When Purpose Meets Data

Come and listen to our Host, Candace Gish, as she chats with today's guest, Nidhi Gupta, for our “Determined, Not Distracted” Podcast Series.

This mini-series serves as your blueprint for a high-impact year, distilling success into three non-negotiables: Goal Clarity, Resilience, and Commitment. By sharpening your focus, hardening your mental toughness, and anchoring your habits in discipline, you’ll shift from chasing temporary inspiration to achieving unstoppable, year-long momentum. 

Nidhi is the CEO and Co-Founder of SheTO, the world’s largest private community for women and non-binary engineers and engineering leaders. Less than 9% of engineering executive roles are held by women. SheTO is working on changing that. 

SheTO has impacted the careers of thousands of women across the globe. Members of SheTO come from all over the tech industry, from executives at Fortune 50 companies to small startups. Through its impactful programs, SheTO is growing leaders at scale. SheTO was recognized for its contributions by the White House in 2024. 

Prior to founding SheTO, Nidhi was an accomplished engineering and product executive who has built, scaled, and transformed companies. She has extensive expertise in strategy, R&D, business development, and operations. As an Engineering and Product leader, she is passionate about building and growing thriving operational organizations that deliver world-class products at scale. 

Prior to founding SheTO, Nidhi was the Chief Product Officer at Hired, Upwork, and Ning

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nidhihgupta/

https://www.sheto.org/nidhi-gupta-bio

We explore how Nidhi Gupta built SheTO into a 5,000-member global network for women and non-binary engineering leaders, and the concrete steps that move representation from 9% toward 20%. We share programs, results, and a mindset shift from helplessness to purpose.

• why SheTO started and the leadership gap
• accelerators and workshops focused on promotion
• annual summit energy and peer learning
• quarterly virtual career fairs with direct recruiter access
• Future Leaders Fridays for visibility and role models
• global hubs expanding across major tech cities
• annual State of Women in Engineering Leadership report
• a 10-year goal to reach 20% women engineering executives
• practical ways listeners and allies can help
• purpose-driven actions to stay determined, not distracted

For more Divas That Care Network Episodes visit www.divasthatcare.com

Transcript

Welcome & Network Mission

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It's Divas that Care Radio. Stories, strategies, and ideas to inspire positive change. Welcome to Divas That Care, a network of women committed to making our world a better place for everyone. This is a global movement for women, by women, engaged in a collaborative effort to create a better world for future generations. To find out more about the movement, visit divas that care.com after the show. Right now, though, stay tuned for another jolt of inspiration.

Meet Host Candice And Milestone

Series Theme: Determined Not Distracted

Introducing Nidhi Gupta And SheTO

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Well, hello everyone, and welcome back to the Divas That Care. My name is Candice Gish. If this is your very first time tuning in to us, a huge welcome. We have been doing this now for 16 years, and it is crazy how time flies. You know, I always base it on how long, how old are my children, and how many years have I been doing this? So it has been a wild roller coaster ride, and it has been so much fun. We have done so many things over the years. We have so many amazing hosts that have joined the Diva Zat Care Network, and we're so excited to be doing podcast series now, where we invite all of our hosts to participate in this. So it's so much fun. We have some amazing guests, and I hope that you enjoy them. Today we're going to be talking about determined, not distracted. That is the name of our podcasting series. And I am very, very excited to be welcoming to our podcasting series, Nadhi Gupta. And she is going to be inspiring each of you guys today. So welcome to the podcast, Nadi.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Thank you for having me, Candace, and congratulations on 16 years of amazing content. I just cannot appreciate the work that you're doing enough.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Oh my gosh, thank you so much. Well, it's because of all of you guys out there and these amazing guests like yourself that come onto the podcast that we're able to do this and to continue inspiring so many people out there. Would you mind introducing yourself to our listeners today?

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Sure, sure. I'm the founder and CEO of a company called SheTeo. Today, SheTio is the largest global network there is for women and non-binary engineering leaders. Our network today has over 5,000 members across 65 different countries. At SheTio, we host a ton of programming. We host an annual summit, regular events, we also offer accelerator and programs and workshops, all designed to accelerate the careers of women in engineering delivered by experienced engineering executives. To further drive the community to engage with each other and build community with each other, we also have global hubs which give members the opportunity to really come together in meaningful ways and impact each other's careers. Prior to founding SheTio, I was the chief product and technology officer, CPTO for short, of various tech companies in the Bay Area where I built and scaled, built, scaled, and transformed their strategies and products.

