As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, it’s time to reflect on the remarkable achievements of women across all spheres of life. In India, at the Samsung Innovation Campus, women are breaking barriers and driving innovation in technology, paving the way for a more inclusive and diverse future.

Samsung’s CSR program ‘Samsung Innovation Campus’ in India upskills youth in future tech domains such as AI, IoT, Big Data and Coding & Programming, reiterating its commitment to being a strong partner of India and working alongside the Government in its mission to empowering the country’s youth and Powering Digital India.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has caused technology to develop at an unprecedented pace, with the most advanced technologies such as AI, continuing to shape industry and innovation around the world. By pursuing research and work in STEM fields, these young women are breaking down societal barriers and showing how anyone can become leaders and innovators of tomorrow.

One of the Samsung Innovation Campus programs in Vishakhapatnam had an all-girls batch of 153 students, reiterating Samsung’s commitment to diversity. All the young women were mentored and trained at Dr Lankapalli Bullaya College, Vishakhapatnam. Among 153 students, 75 were trained in AI and 78 in Big Data.

Here are some inspiring stories of women making a difference at the Samsung Innovation Campus in India:

Pushing Boundaries to Learn Machine Learning

Meet Mansi Pandey, a passionate student at the Samsung Innovation Campus. Mansi wants to design and implement programs that empower young women to pursue careers in technology. Through her machine learning skills, she wants to help young women acquire valuable skills in coding, software development, and artificial intelligence.

“Before Samsung Innovation Campus, I never had mentors who could teach me anything about AI or ML. I was always struggling to find the right kind of education.”

Mansi is now working in Gurgaon as a trainee at a tech firm but she wants to make sure that she passes on her skills to younger women in the family.

“I am on a journey of learning but whatever I have learnt during my course at Samsung Innovation Campus, I am teaching my peers because it is my dream to be a part of a community of women in STEM. We are all pushing boundaries together to learn and grow,” said Mansi.

Mansi’s dedication to bridging the gender gap in tech education is truly inspiring.

Leading by Example 

Shrabani Behera, a Coding & Programming student at Samsung Innovation Campus, is challenging stereotypes and redefining what it means to be a woman in STEM. With her strong analytical skills and attention to detail, Shrabani has learnt coding and programming to become a data scientist in the future. The only girl in her family to study science, Shrabani has always loved learning about the design and development of applications.

“I come from Sambalpur in Odisha. It is a city of art and textiles. I grew up around a lot of history and culture, but my interest was always in technology.”

“I wanted to know how the smallest of applications worked on mobile devices and the number of people being able to access them at once really fascinated me. Seeing my fascination for numbers, my mother inspired me to take up science and mathematics even though women are not motivated to go into STEM,” said Shrabani.

Shrabani made it to the course with many hurdles in her way and now she has been working towards educating children and young women in her community to take up STEM.

“Until and unless young women know the benefits of STEM, they won’t take it up. I want to motivate them to not give up,” Shrabani added.

Her journey serves as a reminder that gender should never be a barrier to pursuing one’s passion in technology.

Innovating for Social Impact

Sneha Verma is a 3rd year B.tech student in Lucknow University. She joined Samsung Innovation Campus for the course in AI to become an AI scientist in the future. Taking inspiration from Social Worker Mother Teresa, Sneha wants to use her skill set to work towards women’s safety in India.

“My dream is to become an AI scientist. I want to research in the field of AI and use the technology for women’s safety in India. My innovations are going to be easily accessible so that anyone can afford them.”

“Samsung Innovation Campus taught me that success lies in a solid plan, clear goals and constant learning,” said Sneha.

Becoming a Pro at Data Viz

Sunaina Banu’s dream is to live her father’s dream who is also her biggest inspiration and role model.

“My father is an engineer and I think I got my love for STEM from him but when it came to learning the nuances of Big Data, Samsung Innovation Campus handheld me in this journey of growth.

Sunaina wants to become a Data Engineer to bring data driven modern solutions to environment related problems.

“I am from Bangalore. We have some of the most beautiful parks and oldest trees in our city. People know Bangalore more for its traffic than the trees, so I want to bring a data-driven solution to this problem once I become a data engineer.”

“Samsung Innovation Campus has allowed me to dream bigger and better,” said Sunaina.

To honor International Women’s Day on March 8 and reflect on the value of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Samsung Newsroom sat down with Samsung employees from different backgrounds ­— from executives to new hires and DEI managers — to hear their thoughts on the company’s thriving DEI culture.

