Does being a wife and mother forever prevent you from furthering your education?

Women in India are often brought up believing that having a successful marriage and bringing up children is the ultimate goal of life regardless of whether you graduated at the top of your class or were recruited by the most prestigious of corporations. But there are women like Rajshree Sharma who defy social norms and return to education and achieve success in their chosen profession.

Rajshree married at the age of 17, and her marriage presented several challenges in her life. But she still freed herself from her constraints and chose to return to college to get her degree and equip herself with computing skills. Now an Executive Vice President, Rajshree has the ability to steer her company on a path that engages customers in a great user experience and improves efficiency by coordinating the company's business, operations, and technology objectives. In addition, she is a specialist at defining the direction of a product and ranking its needs considering the needs of the marketplace to meet the company's overall objectives with the available resources within an optimal timeframe.

Rajshree described the ups and downs of her professional life, as well as the insights she's acquired along the way, in an exclusive interview with the Women Entrepreneur magazine.

What are some important features of your expertise as a business leader?

Having started in 1994 as a developer at NIIT, I've since held several executive positions. My commitment to my work is an important factor in my success, I have lived by the motto 'Nothing is Impossible' throughout my professional life. For me, the term IMPOSSIBLE includes the words 'I M Possible' within it. My optimism helps me embrace challenges and helps transform hurdles into opportunities for development; this drives me consistently in my leadership journey.

What are the various responsibilities you shoulder as the Executive VP-Customer Engagement for Vidyatech? Tell us about your major focus areas in the said role.

My primary responsibility, as Executive Vice President, Customer Engagement, is to expand our network of valuable business relationships. One of Vidyatech's two lines of business is learning content technology, where I participate together with the rest of my team in the development and support of various Learning Management Systems (LMSs). In addition, we ensure that digital information is accessible to visually impaired people; this is a growing concern worldwide and especially in the United States.

Our second line of business is in the Cyber Security space. We have a product called DashMagiq and other cyber security offerings. DashMagiq essentially lets you manage alerts created by multiple Data Loss Prevention (DLP) software through automated workflows and provides a unified dashboard to provide status across DLP software at a glance. It facilitates the delegation of tasks to the appropriate personnel and lends businesses a voice in the decision-making process for data loss prevention policies. Several of India’s most important financial institutions are already customers of DashMagiq. The government of Singapore has also adopted it. My focus is now on introducing our Cyber Security services to the North Americas market.

In your opinion what are some of the most significant milestones that you have achieved throughout your professional journey?

The first significant accomplishment I've had since starting this work has been automating the development of Computer Based Training (CBT) and supporting about 200 content developers all by myself within five months of my joining as a trainee. Following that, designing and developing an Enterprise Learning Management System at atime when Learning Management Systems were not widely available in the market. I even traveled to Europe to deploy it at various client locations in a big organization with multiple locations in 1999. The next significant event in my life was when I was hired by Microsoft, where I was identified as a high-potential employee and very quickly became a Principal LeadProgram Manager. And then, in 2014, another significant event in my life was when I joined Vidyatech Software.

"My tremendous commitment to the work was the single most important factor in my success, and i have lived by the motto 'nothing is impossible' throughout my professional life"

Drawing from your experience as a business leader, what would your advice be to young women and girls who also aspire to become business leaders and entrepreneurs in the future?

First and foremost, I would recommend having big dreams. While I had just started working at NIIT at the time, the firm held an awards ceremony on my second day there, and I spoke with my manager about the possibility of attending it although I was a new employee. During that ceremony, I saw individuals making their way up to the stage to accept awards that had been bestowed upon them in appreciation of their endeavors and contributions to the organization. My goal from that day forward was to stand on that stage, and within a very short time frame, I did just that, earning multiple awards from my employers. Therefore, dream big and go for them., Keep in mind that nothing is impossible. When you decide to pursue your passion, you shouldn't let the setbacks discourage you. Consider each one as a lesson waiting to be learned. Have confidence in your abilities and don’t let anyone or anything stop you.

Rajshree Sharma,  Executive Vp - Customer Engagement, Vidyatech Software

Rajshree graduated in software exports. She has spent a significant amount of time with two industry stalwarts, NIIT Inc. and Microsoft Corporation. Today, she serves as Vidyatech's Executive Vice President Customer Engagement