Why SheTO Began: Stats And Loss

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Oh my gosh. How did you get into this? What made you decide to start this amazing organization?

Motherhood, Role Models, And Aspiration

SPEAKER_02 3:16

So it's an interesting story. And growing up in technology, and especially in engineering, you know that there are very, very few women around you. You know, just 15% of engineers are women. Less than 7% of engineering execs are women. So the numbers are just abysmal. I was getting to that point, you know, and in rapid succession, life always, you know, happens while you're focused on your career. In very rapid succession, I lost both my brother and my mom. And I think their passing kind of was a pivotal moment in my career. It really got me thinking about my purpose and the meaning of my work. And it was during this time that I was doing this introspection that I came across, you know, a study which said that less than 9% of engineering exact roles are held by women. And I really thought, I'm like, somebody must be doing something about it. You know, we make up 50% of the world's population. How can only 9% of us be in this amazing this raw important role? And I looked around, no organization was working anything, was doing anything about it, was working on solving this problem. They were not even, there was nobody who was even elevating this problem. So literally, that's really when I had an aha moment. Literally the next month, I went to my CEO and I quit my job and I started Sheetia.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

I love that. And as a mother of four daughters, thank you so much. We need amazing women like yourself to do that.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

Yes, and I'm the mother of a daughter as well. And you know, our daughters inspire us in in such amazing ways, right? And uh, you know, I really thought that I really thought about it deep, and I was like, wait, if if I, having been in the industry for as long as I have, don't know of 15 other women in this role, then how is my daughter going to aspire to be us? And so yeah, so I'm really grateful to be them to be the mom of a daughter.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Oh my gosh, is your daughter in engineering also?

SPEAKER_02 5:50

She is not, but she does aspire to be in engineering, which is exciting. She's she's a high schooler.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Oh my gosh, I love that. Well, you know, congratulations. I think that's wonderful. I have one left in high school. My rest of them have gone to college. And one actually just graduated in a male-dominated field. She is now a journeyman uh parts technician. Oh wow. I was like, congratulations, because it is to have that red seal and to know that she can work anywhere here in Canada. I I was so proud of her. And she doesn't realize how much of an accomplishment that really is. And like, as you were saying, in a male-dominated industry, it's you don't see women, but if you can be one of the women to really inspire others, why not?

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Yeah, exactly. That's amazing. Congratulations to her and congratulations to you.

Building Programs That Drive Impact

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Well, that's thank you so much. I, you know, I want to talk a little bit about more about this organization. I want to know exactly what you're doing in ShTO.

Summit Energy And Community Growth

Virtual Career Fairs And Hiring Access

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Yeah, so you know, I think so. Let me just talk a little bit about how we got started and you know, my my original theses going into it. When I started SheTo, I really just wanted my goal is just to get more women into the C-suite. Uh, I didn't start ShTO2 for it to become this global network or this community. I didn't even know, you know, more than I would say 20 other women in this field. And my hypothesis going in was if I impact one person's career, that's missions, mission served. And and and and my hypothesis going in was I will just provide enough value, and if I provide enough value, then people will come. So all of our programming that we host today, that we continue to host, is all based on how much impact it's delivering. And I think that hypothesis really worked out for us because if something was not impactful, I I cut it, we didn't do it. If something was truly meaningful uh for our members' careers, we've continued, we continued, we continued and we double down on it. And that's really how our network has grown, our growth has come, our programs have been developed. And that's really you know the the beauty of this you know organic movement that we've that we've created together. So today we host so we originally started, we started right at right on the right when we were coming out of COVID. The world was kind of used to connecting over Zoom and everything. So we started the community by creating a Slack channel where you know everybody got to virtually chit-chat with each other, connect with each other. Then we started hosting events, which we still do. And these were all virtual events, so anybody from from around the world could join and connect in you know with each other. Sometimes they would just be happy hours, other times we would have speakers. It was just a mechanism to come together and learn from each other. Then as we grew, it seemed like it would be great to have some structured programs to truly help with the acceleration of our members' careers. And that's how our accelerator programs and workshops came about. Our accelerator programs and workshops have been phenomenal. We have had over 500 participants in these programs. 47% of the participants of participants in these programs get promoted within the first year. So the results that we have seen are just incredible. And then a few years down the road, um, people were like, you know, we were out of COVID. The hunger was to connect with each other in person. And the request from the community was to host a summit, to host a conference. And initially I was like, no, it's just too much work. Uh, but ultimately, you know, I gave up and we hosted our very first summit, which was an in-person summit. And it still gives me goosebumps thinking about the summit. Uh, it was just such an empowering and uplifting experience to see to get together in person, to see other amazing leaders and the work that they were doing, to get inspired by each other and just to be in the same room of these high-powered executives, all women, you know, sharing their stories and learnings. Um, and you know, that's become an animal feature now. So, you know, like I said, organically we've developed programming that our members have requested, and that's delivered impact. And that's one of the reasons why Sheetio just continues to grow. Uh, I just I just could not be happier, uh, you know, as to how far we've come.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

