By: Sweta Kale, Senior Director SW Engineering – NetApp, Advisory Council member – Thrive-WiSe

 

Throughout my career, as I moved from an individual contributor to a Senior Engineering Director, I always kept thinking about how I can give back to the STEM community that I am so much part of. The goal is to continue to influence STEM, help the under-represented engineering community break their barriers and thrive in their career paths. I was looking for options that would continue even after I retire from my day-to-day job. I started looking at non-profit organizations where I could strategically make an impact. More so, a non-profit focused on women+ in engineering than the broader women in tech community. After looking around for a few months, a colleague of mine introduced me to Thrive-WiSe, which focuses on women+ in engineering, product and program management. Post a few meaningful conversations with Rupa Dachere, President and Founder of Thrive-WiSe, I joined her team as an Advisory Council Member.  

For those of you who are not aware, let me shed some light on the role of an advisory council member in a non-profit. An advisory council member is part of a volunteer group formed within the non-profit to give advice to and support the governing board members. They normally help with fundraising, gathering advice, and assist, as needed, on specific programs as well as hone their leadership skills to prepare them to become a Board member in the future. 

Some of my key learnings from my role over the last 1.5 years are –

Connections: Being an advisory council member at Thrive-WiSe has helped me build good connections with senior leaders from other companies who are part of our advisory and board team. In one’s career path, I don’t need to emphasize how valuable these connections are. In addition, it helped me understand different leadership styles and the challenges and career paths that other women+ leaders of the team have taken.

Be a Panel Moderator: Though I have been a panelist in my career before, I did get an opportunity to be part of Thrive-WiSe’s micro-conference both as a panelist as well as a moderator. A moderator can make or break a panel session. I learnt how to engage the speaker as well as the audience, keep the sessions lively with well-coordinated content and above all keep a check on time. Infact, Rupa gave me the opportunity to participate in an IEEE technical panel on how to win in a career chess game. It was very engaging to hear from the other panelists in our team and Rupa’s journey itself. 

Path to a Board Member: To be a Board member, you need many years of experience as an Advisory member. You need to learn many operational aspects of how a non-profit works without being legally bound by or having to make key decisions for the organization. (That’s left to the Board members!). Being an advisory member at Thrive-WiSe has given me insight and helped me learn the workings of a non-profit so that I can continue to support and be a valuable member of the organization.

Thank You, Thrive-WiSe and Rupa for this wonderful opportunity and I look forward to many more years of working together to make a difference in the lives of many women+ engineers.

 

-Sweta Kale