefited my life being a giver.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yeah, I mean, you’re doing that right now with Vilda. I mean, as we talked about it, you wake up every morning, trying to be a champion for one or several people in the community. And look at what you build, look at the energy you have the passion you have for it. So yeah, that’s awesome. Do you have any other life lessons you would love to share?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the giver is the biggest one. I would say that be hungry. And it’s so important to be hungry for knowledge for growth.And if you’re hungry to constantly learn and be a lifelong learner, I think it pays off really, because you have to constantly keep reinventing yourself. If you’re not reinventing yourself, you’re not going to go to the next stage. And if you’re hungry, you will focus on figuring out how do I get the knowledge to go to the next level. So I would say 100% focus on being hungry, learning and growing and investing in yourself.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so true and so valid at every stage of life. And again, you lead by example. Asha, thank you once again, for sharing your life lessons, for sharing your story, and your journey.

And more importantly, for being you and doing what you do. Really appreciate it. Thanks again for making the time to be with us. And congratulations, and wishing you all the success in the future here. We’d love to bring you back on in some time and talk about more of your successes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you so much, Nitin. I hope the listeners take one little bit and hopefully improve their lives.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I know they will, for sure. Thanks so much, Asha.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashasaxena101/ Linkedin: 

 

Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa),  is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, author, and data expert with extensive experience in the fields of data science, 

artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. She is the founder and CEO of Future Technologies Inc., a global consulting firm specializing in data management, analytics, and AI solutions. Asha is also the author of several books on data-driven business strategies and has been recognized for her contributions to the industry. She is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, known for her expertise in helping organizations leverage data to drive innovation and growth.

 

Youtube: 

In this episode of The Industry Show, host Nitin Bajaj interviews Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa), about her journey in technology, entrepreneurship, and her mission to bridge the gap between business and technology. Asha shares insights into the impact of WiLDa, challenges in promoting responsible AI, and her one-line life lessons. Join us to learn from Asha’s experiences and her passion for creating a positive impact in the world.

 

Highlights: 00:45 – Asha Saxena describes herself as a passionate, driven person who cares about leaving a positive impact in the world.

[Nitin Bajaj]

Hey everyone, welcome to the industry show. I’m your host Nitin Bajaj and joining me today is Asha Saxena. Asha, welcome on the show.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you for having me Nitin.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Pleasure is all ours. So let’s start with, who is Asha?

 

[Asha Saxena]

Well, I would call or describe myself as just a passionate, driven person who super really cares about leaving an impact in the world I live in, leaving the place a better place than I came in.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks, and if we all do our bit, you know, we can really leave this place in a much better position for the next generation. So thank you for doing what you do. Let’s talk about women’s leaders in data and AI.

 

Tell us what it is, what is the mission, what is the vision, and most importantly, why do this?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, before I talk about women leaders in data and AI, I want to talk about especially what’s going on in the world today. I think it’s so important that we all care about doing the right thing, being a little extra compassionate towards people we meet on day-to-day basis, and as you said, do just our bit, just a little bit to make sure we make the people we meet and their lives easier. So, you know, this is really a personal journey and really extremely meaningful to what I’m doing right now for myself.

I’ve spent 30 years in the technology business, you know, I went to school, my undergrad and grad in computer science engineering, and I started my career as a programmer. I could have just stayed, you know, be a programmer, become a manager and a corporate path, but very early on in my career, I found a mentor who pushed me to become an entrepreneur, and I did. So I’ve spent three decades building companies and very fortunate to be able to teach at Columbia University where I get to pay forward, you know, really share with the graduate students I teach the lessons I’ve learned in my life and be able to pay forward.

And during the pandemic, I think it was really something that really bothered me was what was happening around the world. It was not only very close friends of mine who lost their loved ones, people I knew, and I think it was really a wake up call for a lot of us to reflect on our lives and what we were leaving behind. I think during that time, I had started working on my book during that time and I said, you know, everything that I learned in 30 years, I wanted to leave that, pay forward and share with the world.

And I saw during my consulting days that business and technology usually speak different language. And as they speak different language, they are constantly struggling and butting heads, even though they’re working towards the same goal, they just speaking different language. And so the whole idea for the book was to write the book, which came out in February, the AI factor was to bring these two communities together and talk about the digital world, how fast we are collecting the data and how the models are going to change our world.

But what I realized was, oh, my God, we are creating the digital world. And this model enhances all our biases. So even though I grew up in the world where being the only woman in the room, you know, we just were, we were taught to just speak a little louder or work a little extra hard and, you know, show up with your content.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

My worry was that in the digital world, that would not be applicable anymore. You know, we are building this digital world and these algorithms enhances our biases. And so the thought was that, you know, what can we do?

What can I do as a female leader in technology to leave our world a better place? How can I be a contributor to building a digital world and make it fair, a fair digital world with parity and equity and just start doing, you know, little steps towards doing the right thing. And, you know, the first thought was very daunting.

It’s like, what can I do? You know, I’m the only one person. What can I do?

And so the thought was, let me just call my friends. These are the C-suite leaders of Fortune 1000 companies and see if they would want to participate with me and come together. So I started this organization.