And you've also done your virtual career fairs. Tell me about that because I think that is brilliant.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Yes, yes. So, you know, again, it comes with the with the desire to to help our women uh get into the C-suite, uh, and we and we want to help them in a variety of different ways. So a couple of years ago, when the layoff started to happen, um we very rapidly came up with you know a variety of different programs to help and support those who were getting impacted. We did, we hosted interview workshops. Even today we have various interview support groups where you know our members can join and you know lean on each other, do mock interviews with each other, resume reviews, what have you. And and uh last year, as companies started to hire again, we decided that we need to bring these roles to our members, uh, especially in this market, where the market is just flooded with candidates, it's just particularly hard for folks to get connected with recruiters. And our virtual career fairs are very different. We not only bring roles to our community, we also connect our community directly with recruiting teams so that they can bypass all of the noise and they can connect directly with each other. So at least we can ensure that they know what the companies are looking for, what recruiters are looking for when they look at you know somebody's resume. And our hope in partnering with these companies is in our is that at least your resume will get looked at. Um, so so they have they've been amazingly successful. We host them every quarter. They're they're free for anybody to join. And we have had amazing partners uh in partner companies who have brought their roles uh to our members.

Visibility: Future Leaders Fridays

SPEAKER_01 13:18

It is beautiful. I love what you are doing in this community, and you are also showcasing them with your future leaders' Fridays. I love that. What an amazing thing, just to keep on showcasing these amazing women out there.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Yep. Yep. Because, you know, when we think about tech famous technologists or technologists who are having an impact on this world, we people don't often think about women. Um, and and you know, you you mentioned future leaders, and and the way that the reason that came about is two years ago, New York Times published, you know, Top Voices in AI, and they were all men. And I mean, the godmother of AI is Fei Fei Li, and she's a woman. So that's really how that initiative started, where I was like, you know, let's make the world aware that there are some amazing women who are who have who are who are leading the way here, uh, you know, and and let's not forget about that.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Well, there isn't a lot of recognition, and I'm so glad that you're doing that because we definitely need that. And this is how we inspire the next generation. This is how women like you inspire my daughters because they need to see that there is somebody that is lighting the path for them to continue to do the things that they want to do. This is just the baby steps, and you're saying it just happened naturally, but it's going to grow so much, and there's going to be so many more people that are going to be impacted by it.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

Yes, yes. I'm excited. I'm excited at the impact that we're delivering today, and I'm excited, you know, as to as to where we get to in the next 10 years. I love it.

Ten-Year Goal: 20% Women Execs

SPEAKER_01 15:00

So, what is next for Shitio or next for you?

Hubs, Partnerships, And Annual Report

SPEAKER_02 15:04

So, you know, my big goal is less than 9% of engineering exec roles are held by women today. In 10 years, I want to move that number to 20%. Uh, and I truly fundamentally believe that we can get there. Uh, what's next for me in the immediate short term, in the next few years, is to continue the work that we're doing, continue to continue to build on the foundations of the programming that we have today and bring it to more and more tech hubs across the globe. Uh, just last year we we opened our, we expanded our local hubs from 4 to 12. We are now not only in the US, but also international as well. We have hubs in London, Seattle, uh, sorry, London, Toronto, and within the US, in Seattle, San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, Boston, New York City. Uh, my goal over the next few years is to pretty much be present in every single big tech hub that you see. Um, I want, yeah, and I want to continue partnering with companies, at least companies that still care, um, and uh to bring our amazing programming to their members. Um, in conjunction with all of the programming that we're hosting, that we're doing, I also really want to elevate this issue so that we, everybody in tech understands how acute this problem is. So last year we launched our first uh state of women in engineering leadership report. We published our first report in October of last year, and it highlighted not just the gaps that we see in um representation, gender representation in tech today, but we also double down and looked into why that is, what the causes are, and what possible solutions there might be. Uh we showcased companies that were doing a good job and why they were being successful in um in having an increased representation in their organizations. Um, my hope is to continue to publish this annually uh in order to continue to raise awareness of this acute um uh representation gap that we see in the industry today.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

