Before Cisco was a logo on a campus poster, it was a dream I was not sure belonged to me.
I grew up in a small village in Uttarakhand, India, in a lower-middle-class family. My father is a farmer, and my mother runs a small dairy business. I watched her work in the fields from 3:30 in the morning until 8 at night. Her determination shaped me long before I understood what a career could look like. I wanted to build a life that would give my parents more comfort and security.
The Interview I Never Expected To Pass
When I completed my master’s degree, Cisco was the first company to come to my college for on-campus hiring. Throughout my life, I had studied in government schools where we learned in Hindi, and English was still a barrier for me. I had only just started writing exams in English.
When I entered the room, I was literally shaking, but the interviewers immediately handed me a glass of water and said, “As much as you would love to be a part of Cisco, we also want to see you at Cisco, so just give it your best.” One of them told me, “Communicate your thoughts in whatever way you can. Language can always be learned, but what we’re really looking for is passion and strong communication skills.” That kindness changed everything.
That conversation became the beginning of my journey. Only three people from the master’s batch were selected.
I was one of them.
In 2019, I joined Cisco as a technical consultant intern in Bengaluru. I could hardly believe it, and I remember staying awake that night thinking about how someone from my background had reached a company so many students dreamed of joining.
Cisco gave me the chance to grow into the person I had hoped I could become.
A Career That Kept Opening New Doors
When the pandemic changed the way we worked, I became curious about life on the other side of the world and working across different cultures, but I didn’t want to leave the community that had supported me — I had learned the foundations of technical consulting, made lifelong friends, and even met my husband at Cisco. My search led me to Poland, where my manager, Piotr, took a bold bet on me. He sponsored my move, patiently navigating the visa process and keeping me connected to the team throughout the wait.
A few months after I arrived, team changes created a massive gap in supporting major enterprise customers. Instead of letting that overwhelm us, Piotr and our leadership team gave us the confidence to step up. I got to help hire and mentor new team members while managing those key accounts — an experience that gave me tremendous confidence and visibility.
My career at Cisco has been a series of “uncomfortable yeses” taking me across three continents so far. I shifted into implementation engineering and eventually moved into leadership for Customer Delivery Engineering, where I now lead the product adoption function for ThousandEyes Professional Services, helping our most strategic enterprise customers solve real business problems while driving growth for the business. Throughout this journey, I’ve had the privilege of scaling teams, defining and governing programs like our ThousandEyes regional onboarding standards and global customer adoption playbook, and earning a CE Impact Award for cross-regional leadership in Customer Experience.
Along the way, I have seen bright, generous colleagues push themselves while making room for others to grow, which inspired me to do the same. I am still learning, but I found myself bringing people together, helping connect the dots, and making sure people felt supported when things got difficult. It is a shared effort, and it taught me that leadership is not about having all the answers. It is about showing up, creating clarity, and making it easier for the team to do their best work.
From India to Poland and, most recently, the United States, where I now live in North Carolina, each move brought a new role, new expectations, and new lessons. They also provided me with opportunities I once would have found intimidating, including the chance to step onto a stage.
For my first speaking session, I was surrounded by young students who were about to graduate, and I could see how they looked at Cisco as their dream company — just like I once did during my own college placements. That made the session feel very natural.
Cisco Live, however, was much more nerve-wracking. The room was full of people with years of industry experience, all there to listen to me, which felt almost unreal. My manager, team, and husband supported me throughout. My manager shared speaking tips, my team helped me practice through demo sessions, and my husband encouraged me to submit the session and prepare the content.
When I walked out of that room, I felt like a much more confident person. It made a huge difference. That’s why I always encourage the people I mentor to give public speaking a try. Most of us have stage fear, but sometimes doing it just once can change how you see yourself and what you are capable of.
The People Who Make the Difference
What makes Cisco special to me is not just the scale of the technology, but the people who encourage you to take the next step. My husband and I met as interns, and his support has been one of the steady parts of my journey. We each moved from India to Poland and later to the United States through different roles and opportunities, but somehow at the same time. Looking back, pulling that off feels nothing short of a miracle.
Reflecting on it all, I’ve realized that the ‘constant’ at Cisco is the profound respect and transparency I’ve found in leadership. Whether I was in India, Poland, or the US, I’ve been able to be honest about what I want, and my leaders have always responded by treating me as a partner on the same journey. Having my husband as a partner who truly understands the rhythm of this life — and having a leadership team that treats me with this level of respect — has made every career risk feel like a shared adventure.
Cisco has given me more than a career; it has given me a community and a life I once could only imagine. Most importantly, Cisco helped me create a more peaceful and beautiful life for my mother and my family. That is the part of my story I hold closest. Every promotion, new role, presentation, and move has meaning because of where I started and who I wanted to support.
The Courage To Knock
For me, Cisco started as a dream I could barely say out loud. It became a career across three continents, a circle of people I love, and the opportunity to change my family’s life. I have learned that growth often begins with an uncomfortable yes — and that the next door may open only after you find the courage to knock.
Ready to take the next step in your global career journey? Explore opportunities where you can grow, thrive, and make an impact at careers.cisco.com.
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