We call it Wilda, Women Leaders in Data and AI. It’s a mission-based organization, social entrepreneurial venture, where we bring together the senior leaders from corporate America to really come together for three pillars, which we stand on. Community, growth and impact.

So it’s really about these women leaders with our male allies. We bring the male allies together with the women leaders and make sure that together we are working towards building a better community. So we do it through mastermind circle, where peer-to-peer engagement.

We do it through events where we bring the thought leaders and we do it through creating impact by mentorship, making sure that we’re paying forward. And I have to say, Nitin, this has been the most rewarding experience of my career, where I wake up every day cheering for somebody else. I wake up every day to promote someone else.

Even though as a manager, as a leader in your organization, you’re always doing that, but you’re focusing on selling a product or looking at your P&L. But in this job, my whole and sole objective every day is, what can I do that I can build the next person stronger? If it’s a male ally or a female leader, you’re doing the right thing as the tech leaders.

This is the first professional career I’m in, where I wake up every morning and my whole sole objective is to cheer for someone else, build another leader, build another professional. If it’s a female leader or if it’s a male ally, just be there to cheer for them, make sure that they’re doing the right thing, I’m doing the right thing, and we’re building a better tech community. And it’s not just me, it’s every single member of the organization whose charter is to make sure that we pass the baton and make somebody else look good, feel better, and continue on the path of growth.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so, so amazing. And when you said this is a huge undertaking, it’s a daunting task, my immediate thought was, if not you, who else? Because I can’t think of anyone else to take this important, and important is not even doing it justice, but it is an important issue.

And I’m so happy that you are the one that’s leading it. And to your point of being able to get up and champion someone else’s success every single morning, it just brings a very different kind of energy. It’s very different than when we do it for a little more selfish reasons, such as selling more product or selling more service or growing my or our company.

This is so much bigger than that. This is giving back to the community, but the community then in turn gives you even more back. So I’m really happy for you.

But more importantly, kudos and congratulations for being able to do this and doing it at this scale. So on that note, I would love for you to share the impact of VILDA. And maybe a little, a few numbers that bring some perspective for our audience.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now, we do this member impact survey, and we really look for what our members are really getting out of an organization or having a community. And I always say that, listen, when we are adults, we learn the best from peer to peer experience share more than a classroom setting where you’re learning about that theory. So really, when the community comes together, the peers come together, and they’re sharing their experiences.

That’s when you start thinking about and reflecting about how you can use those tools and tips in your own life. When we did the survey, we found that 100% of our members have built deeper connection, because having a community where you can get a concentrated time to meet with your peers and get to know them, you build deeper connection. When you go to a conference, or you go to a association, it’s very hard because you are so many people, you’re going from session to session, it’s very hard to actually find that concentrated time, which being in a community you get.

So it’s not only monthly sessions, which you come to, you have your own cohort, which you stick to, you know, like how you went to college, and you have your cohort, you know, and we were talking how in graduate schools, you’ll end up learning more from your peers than you know, in the classroom, similar fashion in a community, you have a core we get, you know, when you join Wilda, you get your cohort.

And within your cohort, you have the senior leaders who are similar roles, similar responsibility. And that’s your group, that’s your circle. And then a bigger community where you go to a leadership offsite, or you go to a summit or a gala.

In fact, we have our signature event that’s coming up November 9, in New York City, which is the gala where, as I was saying that we are going to be giving awards to the industrial leaders. And I tell you, I’m like a little kid who’s jumping on the table cheering for these leaders as they come up, I’m like screaming the loudest and, you know, clapping the loudest. And so those awards mean a lot.

So I think it’s an 84% of the women and the allies have seen some professional growth in their personal growth, which is a very high number. And what has happened is that when you’re in a circle in a peer group, and you see that, that you have a title, which is a more, it’s a power title, I can go now and talk to my management team and say, you know what, this is what the industry is doing. Can I get that title?

So you get a little more courage to think about your role and responsibility differently, because now you actually have cross-industry experience. And you get a little bit more courage to talk about what should, you know, my role look like, what my contribution should look like, and what my compensation should look like. So you actually have these, you know, peers who can share with you how they are navigating their path.

And I also think dreaming big, you know, like when you are in your role in your day-to-day life, you get so stuck with doing what you’re doing. You very rarely think about what more can I do? You know, you get, you’re so stuck in just deliverables that it’s very hard to think about what could be the possibility, what is possible.

And I think the whole dream of what is possible comes when you have these inspirational leaders around you. And that’s why, you know, even when you’re a kid, your parents say, you know, look who you associate yourself with. And I think that’s what this is all about, is that, who are you associating with and are they inspiring you, motivating you, building you up or breaking you down?

And I think this community, the builder community is such a great community, because everybody’s building each other up. And everybody’s really focusing on each other’s growth. And a lot of our members really talk about the impact they’re having as a group, you know.

So a lot of times when you’re working, even though you try making an impact in your team, and you’re trying to build your team, very rarely you have the opportunity to bring, you know, the masses together to create the impact. We, you know, early on this year, and I think the audience knows the big layoffs that happened in tech industry. And the whole builder leaders rallied around and said, let’s do sessions around transitions, because these are senior leaders who are getting laid off.

