How Identity Has Influenced a Senior Product Manager at Amazon's Career
As a first-generation female college student from a conservative Indian village, the career path was challenging due to a lack of guidance, requiring "spend[ing] a lot of time talk[ing] to a lot of seniors to understand...the best thing to make." This experience, coupled with being the first female in their family to work, highlights the significant impact of identity on career navigation, though access to online tools like LinkedIn proved invaluable.
Overcoming Challenges, First-Generation College Student, Networking, Career Development, Leadership
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Hema Chalamalasetty
Senior Product Manager
Amazon
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
UCLA Anderson, MBA
Engineering - Chemical
Technology
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
International Student, Immigrant, Worked 20+ Hours in School, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Hema's experience as a first-generation college student and female from a conservative Indian village shaped her career path. She had to independently research career options, network extensively (using tools like LinkedIn), and self-define her goals, unlike those with mentors or family guidance.
2. Navigating her career required Hema to proactively seek advice from senior professionals and conduct thorough research to understand various career choices and their associated paths to success. This highlights the importance of self-reliance and resourcefulness in career development.
3. Hema emphasizes the challenges she faced as a first-generation female professional, particularly in a community where female education and careers are less common. Her success story underscores the importance of perseverance and leveraging available resources (like the internet and LinkedIn) to overcome such obstacles and achieve career goals. Her experience inspires future generations facing similar challenges.
Transcript
As a first-generation female college student, how has that impacted how you navigate your career?
It's a very important element of my career that I'm a first-generation, female graduate. I come from a conservative village in India where I studied. No one in my family had attended good colleges or could guide me.
Making every career choice has been difficult. I've had to spend a lot of time talking to seniors to understand the best decisions. For example, I had to figure out if coming to UCLA Anderson or pursuing an MBA in the US was the right choice for my goals.
Not knowing the possibilities for different career paths was a challenge. You're always on your own, searching the internet, reading, meeting people, and sending cold emails and messages. This helps in defining goals and understanding the path to success.
It wasn't extremely difficult, but it was challenging compared to having someone guide you. Secondly, being a female, I come from a community where there's still a struggle for women's equality and education. I'm the first female to be working in my family.
It's a very different background, and being here is excellent because I can share this with the next generation. However, it was challenging for me. Access to tools like LinkedIn and the internet has been a huge help in understanding the landscape, gaining knowledge, and connecting with people to navigate my career.