“Diversity is the engine of sustainable growth in a global company, and Samsung is committed to Innovation for All,” said Younghee Lee, President and Chief Marketing Officer of Global Marketing Office at Samsung Electronics.

“As a global company, our brand philosophy emphasizes solving customers’ problems and helping them enjoy a better life with our technology and innovation, regardless of their region, race or gender in any part of the world. We are making an effort to genuinely share this value with customers while supporting our mission throughout the organization,” she said.

Lee urged employees to establish a culture of accepting differences by “listening to colleagues’ opinions and having open discussions so that each person can fully realize their capabilities based on their unique background.”

In celebration of International Women’s Day, she advised women to always be themselves and trust their potential. “I believe that if women challenge themselves and pursue what they truly want — in a way that’s true to who they are, rather than blindly following others — it will be a meaningful step forward not only for them but also for society as a whole.”

As a designer for Samsung Electronics’ Interaction Design Team responsible for inclusive design, Gunho Chae considers the brand’s wide customer base to develop products and services that respect the diversity of all users.

Samsung developed a glossary of terms to inform its inclusive language and created guidelines and training materials so employees are well-equipped to incorporate DEI values into all user interface elements and images.

“Samsung accepts all customers and recognizes their differences — regardless of their age, disability, family structure, gender identity, race, culture or socioeconomic status,” said Chae. “We respect all users and strive to make our products, services, manuals and advertisements relevant to our customers for an enhanced user experience.”

Michelle Anne Manglal-Lan, who oversees DEI at Samsung Electronics America, seeks to create an environment where employees can smoothly communicate, understand and learn from each other. She is particularly committed to providing motivation to female employees and fostering a corporate culture where they feel empowered to unlock their potential. Last year, she organized the Americas Employee Resources Groups (ERGs) conference to establish a network for collaboration and share best practices in DEI.

“The ERGs were born out of our employees’ interest and engagement with DEI,” said Manglal-Lan. “Together, we are stronger and can achieve our goals faster. I’m proud of the fact that our North America Region is the first office to launch an ERG.”

A new employee at Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display (VD) Division, Jiyoon Jang realized the company was more diverse than she had imagined when she first stepped foot in Digital City, Samsung’s Suwon office. “We received DEI training during our new employee onboarding sessions, and I realized the importance of an inclusive culture in a place with such a diverse group of people.”

“I knew Samsung made donations to social responsibility efforts,” she said. “Since joining I also learned that the company is sincerely committed to developing technologies that are truly inclusive.”

Relumino Mode for people with low vision and Audible Subtitles for people who are hard of hearing are among some of the projects the VD Division has developed to make the company’s products more accessible — and align with the department’s slogan, Screens for All.

“I hope the products that I work on in the future will contribute to diversity and inclusion and that I will be able to take pride in what I do,” Jang said. “I believe that discrimination against minorities and intergenerational conflicts stem from ignorance, so I am working hard to educate myself by attending sessions and reading about diversity, equity and inclusion whenever I get the opportunity.”

As a global leader in technology and innovation, Samsung aims to lead by example and advocate for gender equality and the empowerment of all women in the workplace. What’s more, research shows that workplaces that excel in DEI drive better outcomes for businesses, including better employee engagement, talent retention and higher financial achievements.

▲ (From left) Clara Han from Corporate VP/Head of Group/Procurement Group 2 at Samsung Electronics, Megan Detwiler from Samsung Austin Semiconductor, Manavi Pathak from Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore (SRI-B), Adam Eaglefield from Samsung U.K. and Maria Fernanda Gonzalez from Samsung Mexico

In celebration of the global holiday, Samsung Newsroom sat down with employees in Asia, North America, Europe, Southwest Asia and Central and South America to share stories about the company’s DEI culture. Check out the interviews below to learn how Samsung is creating a safe and inclusive workspace for all its employees.

Women Supporting Women Through Open Communication

On top of being the Head of Procurement for Samsung’s Visual Display division, Clara Han is also a working mother of two children in elementary school.

“Although there is now growing movement around men participating in parenthood, women still have difficulty building and continuing their careers uninterrupted due to having children,” said Clara. “As a result, Samsung continuously strives to create a culture where employees can be recognized and grow regardless of gender, nationality or age.”