And what can we do for our community? So a large volume of leaders came together, and we ran several webinars where we actually did breakout rooms, where people who had jobs came forward and said, let’s do the breakout room, show them what we have, who we are interviewing, what opportunities are available, so that these leaders have somewhere to go. So I thought that was such a great, and you know, when you say, if not you, who?

I say that to every single builder member who joins, is like, if not you, who will do it? And it’s not me and Nitin at all. It’s the community that does it.

One person can’t move the needle. It has to be the whole group which comes together to create the movement. And I think that’s really what I’m proud of, that there’s so much desire in this community, in tech community, to do the right thing.

And listen, as data leaders, these are the leaders who are creating history. They are the ones who are building these architectures. And if they care about building the world the right way, it will happen.

And I’m very hopeful that even though we don’t have the right diversity we need in the teams today, it will, because I see the commitment. We have waitlists of members who we are trying to get to, to bring them in. We have corporate members who are coming in and saying, we want to do the right thing.

And that inspires me every day, that there are still people who care about making this world a better place.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so cool. And I have to applaud and acknowledge the humility that you bring. And of course, it’s the team, it’s the community that ends up moving that big needle, the big picture, but having that leader in place who has that vision, who is humble, who is able to work with the crowd.

There are many different personalities involved, many different selfish motives, but to be able to work with all of those and still move us in the direction we want to go to, it takes a lot of effort. So, kudos again. And as you’re thinking and sharing all the accomplishments, one thought that comes to me is, again, many different personalities involved, many different perspectives, corporate entrepreneurs, big business, and small ones too.

What’s the one big challenge you’re facing as you think about all of this as an entrepreneur, as a leader, what’s that one big challenge?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the biggest challenge is when corporations and so there are two challenges. One is when people don’t think that they deserve to invest in themselves. A lot of times, you know, it’s like the syndrome, oh, I shouldn’t do it for me, I should take care of my team, I should take care of the world, I should be the last.

And I think that’s the biggest challenge when the leader starts saying, oh, I don’t need help, let me help everybody else. I think that’s my biggest challenge when I say, no, no, no, remember, when you’re sitting in the plane, they tell you to put the, you know, belt on yourself first or oxygen mask on yourself first. I think that’s what we need to do is that even if you’re a male or a female, you’re a minority or not a minority, it’s important for you to understand that in the movement, we need it all.

We need in the movement, we need everybody saying, I want to grow, I want to develop, I want to learn more, and I want to contribute. And I think that’s the first challenge is that when leaders say, oh, I cannot join the movement, because let others join, you know. And the second challenge I see is that when corporations put the funding, and of course, revenue generated activity, you know, and even though they know and acknowledge responsible ethical AI is important, building the digital world with parity and equity is important.

When the budget gets tight. And, you know, as we are in that middle of a lot of budget, you know, cuts, thinking about long term benefit, you know, becomes the secondary priority. And I think that becomes a challenge.

And I think if you think about retention of your employee, growth of your employee impact, diversity and inclusion is but natural, you know, and, and that’s what we do in our world is that we don’t say, oh, let’s focus on diversity and inclusion. I say it’s creating and changing the environment. So we focus a lot on speaker series.

So we have a program where we go into corporations and bring the role models we bring in the C suite leaders in corporate America who go into large organizations where they would talk about their journey. So it’s not only women or men, but everybody in the organization get to hear a female story from being an engineer or from mailroom to the C suite leader in fortune 50 company. And I think that’s inspirational.

So we do speaker series, we do data and AI literacy program. So our goal is to create this inclusive learning environment where professionals get to see and change the behavior without saying or pointing like, listen, when somebody tells me you have to do the diversity training, like, listen, I teach at Columbia, and I have to do diversity training. And that is so boring.

He’s like, oh, my God, yet another training, you know. So that’s not interesting. The way you do it is when you include, and you reason and you tell stories that people can relate.

And changing the behavior comes through, you know, really experience share. And when it becomes a, you know, you create those aha moments for employees that they then understand and change the behavior instead of telling you, they become the part of the conversation.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

So true. Asha, what’s the, you know, the flip side of challenge is opportunity. What’s the one that’s most exciting you at this point?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the yeses excites me. And those challenge, you know, is a challenging opportunity, right? As you said, when somebody says no, that gives you it makes you think, why no, why are they saying no?

And you think about why is this not an important initiative for them? So I think it makes you think differently and makes you become more creative and innovative. So I think yeses reassure gives you reassurance.

And the noes give you the opportunity to be creative and think outside the box. So I think if you had to say what is the opportunity, and I think the opportunity is, how do you continue creating the movement? So listen, any movement has been created.

It has not been easy. So I cannot say that it’s easy for what I’m building and creating. I personally have days when it is super hard. And oh my God, you know, how am I going to do it? How do I continue doing it? But I also think that when you get those yeses, it gives you a little relief. And when you get the noes, you say, okay, now let’s think about it a different way, you know, be more creative.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I love that perspective. I love how you put, you know, the reality is we are going to get a lot of noes. We are going to hit a lot of barriers, speed bumps, what have you. It’s what you make of it. And how do you use that as either reassurance or an opportunity to pivot or move in a direction where you may still achieve your goals, but you’re meeting kind of people where their heads are. So I love that. You know, as we look in the future, I am curious to learn and go back a little bit in your history. And I would love for you to share two instances, one, where things exceeded your own expectations, and became success beyond your imagination. And another one where things did not work out as you had expected, became a failure and became a lesson.

