The Awesome Lady Engineer

Vijay’s journey to becoming a Senior Associate Scientist at Pfizer began when a chemistry book sparked a lifelong commitment to science. After spending her early years moving between the US and India, she faced intense pressure regarding India's highly competitive education system. Ultimately, a late pivot led her back to the US to study biochemistry at UT Dallas—a challenging path. Her first experience at Pfizer wasn't all rosy and there was no kind mentor in shiny armor to her rescue in her first rotation. Her resilience kept her going and finally got her to where she wanted to be. Join us in this chat!

In this episode of The Awesome Lady Engineer, Wenrui sits down with Swamini, a Customer Engineer specializing in 5G protocol stacks at a major San Diego semiconductor company. Swamini shares her journey from navigating intense academic expectations in India to managing the cultural and professional transitions of building a tech career in the United States. The conversation highlights the realities of entering the engineering field as an international student and the personal growth required to find your own voice.

Sherry has been an application engineer for 28 years and recently picked the official title of field product specialist as the field expert in DC. Her journey of education and job hunting took her to Boston and back to San Diego, and through a bunch of the up-and-downs for the tech industry. Join us to hear her story!

Maggie made a few pivots in her school years, from pre-med to physics, from a PhD in Electrical Engineering to a job in Machine Learning. Join us to hear her prison break from the clean room to land in a job in the hottest field right now - machine learning and AI.

Zoe started out her career in a leadership development program that allowed her to rotate through a bunch of roles in a software company and figure out what she wanted to do. However the path to come back to California wasn't easy. Join us to hear her story!

To start Season 2, I have my long term ally, mentor, friend Prof. Rob who used to teach at UCLA. He is a man, but that doesn't mean he didn't face any discrimination in his career. He had a very long career with a variety of titles and jobs, join and hear about his journey!

You may wonder where has Wenrui been this whole time since Season 1 was done. This short monolog will answer your questions. :)

The main show will return in August!

Akanksha used to be a one-girl variety show as a child who had endless energy and curiosity. College allowed her to explore many different subjects and topics and that led her to her job as a software engineer at my last company. She still has her dream to becoming an astronaut though! Join us today to hear Akanksha's story!

Shobhana has been my climbing partner and my curator of Instagram memes (yeah, I don't have an account myself). She moved from India to the US for her master's in Machine Learning before ML became THE HOTTEST topic. Join us to hear her story and how she coped with emotions and unexpected situations and got better and better at prioritizing her self!

Meghana studied computer science in India and followed the footsteps of many other engineers in the family, however she realized in her junior year that maybe this proven path isn't for her. She turned down the offer she received for a cushiony engineering role upon graduation and started a self-discovery journey that led her on a very different path. Join us today to hear her brave diversion from the default proven path out of engineering school!