“We are trying to create an environment where each group member understands and acknowledges the individual differences so that everyone can receive the same opportunities, receive a fair evaluation and perform their best in every situation,” said Clara. “Every voice matters, and having an attitude of listening to everyone positively impacts efficiency and performance at work.”

Megan Detwiler, an engineer at Samsung, became involved with Women in Technology at Samsung (WITS) shortly after she started working at Samsung Austin Semiconductor. Within the program, Megan runs various campaigns to help raise awareness about DEI among employees. While she applauded WITS’ professional development opportunities for women, including industry conferences, classes and monthly meetings, for Megan, the most rewarding part of the program was its sense of community.

“Through WITS, I have been able to connect with people across all aspects of the company, meeting people in technical and non-technical roles, at every level of leadership, from technicians and professionals to vice presidents,” said Megan. “People like that at Samsung, especially in WITS, are invested in ensuring you are set up not just to succeed but truly grow and thrive here.”

“WITS helped me find my voice so that I have not only that confidence but also the courage to amplify other women’s voices as well,” said Megan.

Manavi Pathak, Head of Learning and Organizational Development at Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore (SRI-B), is also an active member of the Samsung Women’s Accelerated Network (SWAN). She highlighted how an inclusive workplace successfully meets the needs of the women who work there, noting how Samsung’s DEI initiatives and culture allow talented women to succeed.

“Women are themselves demanding more from work,” said Manavi. “At Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore, we have women’s leadership development programs, diversity hiring goals, day care policies, special leave, flexible schedules and more, all of which have supported my professional development and well as the careers of other woman colleagues at Samsung Research.”

“The COVID-19 crisis has reimagined the way we work. More and more women want to work for companies prioritizing cultural change and improving workplace flexibility, including employee wellbeing, diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Manavi. “Companies that rise to the moment will attract and retain woman leaders.”

Adam Eaglefield, an Engagement Team Manager at Samsung Electronics U.K., is also a member of the Women @Samsung ERG and its Male Allies team. This association runs mentorship and networking programs to develop female talent. He says that to realize DEI, the most important part is that we must not only listen to women but also break through unconscious prejudices and understand each other’s point of view.

“Allyship is fundamental in any cause or movement,” said Adam. “In this case, male allies can champion women in the business and industry in all interactions, from working to see representation at senior levels to ensuring women are represented and heard in everyday meetings.”

“As an ally, I make sure that I actively listen to women and their experiences, frustrations, passions and desires,” said Adam. “We must learn more about one another’s perspectives, and our own privileges and unconscious biases, and most importantly, come together to act in a positive way.”

Maria Fernanda Gonzalez, Senior Manager of Public Relations and Communication at Samsung Electronics Mexico, is also a member of Women at Samsung (SEM-S). She spoke about why she appreciated working for a company that actively empowers women and embraces equity.

“Samsung has supported me by giving me all the means to grow, not only by providing me with opportunities to grow in leadership roles but also by giving me the tools to go beyond my goals,” said Maria Fernanda. “I can be an empathetic team player that contributes to the development of my other team members.”

“I am confident that with more strong female leaders who can inspire the next generation of women, we will be able to close the gender gap in the tech industry,” said Maria Fernanda.

Lunch Talk & One Table: Gathering Employee Feedback To Improve Women’s Experiences at Work

To create a work environment that anyone can enjoy, Samsung holds annual events and campaigns for employees all over the world to celebrate special DEI days, including International Women’s Day, International Day of People with Disability and World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. For this year’s International Women’s Day, Samsung’s management and female executives will hold a Lunch Talk meeting to discuss ways to improve DEI. Samsung also will have a One Table event hosted by Jong-Hee Han to listen to the concerns faced by female employees, including female developers and working moms, and to discuss ways to foster female leadership.

The ideas discussed at the meetings will then be delivered to the DEI Secretariat and integrated into organization management. The participants and leaders of each organization will discuss how Samsung can make a consistent effort for gender equality and suggest various opinions to management, ranging from employee mindset to systemic improvement for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Global Women’s Week: Celebrating Diversity, Inclusion and Gender Equality

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Vice Chairman Jong-Hee Han and President and CEO Kye Hyun Kyung deliver a message emphasizing the importance of gender equality and DEI to all employees of the DX Division. Vice Chairman Han underlined the value of diversity, equity and inclusion with his determination to “make an effort to form an organizational culture where all employees from various backgrounds feel that they’re part of the organization.” He emphasized his goal to help employees “fully unleash their potential through equal opportunity.”