 

[Asha Saxena]

So many, oh my God, I can go on for hours on that. My God, so many failures. It’s crazy.

And when success is happening, you’re like, wonder, is it really happening? Like, let’s sit down for two minutes and say, oh my God, things are going right. You know, and just get ready because things are going to fall apart again, you know? So it makes you humble. You know, when you say being humble, it’s like, makes you humble because once you become successful, you realize you’re going to come down. And when you come down, hopefully you’ll go up again. So the positive, which was a surprise, is when I was writing the book, I worked two years on writing the book on 2019 to 2021. And my publisher said it’ll publish in October 22, 2022. And I was like, great, you know, I worked really hard, two years, put the effort in.

 

And then they called me in September and they said, sorry, there’s a huge line and backlog and we cannot publish until February of 2023. So I was like, you know, I was only writing it for me. I didn’t have any marketing budget. I didn’t have any promotions. I said, I don’t care. As long as I get my thoughts out in the world, that’s all I care about. And guess what happened in November? ChatGPT came out. What happened in January?

Microsoft invested $10 billion in open AI. What happened in February? My book comes out.

And who had, who could have timed that, that beautifully?

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That’s amazing.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now the book has been on the bestseller list on Amazon for 35 weeks.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Wow. Congratulations.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you. And you know, a part of me was like, it’s just luck. I was at the right time, you know, I just, everything. And then I found out another, somebody I know also wrote a book during that time. And I was like, Googling, I said, let me check what is their ranking. And their ranking was like 2000. And my ranking was like always between 50 and 70. So I was like, okay, there must be some credit to, you know, what I wrote. But that was definitely a happy surprise. And it would have to be like the right time at the right place. And, and I counted my blessing and I was very grateful to the universe for making it happen. And what was, and I’m telling you my, my healthcare business, it was a great business.

We had built a really solid data model and analytics on the patient data for healthcare system. It was used by Hackensack University Medical Center, Frederick Memorial, a great product. And then I had a VC come in. And, and I basically was politely removed from the CEO role. And that didn’t work out really well, the way I expected that company. And I cannot tell you, of all the companies I’ve built, I’ve built three companies, all the companies I’ve built, that was the most impactful company in the healthcare data set, because we were improving the quality of the patient outcome. And just because of the politics, you call it or the timing, it just, for me, it didn’t work out the way I expected it to. Externally, you could say it was a success, because it was implemented in big hospitals. But the way, I think when the VC came in, it was not the way I wanted the company to be operated. And that was a huge disappointment, because I spent so many hours, waking hours, I mean, I used to work 20 hours a day, every day. And I did everything I could. I mean, I had the right team, I had invested a lot in the business, you know, I did everything right by the book. And for me, I didn’t get the end result the way I wanted it. And that was the biggest disappointment, I would say in my career, because of what a great product that was. And you know, the exit wasn’t as ideal as I expected.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks again, for being so open and transparent. These things, these experiences are not easy to live through, but even more difficult to share openly. So I really applaud you being so transparent. And, you know, as for the success of the book, luck, maybe, but I do believe good things happen to good people. And, of course, all that experience from the past 30 years, bringing it all at the time when people actually care about this, and it’s all over the place. Yeah, couldn’t be happier for you. So that’s awesome.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Asha, this brings us to my favorite part of the show, which we call the one line life lessons. I’d love for you to share your one line life lessons with us.

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, I have to say my biggest life lesson is when you give you get more. And I think in life, if you’re a giver, you will be happier than if you’re a taker. And I think any relationship you want, which would prosper or do well, you need to be a giver in that relationship. And if that relationship is with life, you want to be a giver for life. And I think if you adopt that in your life, I cannot, I mean, I cannot express how it has benefited my life being a giver.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yeah, I mean, you’re doing that right now with Vilda. I mean, as we talked about it, you wake up every morning, trying to be a champion for one or several people in the community. And look at what you build, look at the energy you have the passion you have for it. So yeah, that’s awesome. Do you have any other life lessons you would love to share?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the giver is the biggest one. I would say that be hungry. And it’s so important to be hungry for knowledge for growth.And if you’re hungry to constantly learn and be a lifelong learner, I think it pays off really, because you have to constantly keep reinventing yourself. If you’re not reinventing yourself, you’re not going to go to the next stage. And if you’re hungry, you will focus on figuring out how do I get the knowledge to go to the next level. So I would say 100% focus on being hungry, learning and growing and investing in yourself.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so true and so valid at every stage of life. And again, you lead by example. Asha, thank you once again, for sharing your life lessons, for sharing your story, and your journey.

