Leader Profile: Women's Day Campaign
By 2024, Accenture Marketing had tapped me to improve external content for high-profile initiatives, advising leaders about articles, keynote presentations, site content, etc.
In that capacity, I often did the writing or PowerPoint work myself, as with this leader profile for the International Women's Day talent diversity campaign, "Be without limits".
This profile was one of four meant to inspire women with STEM skills to join the company.
This is What a Life Without Limits is Like
1 March 2024 | Julie Roth
"Look at a waterfall or a river. A river carves its own path when allowed to flow naturally when there is no dam on it, when there's no one stopping it. It just flows and takes its natural course. That's where the beauty is."
For Sejal Parikh, that's what it is to be without limits. Unstoppable, like a force of nature.
Like Sejal.
Raised without limits
When she thinks about it now, Sejal realizes her parents raised her to be without limits. "My parents truly believed that we can become better individuals and more confident when we take our own decisions and they don't try to impose theirs on us."
As it turns out, Sejal's decisions were unusual for a woman of her time. She got an engineering degree. She pursued a career of her own. She moved her family from their small town to Mumbai for bigger opportunities.
She won't tell you it was easy. She had to go ahead to Mumbai on her own until her husband and daughter could join her. "But when you start to dream big, and you want to be unstoppable in your dreams, you take these decisions and follow through."
Accenture without limits
It was in Mumbai that Sejal found Accenture.
"I have been lucky for being in Accenture where we let people be without limits and have always had great support from leaders to be myself."
For her, being without limits here means, "I'm never bound to the specific roles that have been given to me. Absolutely I do those roles, but I never shy away from asking what more I can do."
Her bold, limitless sensibility benefits Accenture too. "I am known to be a person who takes roles out of my comfort zone, where I have had the opportunity to push myself further and raise the limits. And there have been multiple times when I have taken certain decisions which have been very bold, which have been very well appreciated."
In her leadership role, Sejal loves helping our clients define the best solution when they need to completely reinvent their enterprise. Her engineering background makes her uniquely qualified to help them move to a clean digital core and composable architecture.
She's also "extremely passionate" about being part of the Executive Council's drive to make Inclusion and Diversity a business priority at Accenture Technology Center in India and for our clients. She leads the charter of elevating communities outside of Accenture and making a difference where it matters most - such as spreading science, technology, engineering and mathematics {STEM) awareness in young girls at school.
Engineering without limits
Sixteen years into her career here, Sejal can look around at a lot more female engineers than when she started. In fact, with people like Sejal as role models, women now account for almost 50% of all entry-level engineers at the Accenture Technology Center in India. Here, at least, no one is limited by their gender.
"The needle has moved a lot from when I was studying to where I see today," says Sejal. "I'm extremely, extremely proud to see this journey."
© Copyright 2024 Accenture, used with permission