▲ Samsung Electronics holds gatherings for female executives and employees around the world , running annual forums and programs for women’s networking and career development.

About 5,000 Samsung worldwide executives and employees worldwide interested in DEI actively participate in Samsung’s 33 ERGs, which offer everything from networking and mentoring to education at ERG. These groups work hard not only to improve the experience of Samsung employees but also to volunteer and give back to the local community. Among them, these large-scale women’s ERGs operate programs for networking and career development of female executives and employees, striving to strengthen women’s capabilities at work.

Every year since 2017, One Family Council has been holding an annual “Pink Box” charity event at Suwon Digital City for young women from low-income families. This year, a “Pink Box” containing DIY keyrings, women’s items and encouraging messages will be delivered to 100 teenagers.

▲ Every year, Samsung Electronics delivers a “Pink Box” containing feminine products for the healthy growth of underprivileged female teenagers.

During the week of International Women’s Day, overseas regional head offices also hold meetings with female employees, DEI webinars with external instructors and panel discussions, in addition to offering vacations for female employees, gift delivery events and more.

Samsung continues to work toward creating a space that goes beyond being just a workplace and fosters employees’ growth by letting them unleash their potential. Samsung’s move toward making an organization where employees and the company can grow together is accelerating the steps toward a better future.

In order to highlight this important day in the global calendar, Samsung Newsroom sat down with three female employees to hear their experiences of fighting the bias, achieving their career goals and helping others to do the same.

Vice President of the Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics, Jaeyeon Jung is the team leader for SmartThings, and not only works hard to bring the best experiences to SmartThings users around the world, but also to help junior colleagues grow.

“It is an unfortunate reality that the proportion of female colleagues to male does decrease as the responsibility a role has increases,” noted Jung. “But just as my bosses evaluated me without prejudice and encouraged me to take on new challenges, I, too, want to share as much as possible with those junior to me and to help them grow without any discrimination based on gender, nationality or age.”

Sumedha Bakhshi, Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Lead for Samsung SWA and Chairperson of the SIEL-S D&I Council, believes that each and every individual possesses unique talents, passions, beliefs and lifestyles. Throughout her career, Bakhshi has had to face stereotypes about the role of the woman in her home country, battling through them to successfully advance her career time and again.

“In one of my previous roles, I faced a lot of resistance when I applied for the role of Quality Leader, since it seemed to go unsaid that women were ‘not good’ with numbers or analytics,” noted Bakhshi. “However, I overcame this prejudice with effort, passion and my own abilities — resulting in my assessment scores being better than all the other applicants, landing me the job. At Samsung now, it feels great to be part of a team that values you for your unique strengths. I have always had the full support of leadership in all the projects I’ve undertaken — my recent promotion within the company was only possible because I was evaluated based on my own abilities alone. Everyone should be given a fair opportunity without discrimination or prejudice.”

Svetlana Chervonnykh manages Soft Skill Development for Samsung partners at Samsung MENA CS, and is steadfast in the belief that an accomplished woman is a happier and a stronger woman. Not only does Chervonnykh have ambitions for her current role in changing people’s perceptions of services, she also dreams of opening a healing retreat for women in order to nurture their inner and outer health.

“I believe that women have secret superpowers thanks to their natural femininity and softness, something that is actually incredibly useful in work environments,” said Chervonnykh. “My immediate boss is the only female leader in the Samsung MENA CS team, and she sets a great example. Among those I work with, regardless of gender, I find everyone very cooperative in fostering a comfortable environment in which to work.”

Breaking the Bias by Fostering Support for All

By fostering a culture that embraces all kinds of diverse talents, Samsung supports all of its members to feel a sense of belonging and to realize their potential based on equal opportunity. Every year on IWD, the company arranges a variety of events for employees all over the globe to highlight this community of respect, inclusion and diversity.

As a celebration of this year’s IWD, Samsung has organized a global campaign amongst its employees to submit photos of them making the IWD’22 official pose — using the arms to form the letter ‘X’ — in order to bring together Samsung employees from all over the world virtually through a collage of solidarity. As well as this, the company has prepared a special IWD video that sees female Samsung employees going about their lives and routines and sharing their support for the IWD cause.