And more importantly, for being you and doing what you do. Really appreciate it. Thanks again for making the time to be with us. And congratulations, and wishing you all the success in the future here. We’d love to bring you back on in some time and talk about more of your successes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you so much, Nitin. I hope the listeners take one little bit and hopefully improve their lives.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I know they will, for sure. Thanks so much, Asha.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashasaxena101/ Linkedin: 

 

Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa),  is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, author, and data expert with extensive experience in the fields of data science, 

artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. She is the founder and CEO of Future Technologies Inc., a global consulting firm specializing in data management, analytics, and AI solutions. Asha is also the author of several books on data-driven business strategies and has been recognized for her contributions to the industry. She is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, known for her expertise in helping organizations leverage data to drive innovation and growth.

 

Youtube: 

In this episode of The Industry Show, host Nitin Bajaj interviews Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa), about her journey in technology, entrepreneurship, and her mission to bridge the gap between business and technology. Asha shares insights into the impact of WiLDa, challenges in promoting responsible AI, and her one-line life lessons. Join us to learn from Asha’s experiences and her passion for creating a positive impact in the world.

 

Highlights: 00:45 – Asha Saxena describes herself as a passionate, driven person who cares about leaving a positive impact in the world.

[Nitin Bajaj]

Hey everyone, welcome to the industry show. I’m your host Nitin Bajaj and joining me today is Asha Saxena. Asha, welcome on the show.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you for having me Nitin.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Pleasure is all ours. So let’s start with, who is Asha?

 

[Asha Saxena]

Well, I would call or describe myself as just a passionate, driven person who super really cares about leaving an impact in the world I live in, leaving the place a better place than I came in.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks, and if we all do our bit, you know, we can really leave this place in a much better position for the next generation. So thank you for doing what you do. Let’s talk about women’s leaders in data and AI.

 

Tell us what it is, what is the mission, what is the vision, and most importantly, why do this?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, before I talk about women leaders in data and AI, I want to talk about especially what’s going on in the world today. I think it’s so important that we all care about doing the right thing, being a little extra compassionate towards people we meet on day-to-day basis, and as you said, do just our bit, just a little bit to make sure we make the people we meet and their lives easier. So, you know, this is really a personal journey and really extremely meaningful to what I’m doing right now for myself.

I’ve spent 30 years in the technology business, you know, I went to school, my undergrad and grad in computer science engineering, and I started my career as a programmer. I could have just stayed, you know, be a programmer, become a manager and a corporate path, but very early on in my career, I found a mentor who pushed me to become an entrepreneur, and I did. So I’ve spent three decades building companies and very fortunate to be able to teach at Columbia University where I get to pay forward, you know, really share with the graduate students I teach the lessons I’ve learned in my life and be able to pay forward.

And during the pandemic, I think it was really something that really bothered me was what was happening around the world. It was not only very close friends of mine who lost their loved ones, people I knew, and I think it was really a wake up call for a lot of us to reflect on our lives and what we were leaving behind. I think during that time, I had started working on my book during that time and I said, you know, everything that I learned in 30 years, I wanted to leave that, pay forward and share with the world.

And I saw during my consulting days that business and technology usually speak different language. And as they speak different language, they are constantly struggling and butting heads, even though they’re working towards the same goal, they just speaking different language. And so the whole idea for the book was to write the book, which came out in February, the AI factor was to bring these two communities together and talk about the digital world, how fast we are collecting the data and how the models are going to change our world.

But what I realized was, oh, my God, we are creating the digital world. And this model enhances all our biases. So even though I grew up in the world where being the only woman in the room, you know, we just were, we were taught to just speak a little louder or work a little extra hard and, you know, show up with your content.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

My worry was that in the digital world, that would not be applicable anymore. You know, we are building this digital world and these algorithms enhances our biases. And so the thought was that, you know, what can we do?

What can I do as a female leader in technology to leave our world a better place? How can I be a contributor to building a digital world and make it fair, a fair digital world with parity and equity and just start doing, you know, little steps towards doing the right thing. And, you know, the first thought was very daunting.

It’s like, what can I do? You know, I’m the only one person. What can I do?

And so the thought was, let me just call my friends. These are the C-suite leaders of Fortune 1000 companies and see if they would want to participate with me and come together. So I started this organization.

We call it Wilda, Women Leaders in Data and AI. It’s a mission-based organization, social entrepreneurial venture, where we bring together the senior leaders from corporate America to really come together for three pillars, which we stand on. Community, growth and impact.

So it’s really about these women leaders with our male allies. We bring the male allies together with the women leaders and make sure that together we are working towards building a better community. So we do it through mastermind circle, where peer-to-peer engagement.

We do it through events where we bring the thought leaders and we do it through creating impact by mentorship, making sure that we’re paying forward. And I have to say, Nitin, this has been the most rewarding experience of my career, where I wake up every day cheering for somebody else. I wake up every day to promote someone else.

Even though as a manager, as a leader in your organization, you’re always doing that, but you’re focusing on selling a product or looking at your P&L. But in this job, my whole and sole objective every day is, what can I do that I can build the next person stronger? If it’s a male ally or a female leader, you’re doing the right thing as the tech leaders.

