This Christmas Eve, with my palm nestled in my beloved’s, I watched ducks bathe in the marsh as the sky above caught flame. Overcome by the elements manifesting themselves so magnificently, I called out to them, “Thank you so so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you!” …

In March 2020, after many meetings providing detailed feedback, I posted the following essay about my disturbing experience at the previous year’s Women in Management (WIM) banquet at Stanford’s business school. Despite prior approval to post, I was asked to take down the essay which I agreed to do temporarily…

Sometime in the mid-2000s, my cousin and I called each other excitedly during a Superbowl: Did you see that Indian guy in the Budweiser ad?! We felt we had finally arrived: to be included in something as American as beer and football! While I empathize with Hari Kondabolu’s campaign against…

In 2006, I spent a few months in India to help launch Google’s sales offices. It was a thrill to return as a professional to the homeland I’d left when I was nine. One day, I was excited to see a street vendor selling a favorite childhood snack. He charged…

I have surprised myself with my steadiness amidst the troubles of this year, of which the COVID-19 pandemic is the latest and obviously worst. I recently journaled to unpack what is supporting my steadiness so I could use it more consciously. I’m sharing the process I doodled as my journal…

I don’t know why I paused on this video in my feed but idle curiosity kept me watching. A previous colleague, now CEO of his own company, offered tips to sales reps on dressing for success. …

While waiting to meet a friend, I came across this wonderful essay on the new Black Panther movie. Even the abstract cut into me and immediately brought tears to my eyes: Ryan Coogler’s film is a vivid re-imagination of something black Americans have cherished for centuries — Africa as a…

One Thanksgiving during college, I brought home a few friends who didn’t live locally to the university. After dinner, we meandered through the social abyss of my suburban neighborhood and bought cigarettes at a nearby 7–11. …