Furthermore, on March 8, the company is hosting regional lunch webinars beginning with Korea and continuing on in a relay format in Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and North America, with staggered starting times to align with the different time zones. These webinars, held under the theme of ‘Breaking Prejudice and Making a Better World’, will see expert guest speakers share their experiences and engage with employees on the topic of fighting prejudice.

A Better World, Without Prejudice

As well as organizing these special events to commemorate IWD, Samsung continues to work year-round to end discrimination in the workplace and foster an environment where all people can thrive regardless of such factors as their gender.

“We at Samsung will continue to work hard to guide our female employees to find the roles that befit their strengths and capabilities, and help them achieve their career goals,” said Jong-Hee Han, Vice Chairman and CEO at Samsung Electronics’ DX Division. “We will increase our support for our future female leaders through a range of diverse mentoring and networking programs.”

Kyehyun Kyung, CEO and President of Samsung Electronics’ DS Division, also shared a message of support for the company’s employees. “We aim to ensure every member feels a sense of belonging and realizes their full potential by embracing the value of diversity and inclusion.”

This International Women’s Day, we decided to give a challenge to women at Samsung India.

We organized a virtual Walkathon, via the Samsung Health App, wherein women from across the country put on their walking shoes to complete either a 3K or a 5K walk. Why?

Because fitness, both mental and physical, is the best gift one can give themselves. We ask why can’t every day be Women’s Day?!

So over the weekend, on March 5 and 6, women from across the company walked, some alone and some with their families.

“A healthy body and mind is extremely important for women, so it was definitely a great way to make women feel empowered,” says Vandana Rajput, who is part of the Customer Service team at Samsung. Vandana came first in the 3K category of the walkathon.

The second and the third place went to Manju Yadav and Neha Chopra from the Customer Service team. The Samsung Health App made it very convenient for all the participants to track and report their progress.

The App also offers a range of fitness programs, different ways to manage your stress and take up challenges.

Pallavi Negi in the HR Shared Services team at Samsung India says she was really excited even before she started her walk.

“Before I started my walk, I thought 5K is going be so much fun as I walk regularly but wasn’t used to a 5K. But I did and it truly was an empowering experience,” says Negi.

This was her first 5K attempt and she intends to continue walking regularly with a schedule now. She came third in the 5K category. More power to her.

Debbi Susan Chembakassery won the first prize in 5K category

The first place in the 5K category went to Debbi Susan Chembakassery from the Health and Medical Equipment team, based in Hyderabad while Sugandha Berry from the product sales team came second.

Debbi Susan Chembakassery felt this was a great way to push her limits and begin a fitter life. She is already a regular walker and her days are incomplete without a customary after-work walk. “But covering 5 km was definitely something new for me. I feel more powerful now,” she says.

On International Women’s Day, here’s to a resolution for better health and a better body and mind.

Read more about the top features that make the Samsung Health App a woman’s best friend: https://news.samsung.com/in/top-features-that-make-samsung-health-app-a-womans-best-friend

In order to celebrate International Women’s Day this March 8, Samsung has put together a compelling campaign capturing the stories of female employees from across the company’s various regions and fields in collaboration with several talented artists. Take a look at the full video here.

Samsung Newsroom sat down with three of these female employees of Samsung who are thriving in their fields and embodying the qualities of diversity, tolerance and confidence in the workplace.

Samsung employees from around the world who embody the spirit of achievement through support and embracing diversity. From left to right: Katrina Burns, Samsung Electronics Australia; Vanisri Srikrishna Jallapelli, Samsung R&D Institute India – Bangalore; Miyoung Yoo, Samsung Electronics’ Digital Appliances Business

Achieving Results through Open Communication, Diversity and Respect: Katrina Burns

In the workplace, collaboration and honest communication with everyone, regardless of their background, is imperative. Katrina Burns, who is in charge of designing UX (User Experience) at Samsung Electronics Australia’s Retail Experience & Operations, focuses on yielding results through collaboration and respecting the opinions of all her teammates.

Katrina believes that free discussion and the exchanging of opinions lead to better results. Sometimes, when needing to come up with a new idea, she and her team take a walk in a nearby park, an initiative that she explains provides more flexibility and brings a better energy to discussions.

Katrina’s team is encouraged to take interest in each other’s interests and celebrate each other on their personal achievements, including birthdays. Every Friday, the team makes music playlists across different genres in order to get to know each other’s tastes; what’s more, the team even takes part in a ‘Thank You Friday’ event where they share things that they have been grateful for over the past week.