This is the first professional career I’m in, where I wake up every morning and my whole sole objective is to cheer for someone else, build another leader, build another professional. If it’s a female leader or if it’s a male ally, just be there to cheer for them, make sure that they’re doing the right thing, I’m doing the right thing, and we’re building a better tech community. And it’s not just me, it’s every single member of the organization whose charter is to make sure that we pass the baton and make somebody else look good, feel better, and continue on the path of growth.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so, so amazing. And when you said this is a huge undertaking, it’s a daunting task, my immediate thought was, if not you, who else? Because I can’t think of anyone else to take this important, and important is not even doing it justice, but it is an important issue.

And I’m so happy that you are the one that’s leading it. And to your point of being able to get up and champion someone else’s success every single morning, it just brings a very different kind of energy. It’s very different than when we do it for a little more selfish reasons, such as selling more product or selling more service or growing my or our company.

This is so much bigger than that. This is giving back to the community, but the community then in turn gives you even more back. So I’m really happy for you.

But more importantly, kudos and congratulations for being able to do this and doing it at this scale. So on that note, I would love for you to share the impact of VILDA. And maybe a little, a few numbers that bring some perspective for our audience.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now, we do this member impact survey, and we really look for what our members are really getting out of an organization or having a community. And I always say that, listen, when we are adults, we learn the best from peer to peer experience share more than a classroom setting where you’re learning about that theory. So really, when the community comes together, the peers come together, and they’re sharing their experiences.

That’s when you start thinking about and reflecting about how you can use those tools and tips in your own life. When we did the survey, we found that 100% of our members have built deeper connection, because having a community where you can get a concentrated time to meet with your peers and get to know them, you build deeper connection. When you go to a conference, or you go to a association, it’s very hard because you are so many people, you’re going from session to session, it’s very hard to actually find that concentrated time, which being in a community you get.

So it’s not only monthly sessions, which you come to, you have your own cohort, which you stick to, you know, like how you went to college, and you have your cohort, you know, and we were talking how in graduate schools, you’ll end up learning more from your peers than you know, in the classroom, similar fashion in a community, you have a core we get, you know, when you join Wilda, you get your cohort.

And within your cohort, you have the senior leaders who are similar roles, similar responsibility. And that’s your group, that’s your circle. And then a bigger community where you go to a leadership offsite, or you go to a summit or a gala.

In fact, we have our signature event that’s coming up November 9, in New York City, which is the gala where, as I was saying that we are going to be giving awards to the industrial leaders. And I tell you, I’m like a little kid who’s jumping on the table cheering for these leaders as they come up, I’m like screaming the loudest and, you know, clapping the loudest. And so those awards mean a lot.

So I think it’s an 84% of the women and the allies have seen some professional growth in their personal growth, which is a very high number. And what has happened is that when you’re in a circle in a peer group, and you see that, that you have a title, which is a more, it’s a power title, I can go now and talk to my management team and say, you know what, this is what the industry is doing. Can I get that title?

So you get a little more courage to think about your role and responsibility differently, because now you actually have cross-industry experience. And you get a little bit more courage to talk about what should, you know, my role look like, what my contribution should look like, and what my compensation should look like. So you actually have these, you know, peers who can share with you how they are navigating their path.

And I also think dreaming big, you know, like when you are in your role in your day-to-day life, you get so stuck with doing what you’re doing. You very rarely think about what more can I do? You know, you get, you’re so stuck in just deliverables that it’s very hard to think about what could be the possibility, what is possible.

And I think the whole dream of what is possible comes when you have these inspirational leaders around you. And that’s why, you know, even when you’re a kid, your parents say, you know, look who you associate yourself with. And I think that’s what this is all about, is that, who are you associating with and are they inspiring you, motivating you, building you up or breaking you down?

And I think this community, the builder community is such a great community, because everybody’s building each other up. And everybody’s really focusing on each other’s growth. And a lot of our members really talk about the impact they’re having as a group, you know.

So a lot of times when you’re working, even though you try making an impact in your team, and you’re trying to build your team, very rarely you have the opportunity to bring, you know, the masses together to create the impact. We, you know, early on this year, and I think the audience knows the big layoffs that happened in tech industry. And the whole builder leaders rallied around and said, let’s do sessions around transitions, because these are senior leaders who are getting laid off.

And what can we do for our community? So a large volume of leaders came together, and we ran several webinars where we actually did breakout rooms, where people who had jobs came forward and said, let’s do the breakout room, show them what we have, who we are interviewing, what opportunities are available, so that these leaders have somewhere to go. So I thought that was such a great, and you know, when you say, if not you, who?

I say that to every single builder member who joins, is like, if not you, who will do it? And it’s not me and Nitin at all. It’s the community that does it.

One person can’t move the needle. It has to be the whole group which comes together to create the movement. And I think that’s really what I’m proud of, that there’s so much desire in this community, in tech community, to do the right thing.

And listen, as data leaders, these are the leaders who are creating history. They are the ones who are building these architectures. And if they care about building the world the right way, it will happen.

And I’m very hopeful that even though we don’t have the right diversity we need in the teams today, it will, because I see the commitment. We have waitlists of members who we are trying to get to, to bring them in. We have corporate members who are coming in and saying, we want to do the right thing.

And that inspires me every day, that there are still people who care about making this world a better place.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so cool. And I have to applaud and acknowledge the humility that you bring. And of course, it’s the team, it’s the community that ends up moving that big needle, the big picture, but having that leader in place who has that vision, who is humble, who is able to work with the crowd.