I love your vision. And that's exactly why you are absolutely perfect for this month's podcast, because you do have vision without limits. I can see that, and I'm just beyond excited for everybody to get to know you on our tribe here.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Thank you. Thank you. Right back at you.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

It's it's amazing, isn't it? When like-minded individuals can come together and they can initiate change, and this is what we need right now, and and this is what you're doing. You are a very amazing diva, and we're so happy to welcome you to our diva family. So, Nidhi, what other things is there things that maybe our listeners can get a part of? Can they bring more awareness to this in any way? Yes, 100%.

How Listeners And Allies Can Help

SPEAKER_02 18:31

So, first of all, um, definitely there are various ways to uh check out she teo and the work that we're doing. Uh and you can you can join our network. You can, if you know other women uh uh who would benefit from us, uh definitely uh point them to our website. It's shtio.org. Um, and if you want to help, there are various ways to help. We are a registered nonprofit. Uh so you know, we want to make sure that we are doing work for the community and for you. So you can help us by spreading the word, you can both on social as well as you know by pointing others in your network to our website. And if you're an ally and you want to help, you know, there's there's there's space for allies as well. Um at, you know, I often say this that we can't do this all by all by ourselves. If 91% of the engineering exec roles are held by um allies, we we need to bring them along with us. So uh there's room and space and work for each and every one of us uh to do. Uh let's let's join hands and work together.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Wonderful. Thank you so much. This has been so much fun. I do hope that you come back on the Diva's at care again and then we can talk about some more things.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Uh yeah, I would love to.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

I would love to. Perfect. Is there any last minute tips or tools, things that you would like to inspire our listeners with?

SPEAKER_02 20:06

Yeah, so I think I think your your theme of the month uh is actually very relevant, determined, not distracted. Uh so I just wanted to just touch upon that, especially at this at this time in this universe that we exist in. Uh, I think especially for the US, uh it's it's been a very rough few years. Um and and I think I would to to anybody listening, if your heart is heavy as mine is, I would say it's easy to give into a feeling of helplessness and it's easy to feel like a victim, but you don't have to. Each and every one of us can do something. So find your purpose. If you don't know what your purpose is just yet, it's okay, it'll come to you. Don't push it. But find something that you can do, you can contribute in ways big or small. Big being, you know, quit your job and start doing something like I did, which I don't recommend for everybody. And small could be donate to an organization as much as you can uh to an organization that you believe in, right? So you each one of us can make a difference uh in ways big or small. You can donate, you can volunteer for a few hours, you can do just focus on doing something kind, doing something meaningful. And trust me, that feeling of helplessness will slowly peter away and you will not be as distracted anymore. It'll just arm you with more determination than ever to make a Change to make a difference.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

I love that. Thank you so much. That was absolutely beautifully said. Thank you. Thank you. I absolutely this is, I just I'm just blown away. Thank you so much. I've had so much fun and I do really want you back on again soon.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Oh, all right. We'll we'll exchange notes in a couple of weeks.

Closing Gratitude And Kindness

SPEAKER_01 22:22

We'll do that. Yeah. Oh, well, again, thank you so much to my amazing, amazing guest, Nadi. I'm I'm so glad that she was able to take her time today to chat with us. It's also important to do something kind. Like she was saying, the divas that care is always about kindness first and supporting one another. It's really important in a world of uncertainty that we are there to lift each other up. So until next time, everybody, make sure that you do something a little bit kind today. Take care, everyone.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Thanks for listening. This show was brought to you by Divas That Care. Connect with us on Facebook, on Instagram, and of course on divas that care.com, where you can subscribe to our newsletter so you don't miss a thing.