All these initiatives were introduced by Katrina with one goal in mind – to bring all teammates closer to one another in order to facilitate better results, and to build a support network that spreads consideration to all members. “Trust builds between team members based on the knowledge that each member can ask another for help whenever they need it,” shared Katrina.

Katrina, who was born and raised in New Zealand and spent a number of years working in Australia, has been lucky enough to have many strong women around her to inspire her. She hopes that more women will develop the confidence to go as far as she has; “Women need to remember that they are capable of becoming whoever and whatever they want to be,” she affirmed. “I, myself, aim to become a leader who not only performs well but also improves the lives of those she works with.”

Supporting Growth through Equal Opportunity: Vanisri Srikrishna Jallapelli

No matter how much talent an individual may have, it can never quite be fully realized without the right opportunities. Vanisri Srikrishna Jallapelli, Technical Program Manager of Samsung R&D Institute India – Bangalore, says that the greatest strength of the company is its fair systems and the equal opportunities it offers.

Vanisri first worked on a project with Samsung in 2003 and officially joined the company in September 2008. She was able to fully immerse herself into her work and constantly challenge herself thanks to a company atmosphere that respects and embraces diversity.

Thanks to this culture wherein equal opportunities are given regardless of gender, Vanisri managed to thrive based on the trust and respect of her teammates and team leader. “The prejudice that women cannot excel in the field of technology does not exist at Samsung,” affirmed Vanisri. “Here, women can truly unleash their full potential.”

Vanisri shared that punctuality and continuous, sincere communication are her keys to successful collaboration. She is also grateful that she is now able to assist younger female employees thanks to her own experiences. “When helping other colleagues, I also end up learning new things, and through that, we grow together,” she explained.

Despite her success so far, Vanisri still aspires to achieve more, with her future goal being to become a leader in the technical program management field of Samsung. “Nobody here has rejected me just because I am a woman,” she noted. “I will continue to strive to become an exemplary colleague.”

Inspiring Others through Passion: Miyoung Yoo

Miyoung Yoo, Senior Vice President at Samsung’s Digital Appliances Business in Korea, is regarded as a model leader by many younger colleagues. This is because she continues to follow her dreams and passions by challenging herself to become the best in her field.

Her path to reaching the position she currently holds has not always been a smooth one – as a working mother with two children, it was hard for her at times to find a balance between her work and home lives. However it was through the kind words of her senior colleagues, who assured her that no matter the struggles she faces now, there will come a time when she will be retelling her story with a smile on her face, that she was able to find balance and kept striving to achieve her passions.

Looking back over her experiences, Yoo noted that she has seen positive changes, including improvements in the employee’s childcare management systems and parental leave allowances. She stressed that, in order to further cultivate a culture of diversity and acceptance, it is important that efforts are continued to listen to the voices of people from all backgrounds.

Respecting the diversity of colleagues in the workplace is an essential element of today’s society to help us all develop and work for a better tomorrow. Samsung Electronics considers diversity a priority and works to ensure that every employee feels as if they belong to teams that embrace diverse talent and provide equal opportunities for unleashing each and every member’s potential.

Along this line, Samsung is celebrating International Women’s Day with a campaign in collaboration with talented artists to tell the stories of a diverse range of employees. These illustrated stories telling the experiences of twelve female employees at Samsung from around the world with varying roles will be available on Samsung’s The Frame Art Store¹ free of charge.

You can also visit Samsung.com to see the full stories and illustrations of these trailblazers from March 8.

¹ The Frame’s Art Store provides access to over 1,400 pieces of art from world-renowned galleries and museums.

Vanisri Srikrishna Jallapelli, a software engineer based in India, is one such shining example. Not only has she broken boundaries herself, but with over a decade of experience at Samsung, she is also passionately committed to empowering young women to achieve their goals in the tech industry.

Embracing Challenges and Pushing Limits

Family has always been at the center of Vanisri’s life. As a child growing up in the city of Pune in India, she spent most of her free time with her parents and her two brothers. They formed deep bonds while cooking traditional Indian dishes, developed a healthy competitive spirit playing cricket in the fields and challenged and encouraged each other on a regular basis. Family trips to different parts of the country also broadened Vanisri’s horizons.

“My family are my friends, and my parents are my role models,” Vanisri says.