There are many different personalities involved, many different selfish motives, but to be able to work with all of those and still move us in the direction we want to go to, it takes a lot of effort. So, kudos again. And as you’re thinking and sharing all the accomplishments, one thought that comes to me is, again, many different personalities involved, many different perspectives, corporate entrepreneurs, big business, and small ones too.

What’s the one big challenge you’re facing as you think about all of this as an entrepreneur, as a leader, what’s that one big challenge?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the biggest challenge is when corporations and so there are two challenges. One is when people don’t think that they deserve to invest in themselves. A lot of times, you know, it’s like the syndrome, oh, I shouldn’t do it for me, I should take care of my team, I should take care of the world, I should be the last.

And I think that’s the biggest challenge when the leader starts saying, oh, I don’t need help, let me help everybody else. I think that’s my biggest challenge when I say, no, no, no, remember, when you’re sitting in the plane, they tell you to put the, you know, belt on yourself first or oxygen mask on yourself first. I think that’s what we need to do is that even if you’re a male or a female, you’re a minority or not a minority, it’s important for you to understand that in the movement, we need it all.

We need in the movement, we need everybody saying, I want to grow, I want to develop, I want to learn more, and I want to contribute. And I think that’s the first challenge is that when leaders say, oh, I cannot join the movement, because let others join, you know. And the second challenge I see is that when corporations put the funding, and of course, revenue generated activity, you know, and even though they know and acknowledge responsible ethical AI is important, building the digital world with parity and equity is important.

When the budget gets tight. And, you know, as we are in that middle of a lot of budget, you know, cuts, thinking about long term benefit, you know, becomes the secondary priority. And I think that becomes a challenge.

And I think if you think about retention of your employee, growth of your employee impact, diversity and inclusion is but natural, you know, and, and that’s what we do in our world is that we don’t say, oh, let’s focus on diversity and inclusion. I say it’s creating and changing the environment. So we focus a lot on speaker series.

So we have a program where we go into corporations and bring the role models we bring in the C suite leaders in corporate America who go into large organizations where they would talk about their journey. So it’s not only women or men, but everybody in the organization get to hear a female story from being an engineer or from mailroom to the C suite leader in fortune 50 company. And I think that’s inspirational.

So we do speaker series, we do data and AI literacy program. So our goal is to create this inclusive learning environment where professionals get to see and change the behavior without saying or pointing like, listen, when somebody tells me you have to do the diversity training, like, listen, I teach at Columbia, and I have to do diversity training. And that is so boring.

He’s like, oh, my God, yet another training, you know. So that’s not interesting. The way you do it is when you include, and you reason and you tell stories that people can relate.

And changing the behavior comes through, you know, really experience share. And when it becomes a, you know, you create those aha moments for employees that they then understand and change the behavior instead of telling you, they become the part of the conversation.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

So true. Asha, what’s the, you know, the flip side of challenge is opportunity. What’s the one that’s most exciting you at this point?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the yeses excites me. And those challenge, you know, is a challenging opportunity, right? As you said, when somebody says no, that gives you it makes you think, why no, why are they saying no?

And you think about why is this not an important initiative for them? So I think it makes you think differently and makes you become more creative and innovative. So I think yeses reassure gives you reassurance.

And the noes give you the opportunity to be creative and think outside the box. So I think if you had to say what is the opportunity, and I think the opportunity is, how do you continue creating the movement? So listen, any movement has been created.

It has not been easy. So I cannot say that it’s easy for what I’m building and creating. I personally have days when it is super hard. And oh my God, you know, how am I going to do it? How do I continue doing it? But I also think that when you get those yeses, it gives you a little relief. And when you get the noes, you say, okay, now let’s think about it a different way, you know, be more creative.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I love that perspective. I love how you put, you know, the reality is we are going to get a lot of noes. We are going to hit a lot of barriers, speed bumps, what have you. It’s what you make of it. And how do you use that as either reassurance or an opportunity to pivot or move in a direction where you may still achieve your goals, but you’re meeting kind of people where their heads are. So I love that. You know, as we look in the future, I am curious to learn and go back a little bit in your history. And I would love for you to share two instances, one, where things exceeded your own expectations, and became success beyond your imagination. And another one where things did not work out as you had expected, became a failure and became a lesson.

 

[Asha Saxena]

So many, oh my God, I can go on for hours on that. My God, so many failures. It’s crazy.

And when success is happening, you’re like, wonder, is it really happening? Like, let’s sit down for two minutes and say, oh my God, things are going right. You know, and just get ready because things are going to fall apart again, you know? So it makes you humble. You know, when you say being humble, it’s like, makes you humble because once you become successful, you realize you’re going to come down. And when you come down, hopefully you’ll go up again. So the positive, which was a surprise, is when I was writing the book, I worked two years on writing the book on 2019 to 2021. And my publisher said it’ll publish in October 22, 2022. And I was like, great, you know, I worked really hard, two years, put the effort in.

