Conversations with an Entrepreneur
This next interview is special to me. In this session I chat with my sister-in-law Pragya Saboo. I’ve always been amazed with her schedules and her involvement in practically everything! She is an accurate example of an all round entrepreneur. I first briefly met her at my apartment in Mumbai and then re-connected with at the Georgia Tech Graduation. My brother and her met and dated through college. Ever since then, she’s been a driving force in his life! I love her energy, her enthusiasm and curiosity not just professionally, but also personally. In this interview I go over the various internships she’s taken up along the way as well as a few initiatives she has started herself!
1. Tell us a bit about yourself
I’m an entrepreneur and product manager - I love creating and building things! I’m one of the cofounders at Aara Health (a health and wellness startup focused on Indian Women). I also run my non profit - PROJECT XXI (focused on youth literacy and education). My day job is as a Product Manager at Asana (NY). Prior to Asana I was a Product Manager at Oscar Health in New York. Originally from Calcutta, I did my undergrad in Atlanta and graduated with a B.S in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2017. In my free time I’m a Bollywood Zumba Instructor, and also the President of GT Women Alumnae Network NY.
2. What do you enjoy about your current job?
I love being at the intersection of engineering, design, and business. Product Management allows me to not only think of the strategic direction of the product but also allows me to work on the very executional and tactical work as well. I love the part where I get to collaborate with almost every single department across the company and have the opportunity to learn from them as well!
3. Let’s zoom back, Can you describe a few challenges you faced while finding your first internships at Ernst and Young and Uber ?
The biggest challenge I faced was getting my foot into the door. Most big corporations did not hire rising sophomores or rising juniors so getting even an interview itself was a challenge. I had to really network a lot, reach out to people incessantly, and face several rejections and no replies. However, each of these things taught me a lot and gave me a lot of opportunities to improve myself.
4. How was your experience doing research at Gerogia Tech, what did you learn?
It was a really interesting experience! I research a few times - once for an HCI project and once for climate change. Both were vastly different scopes but I had great professors leading the research so I got to learn a lot and develop a muscle to apply my theoretical knowledge with analytics to practice.
5. How did your internship at Waste Management help you gauge the industry and build connections?
My co-op at Waste Management allowed me to deepen my understanding of the corporate world in America. It enabled me to get exposed to a completely new industry and directly apply some of the skills I had learned in school to the job. It also gave me an opportunity to build a structured thinking process, make connections with really passionate and bright individuals, and hone in on my analytical, communication, and critical thinking skills.
6. What learnings did you take from your internships that helped you co-found Hubble,For the environment, Project XXI and Aara health?
Few of my biggest learnings were:
Communication: Being able to communicate effectively is one of the key drivers to success. It allows individuals to collaborate better and drive meaningful change
Adaptability: A lot of the things that we end up doing at different jobs are learned on the job itself. It’s really important to be prepared for that!
Self-awareness: I became a lot more self aware and was able to identify my strengths and weaknesses accurately over time. This also gave me an opportunity to work on things I could improve on.
7. Would you want to change your journey of navigating through the different internships? If so, how and why?
I learned this the hard way the first time, so I made sure I did not fall into the same trap for any subsequent internships - starting EARLY is KEY! Being early allows you to apply to many places, gives you room to improve and grow as an interviewer, and shows pro-activeness and intent to the employers. Starting early for internships & full time both is extremely critical.
8. Any advice you would like to give recent graduates, especially those who are finding it difficult to navigate and find a path, especially amidst a pandemic?
It is unfortunately a difficult time out there - learning to accept failure and building resilience will definitely serve you in the long run. You are not alone!
Adding some tactful advice below:
Reach out to as many people as you can and attempt to strike meaningful conversations with them. Reach out to friends, friends of friends, friends parents, school alumni, second degree connections - anyone you can think of!
The more you apply, the higher are your chances of finding a job. It’s a numbers game!
Do not underestimate the power of interview prep. Interviewing is a SKILL - the more you interview the better you will get!
9. How did your different volunteer experiences shape you not only professionally but also personally?
Volunteering really helped me build empathy and put others’ needs over mine. Empathy is also a core skill needed to become a successful product manager. If only one can empathize with the customer can they truly build products the customers care about.
Volunteering also allowed me to gain a wide spectrum of perspective and build a deeper and more holistic knowledge of the world around me.
