Zoom to the Top
Ever since we’ve been locked indoors, a lot of things have changed. The new normal is to put our masks on wherever we go and the new excuse for not completing homework is “My dog ate my computer”! Not to mention what a pun-demic it has gotten! But ever wonder what goes behind it? Meet Nitasha! Basketball player, former Software Engineer, and currently Group Product Manager at Zoom - the first female Product Manager there! But first...
It has been a stressful month for all of us. With the elections, schoolwork at its peak, we’ve really had a long week. So, to start off our Glow Up Tech Virtual Party, we had a relaxing and rejuvenating meditation led by teen Meditation expert and student at San Diego State University, Maya Shah. She took us through a calming and mindful meditation to use whenever we want to, for a break, in the morning, when going to bed, right before a big test, anywhere! But the key she explains, is to get fully involved with the meditation, to reap its benefits. Sad that you missed it, no worries, click here for it all! With that, we kick started our virtual party!
Nitasha was born in New Delhi, India’s capital, and at a young age, her family moved to a small town in India. And we all know how moving is like. Honestly, more than anything, losing friends, packing boxes, for me, the hardest part about moving is remembering the new address! Until one day, she saw an empty basketball court nearby and decided to throw herself into the sport. She joined her high school team and led the team to the national championships. Not only that, when she began college, she created an all girls basketball team from scratch with teammates who had never played before and took them to the championships as well! From this experience, she learned how to take charge, persuade and influence other not-so-willing people (for good things of course) and she was really able to understand other people’s emotions, desires, and motivations and use that knowledge to better help and lead them. She advised us to find our passion, stick to it, get better at it and use it as a tether to the real world.
After her basketball days in school, she moved on to get her degree in Software Engineering from an all girls college. Now I like most of you, have a really hard time wrapping my head around an all girls school. Most of us have gotten so used to co-ed, that an all girls environment day in and day out is very baffling. But that’s where Nitasha studied. In that college, Nitasha studied sheltered away from the biases and prejudices women would have to face in the workspace. This later served her good, for she felt no hesitation to speak up and speak out for herself and considered herself equal to any man. The lesson here is that we shouldn’t feel held back or quiet down...speak up, learn, and empower yourself.
She began her career as a Software Engineer and then over the years made her way into being a Product Manager. What is a Product Manager? Visit our Instagram page where we posted about this in the first week of November. With a lot of hard work and mentorship, Nitasha got an offer from Zoom. Eric Yuan, the CEO, convinced her to join their team as a Product Manager when he shared his vision for the company. She believed in him and that it was possible to make video conferencing better for the end user. In this role, she comes up with new features for Zoom based on customer feedback, then gets the software development and design teams to work together, and then hand it off to marketing and sales teams. One of those features are the zoom filters like those fun hats you can put on or makeup/beauty filters!
We later played around with Zoom filters, backgrounds, features and Nitasha even got some feedback on Zoom from us! To sum it up, Nitasha said “If you don’t hold yourself back, the world won’t hold you back.” Many women before us have been pioneers in the tech industry as the world beheld the power of women and our capabilities. This is great news for us and I have much gratitude for female tech leaders like Nitasha. We will already be going in the tech world on the path the women before us have paved who are proving we are equal to what men can bring to tech as well.
I’ve left out some juicy details and if you’d like to hear the story from Nitasha itself, it’s available for viewing for a little while longer if you click here. For more such sessions with influential women in the tech industry, join this exciting venture and attend our Virtual Parties!
New Terminology Learned:
SAAS - Software as a Service
Product- an object with a purpose that solves a problem
By: Sowmya Venkatesh - Contributing Member of Glow Up Tech in 8th Grade
