One might wonder how far your determination and tenacity can take you? Well, it can take you as far as you believe. Coming from a lower-middle-class family, one might think it is impossible to pursue their higher education in an Ivy League university in the United States, but Aishwarya Srinivasan didn't think so. She pushed herself to achieve what she had wanted from her academia and career.
Aishwarya completed her undergraduate studies in computer science at Vellore Institute of Technology. While at the university she had recognized her passion for data science and machine learning. In order to get industrial exposure, she stretched herself to pursue internships and eventually, she had completed 10 internships with companies like Microsoft, TCS and EY. She was focused on pursuing her master in Data Science and started looking out for opportunities abroad. She got accepted to Columbia University and got a scholarship to be a research assistant with a well-known professor.
During the summer of 2018, she started her internship with IBM's Data Science Elite team. She built a stock trading model using Reinforcement Learning methodology which was well-commended. She could successfully file for a patent to build a state-of-the-art model. Soon she started as a full-time Data Scientist. Aishwarya recollects, "It was an extraordinary experience to work in the Data Science Elite team. My mentors believed in my ideas and ability and introduced me to opportunities to work with clients around the globe. I travelled to London, Dubai, Mumbai and Istanbul for work. It was genuine passion turned into a career."
She mentions, what fuels her motivation is the idea of creating social impact using her skills. She says, "I need to be mindful of the impact that AI solution has on users and how ethical and sustainable it is. I believe if I can use my skillset to even help a small sector of the society, that itself will have a compounding effect."
Aishwarya is currently serving as an advisory board member for two non-profit organizations- AI for Good Foundation and AI Education Project. She is working to identify, prototype and scale solutions that stimulate positive change in accordance with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. She is also creating courses and educational sessions for high schoolers to explore career in data science and get engaged to work on real-world problems.
She says she strongly beliefs in mentorships, "I cannot emphasize enough on how important it is to have someone who believes in you, cheers you for your achievements and also becomes a critique when needed." This was the motivation that made her start non-profit mentorship platform called Illuminate AI and helps student and early professionals get the needed mentorship to enter data science and AI space.
As a woman in the technology, she believes, that to inspire women to pursue their career in STEM we need to build a more inclusive work culture. Aishwarya is an ambassador for Women in Data Science community, where she works towards creating awareness and uplifting women in underprivileged sections of the society.