Her mother taught her to meet life’s challenges with a positive and charismatic attitude, while her father instilled the strong values that shaped her work ethic and fueled her ambition.

Vanisri’s parents always encouraged her to take on new opportunities, but in her mind, she was destined to lead a simple life, close to her family. So, when she placed at the top of her class while studying computer science and was offered a developer position with a software company in Bangalore after graduation, she found herself at a pivotal crossroad – remain close to her family or leave everything she knew and loved for the chance to forge a career in technology. The latter prospect was certainly appealing, but Vanisri was unsure about this new direction in life. Her family had always urged her to spread her wings and grow, but her interest in seizing new opportunities wrestled with her desire to remain close to her loved ones.

“I was not ready to move away from my family,” Vanisri recalls. “But my college counsellor told me that I had earned the offer and shouldn’t be afraid of accepting the opportunity. My parents also encouraged me to become independent and pursue success.”

After several conversations with her family and a great deal of introspection and internal debate, Vanisri overcame her hesitations and fear of the unknown and accepted the position.

Initially, living alone in Bangalore was tough. But she drew from the lessons of her childhood experiences and met challenges directly while welcoming new opportunities with open arms. Before long, she found she had fully embraced her new life in the Silicon Valley of India. Her job not only enabled her to work at the forefront of technology, but it also introduced her to Samsung, which was one of her clients at the time, and allowed her to travel the world and learn from experts in different fields.

Inspiring Others to Succeed

Vanisri’s passion for improving people’s lives with technology led her to join Samsung in 2008. It was an exciting opportunity for her to grow professionally and Vanisri was determined to prove herself and make an impact. Subsequently, she spent her first few years at Samsung putting in long hours and struggling to strike the right work-life balance. Ultimately, she prevailed and found her comfort zone because she was passionate about her job and buoyed by the constant support of her family, who encouraged her to stick with it and find the harmony that would let her have it all.

In 2014, Vanisri took on a newly created role that was still being defined within Samsung – Technical Program Manager for the System SW BSP team She worked to ensure issues and errors in program execution were addressed, but found herself continuously trying to demonstrate the impact and importance of her position to herself. TPM’s traditionally operated separately, but she utilized her unique experience as a developer to embed herself within the R&D team and implement new ways of working that reduced pressure on her colleagues.

“Because the TPM position was newly created, making an effective impact was a challenge at first,” Vanisri shared. “I felt that this was a right time to showcase the power of that role.”

Vanisri’s work within the System SW BSP team was so successful that Samsung created a separate camera team TPM role and asked her to lead it. She is now responsible for driving the development of new camera experiences for more than 100 devices across Samsung Galaxy S series, A series and M series models.

Empowering Future Leaders

With close to two decades of experience in the industry, Vanisri sees herself as, not just an innovator, but also as a mentor to young female engineers. The number of women working in the tech industry in India continues to grow and she believes she can use her personal experiences to play a vital role in helping young women progress in their careers.

“When I work with junior members of my team, I try to give them as much guidance as possible and show them different ways to approach problems,” Vanisri explains. “At the same time, I encourage them to question their own methods, so they can discover new ways to develop solutions independently.”

Vanisri considers her ability to establish and build meaningful trust with her colleagues to be one of her greatest strengths. It’s a skill she developed and honed through her previous experience in R&D, which required her to work closely with the product teams to identify mistakes and quickly find solutions to issues while maintaining positive working relationships. She has been working remotely over the past year, but has remained dedicated to leading her team by example and ensuring that every member has continued to grow.

“Every day, I try to show my team that no challenge is too great when we collaborate and work together,” she says.

Vanisri is a veteran of the tech industry but she feels just as excited about the future of technology as she did the day she graduated. From artificial intelligence (AI) to Internet of Things (IoT), she is passionate about bringing next-generation mobile experiences to life and sharing new and exciting innovation with the world.

But most of all, Vanisri hopes she can help mentor young people to become leaders in the industry. She knows that, just as she did early on in her career, many are struggling to find a manageable balance between work and life, so she uses the lessons she’s learned to empower others. She also recently helped a colleague follow in her footsteps and move from the R&D team to join the TPM team. These efforts are at the core of what Vanisri sees as her next great endeavor – providing the next generation of talent with critical guidance and support that enables them to carve out their path and advance the tech industry in impactful ways.

“My family gave me the support I needed to grow and become a leader, and now I want to do the same for others,” she says.