Rita Kakati-Shah is an award-winning, gender, diversity, inclusion and career strategist, speaker, mentor and advisor to Fortune 500 companies. She founded Uma in response to her personal journey of motherhood, transitioning careers and entrepreneurship, and is dedicated to empowering women and minorities around the world. Prior to Uma, Rita lead Business Development globally in CNS healthcare. She began her professional career at Goldman Sachs in London, where she was awarded the prestigious Excellence in Citizenship and Diversity Award.
Rita has been featured as an expert on multiple international television and news shows, interviewed and quoted in various podcasts and publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Thrive Global, Dell Technology, PRWeek and iHeartRadio. Rita also hosts the popular South Asian television show, The Uma Show, on Mana TV International. She’s a best-selling author, and has co-authored books on women in business, diversity and inclusion.
Rita is also a trained and accomplished classical Indian dancer in the forms of Bharata Natyam and Xattriya, enjoys Post-Impressionist oil painting, is a foodie and loves trying new spots for afternoon tea around New York City, where she lives with her husband and two young children.
I’m so very honoured to have such an accomplished woman on my podcast so let’s get right to it!
In this episode, we discuss:
- What motivated Rita to leave a lucrative corporate job in Investment Banking at one of the top investment firms to pursue her purpose.
- How skills you learn in motherhood directly translates into skills you can use running a company.
- The number one thing stopping women and minorities from becoming who they want to be.
- How Rita uses scheduling and compartmentalizing to manage her time with her family and her business.
- What financial freedom means to Rita and how Uma embodies the qualities of freedom as well.
RESOURCES
- This is the article where I first interviewed Rita.
- Uma website
- Connect with Rita or Uma on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
- Email Uma.