 

And then they called me in September and they said, sorry, there’s a huge line and backlog and we cannot publish until February of 2023. So I was like, you know, I was only writing it for me. I didn’t have any marketing budget. I didn’t have any promotions. I said, I don’t care. As long as I get my thoughts out in the world, that’s all I care about. And guess what happened in November? ChatGPT came out. What happened in January?

Microsoft invested $10 billion in open AI. What happened in February? My book comes out.

And who had, who could have timed that, that beautifully?

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That’s amazing.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Now the book has been on the bestseller list on Amazon for 35 weeks.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Wow. Congratulations.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you. And you know, a part of me was like, it’s just luck. I was at the right time, you know, I just, everything. And then I found out another, somebody I know also wrote a book during that time. And I was like, Googling, I said, let me check what is their ranking. And their ranking was like 2000. And my ranking was like always between 50 and 70. So I was like, okay, there must be some credit to, you know, what I wrote. But that was definitely a happy surprise. And it would have to be like the right time at the right place. And, and I counted my blessing and I was very grateful to the universe for making it happen. And what was, and I’m telling you my, my healthcare business, it was a great business.

We had built a really solid data model and analytics on the patient data for healthcare system. It was used by Hackensack University Medical Center, Frederick Memorial, a great product. And then I had a VC come in. And, and I basically was politely removed from the CEO role. And that didn’t work out really well, the way I expected that company. And I cannot tell you, of all the companies I’ve built, I’ve built three companies, all the companies I’ve built, that was the most impactful company in the healthcare data set, because we were improving the quality of the patient outcome. And just because of the politics, you call it or the timing, it just, for me, it didn’t work out the way I expected it to. Externally, you could say it was a success, because it was implemented in big hospitals. But the way, I think when the VC came in, it was not the way I wanted the company to be operated. And that was a huge disappointment, because I spent so many hours, waking hours, I mean, I used to work 20 hours a day, every day. And I did everything I could. I mean, I had the right team, I had invested a lot in the business, you know, I did everything right by the book. And for me, I didn’t get the end result the way I wanted it. And that was the biggest disappointment, I would say in my career, because of what a great product that was. And you know, the exit wasn’t as ideal as I expected.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Thanks again, for being so open and transparent. These things, these experiences are not easy to live through, but even more difficult to share openly. So I really applaud you being so transparent. And, you know, as for the success of the book, luck, maybe, but I do believe good things happen to good people. And, of course, all that experience from the past 30 years, bringing it all at the time when people actually care about this, and it’s all over the place. Yeah, couldn’t be happier for you. So that’s awesome.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Asha, this brings us to my favorite part of the show, which we call the one line life lessons. I’d love for you to share your one line life lessons with us.

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, I have to say my biggest life lesson is when you give you get more. And I think in life, if you’re a giver, you will be happier than if you’re a taker. And I think any relationship you want, which would prosper or do well, you need to be a giver in that relationship. And if that relationship is with life, you want to be a giver for life. And I think if you adopt that in your life, I cannot, I mean, I cannot express how it has benefited my life being a giver.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

Yeah, I mean, you’re doing that right now with Vilda. I mean, as we talked about it, you wake up every morning, trying to be a champion for one or several people in the community. And look at what you build, look at the energy you have the passion you have for it. So yeah, that’s awesome. Do you have any other life lessons you would love to share?

 

[Asha Saxena]

You know, the giver is the biggest one. I would say that be hungry. And it’s so important to be hungry for knowledge for growth.And if you’re hungry to constantly learn and be a lifelong learner, I think it pays off really, because you have to constantly keep reinventing yourself. If you’re not reinventing yourself, you’re not going to go to the next stage. And if you’re hungry, you will focus on figuring out how do I get the knowledge to go to the next level. So I would say 100% focus on being hungry, learning and growing and investing in yourself.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

That is so true and so valid at every stage of life. And again, you lead by example. Asha, thank you once again, for sharing your life lessons, for sharing your story, and your journey.

And more importantly, for being you and doing what you do. Really appreciate it. Thanks again for making the time to be with us. And congratulations, and wishing you all the success in the future here. We’d love to bring you back on in some time and talk about more of your successes.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you so much, Nitin. I hope the listeners take one little bit and hopefully improve their lives.

 

[Nitin Bajaj]

I know they will, for sure. Thanks so much, Asha.

 

[Asha Saxena]

Thank you.

 

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashasaxena101/ Linkedin: 

 

Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa),  is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, author, and data expert with extensive experience in the fields of data science, 

artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. She is the founder and CEO of Future Technologies Inc., a global consulting firm specializing in data management, analytics, and AI solutions. Asha is also the author of several books on data-driven business strategies and has been recognized for her contributions to the industry. She is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, known for her expertise in helping organizations leverage data to drive innovation and growth.

 

Youtube: 

In this episode of The Industry Show, host Nitin Bajaj interviews Asha Saxena, founder of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WiLDa), about her journey in technology, entrepreneurship, and her mission to bridge the gap between business and technology. Asha shares insights into the impact of WiLDa, challenges in promoting responsible AI, and her one-line life lessons. Join us to learn from Asha’s experiences and her passion for creating a positive impact in the world.

 

Highlights: 00:45 – Asha Saxena describes herself as a passionate, driven person who cares about leaving a positive impact in the world.