05 Vasanta Pundarika: Investment Banker

The Driven Women Project

Vasanta works at the intersection of healthcare and finance as an investment banker,

and she is most passionate about investing in and advancing behavioral and

women’s health. She’s also on the board at Sakhi – For South Asian Women. Sakhi is a New York City-based not-for-profit that represents South Asian survivors of gender-based violence.

Vasanta is a frequent panelist or moderator at various healthcare conferences or

webinars and as an avid Princeton alumnus, she is a Co-Class Agent for her

class for Annual Giving and also serves on the National Annual Giving Committee.

She also has many passions beyond advancing women’s healthcare, she also loves

cooking, has lots of house plants, loves arts and crafts and staying healthy

and fit with Orange Theory. I’m excited to share this conversation I had with

Vasanta, because she is fiercely authentic and has developed an admirable set

of core values that guide her. Which I think we can all learn from.

If you take away one thing from this episode, let

it be this: As a woman in a male dominated career, and an immigrant Vasanta is

a shining example of how being different has the power to drive you to want to fit in, unless you decide that being different is awesome!

Show highlights:

Listen all the way through because there are a lot of gems that you wouldn’t expect –

for example

• Vasanta’s path from majoring in Anthropology to wanting to be a food writer to becoming an investment banker.
• We also talk about the difference between how men and women build trust in the workplace, and how she dealt with men in her office who didn’t understand her methods.
• How exhausting it is to not be yourself, and how it kills trust
• How following your passion leads you to figure out the “how” to make it happen.
• Knowing how to do something is not the driver, and not knowing how to do something wont stop you if you have a passion for it.
• If you don’t have a passion, look for your super power. What are you really good at.
• We also talk about how you don’t have to subscribe to the belief that competition is best. A rising tide lifts all boats. You can hear this advice but u don’t have to agree with it just because lots of people say it, but listen as we talk about it and decide for yourself.

Helpful links:

Connect with Vasanta: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vasantapundarika/

Nominate a Driven Woman:

https://live.thedrivenwomenproject.com/nominateadrivenwoman

Connect with Erin Smith directly: [e-mail]

Download Erin’s free ebook: https://live.thedrivenwomenproject.com/ebook