Ms. Dubey who is born and raised in India has reached up the high ranks of corporate America quickly. She is one of the India-born CEO in the limelight for her stance on the Texas abortion law. She is the CEO of popular match-making sites, Match.com and Tinder. She was lately hailed by Mahindra group chairman Mr. Anand Mahindra.

When Texas lawmakers this summer passed a restrictive abortion law, the corporate sector of America was noiseless but not Sharmistha Dubey. She confronted the law rather than bypassing the controversy and speaks out.

More additional information about Sharmistha Dubey – 

• She was raised in Jamshedpur, India
• In 1993, she sought her bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur.
• Google chief Sundar Pichai was her classmate and friend in IIT.
• After graduation, she returned to Jamshedpur and worked at a steel company for a year
• She saved enough money to attain an MS to attend Ohio State University.
• After joining Match.com in 2006, she handled multiple leadership positions. For example, she became the President of Match Group Americas and the chief product officer of Match besides other roles.

“After I graduated, I went back to my hometown and got a job with the steel company. It became clear to me that the number of opportunities for me as a woman engineer in India was going to be limited. So, I worked for a year, saved up money, and a year later, I saved up $800 and took the first plane ride of my life to Columbus, Ohio, on a very, very cold night. I didn’t even know where I was going to sleep that night.” – She said in an interview with NYTimes.

One thing is for sure is that Ms. Dubey’s perspective and combating for employees and the concerned people undoubtedly puts her in the limelight. Her standing should always be there in the list of Indian Global CEOs for their noteworthy work for society.

Who would believe that the Auto Giant Ford had recruited its first women engineer from an Indian origin where women literacy lacks. In the early days of independence, it was very difficult for a girl to get into school. It’s an acknowledgment and respect to the work of Savitribai Phule who worked for the upliftment of women in the field of education. All these odds were contradicted by Damyanti Gupta, the first recruited women engineer in Ford. 

Damyanti Gupta was the first female engineer hired at the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. Her childhood was very ingenious and passionate just like many who dream big. As a child she lived in a small town of British India. All was changed when she read books about Henry Ford and was soon inspired by the speeches of Jawaharlal Nehru who called India to produce more engineers.

Initial Journey –

Born in 1942, Damayanti moved to Mumbai with her family after the partition of India in 1947 from Pakistan. She was raised ambitious by her mom who believed educating a girl is educating a future family. Her mother Gopibai Hingorani assured her that she was going to give her daughter something no one could take away, education.

When she was 13, Damyanti had the chance to hear the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The incident changed her life. Damyanti mentions this in an interview with the Time magazine. Mr Nehru said, “after 200 years of British rule, India has no industry and that we need engineers. I’m not just talking to you boys; I’m also talking to the girls.” It was the first time Damyanti heard the word engineer. The speech had a lasting impact on her, which boosted her will to become one of the first female engineers of her country.

She joined an engineering college, where she was the first female engineering student. She noted how the college didn’t even have a bathroom for girls.

Flying to US –

In 1967 the 25-year-old Damyanti approached Motor City, Detroit. Seeking a job at Ford Motors Company, her job profile was an engineer. She was rejected the first time, but she tried again. The HR person was confused looking at her resume. He said, “You’re applying for an engineering job, but we have no females here.” She retorted, “I’m here, and unless you hire me, you’ll never have any.” For the next 35 years, Damyanti was associated with Ford.

What an inspirational story it is for every woman and girls who dream big . If you want to salvage through the odds, It is just one spark and your will to achieve the dream.

Dream Big .. Go Big …  

Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed, it can only be converted from one form to another. The famous law is aptly applicable to Ulka Nagarkar, the President of Maharashtra Mandal Chicago. And yes, her name also suggest the same. Ulka, the meteor, an another form of energy.

Transformer as a Editor of Rachana Magzine – 

In the year 2015, Ulka Tai was elected as an Editor of Maharashtra Mandal’s trimonthly Rachana. In her stint as an Editor, she literally restructured the publication. She introduced Marathi literature in it and connected the new generation of Marathi people in US with it. Readers were given the opportunity to know about varied and rich Marathi literature as well as great writers. She also included spiritual subjects  and also made youngsters write upon a variety of topics. These efforts resulted into a completely changed look of the Rachana. All credit goes to Ulka Nagarkar for her out of the box thinking and efforts to implement it to perfection.

As a President of Mandal, she initiated the activities like Sahitya Katta, Adhyatma Peeth, Itihaas Manch, MMC news and Bolka Katta. In addition to that, online programs were organized for an entire year and on different topics like a Talent show, Atharvashirsha and many others.
Along with inviting professional artists from India, she started organizing programs by local artists. During Diwali around 125 local artists presented a well articulated program-thanks to consistent efforts of six months- and the inspiration behind this was Ulka Nagarkar.

Ulka Tai humbly says this is all teamwork of Marathi Mandal members and without every member’s committed support this was not possible to carry out the successful execution of the activities.

Helping others during Covid
Ulka Tai also initiated help during testing times of Covid and provided food, groceries and help to seniors. She got immense support from many other women, who equally contributed in this noble task.  As a part of Indian Task Force, she also got the opportunity to work for Indian students who were stuck in the MidWest part of the US. She also extended to help many Afro-American students who suffered during the Pandemic.

Big Tex, burned to the ground before a crowd of stunned fair goers.

An “unspecified electrical short” was eventually blamed for causing the spark that ignited the 52-foot-tall, 60-year-old towering cowboy, leaving behind only a steel frame and the two sleeves of his Dickies Western-wear shirt.

The new Big Tex, now 4 years old, boasts and even stronger steel frame, a fire suppression system and fire-retardant duds (lesson learned); he’s also got a moving arm in addition to the moving mouth. He’s taller, at 55 feet, and weighs 19,000 pounds more than his older self, bringing him to a total of 25,000 pounds.

A lesson learned; always to think ahead. Now that we have our big Tex back, we can go on ahead and enjoy that he is once again, here with us!