#175 Shalini Pahwa "Neurodiversity in the Workplace"

Shalini Pahwa has 20+ years of leadership experience and is currently the QA & Test Competency Leader for the US Client Innovation Centers at IBM. She manages a team ranging from test managers and automation SMEs (subject matter experts) to brand new associates, delivering full testing services to clients across industries. Shalini Pahwa is passionate about diversity and inclusion initiatives at workplaces and led IBM’s first Neurodiversity program and continues to support it as it expands globally. Shalini has a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Loyola University at Chicago. She also holds a degree in Science and Indian Law from the University of Delhi, India.  Prior to joining IBM, Shalini worked in Quality assurance field for the Plastics and Financial Industries. She also worked for Sports Authority of India as an Assistant Director for Sports Planning and Coordination. Shalini enjoys outdoors, photography and has been a state Volleyball player in India. Shalini also volunteers her time to support special education programs and whenever possible likes to sing her heart out and have some Karaoke fun. She is happily married to her husband, a Critical Care Physician and has two children, a son who is a copy editor and a writer in New York and a daughter who is at MSU in their Music - voice program.Today we talk about all the positives about this program and how to overcome the perceived barriers. I've spoken to a few folks about this episode and learned that neurodiversity is a new term for many people. According to an online dictionary, here's the formal def: the range of differences in individual brain function and behavioral traits, regarded as part of normal variation in the human population (used especially in the context of autistic spectrum disorders).Here's the IBM video celebrating their neurodivergent team.And here's the article on Cultivating Curiosity!And, and, here's the Billie Eilish song, Therefore I Am, that I cannot play in its entirety!Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda of Radio Kingston.Our show music is from Shana Falana !!!Feel free to email me, say hello: [email protected]** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IThttp://iwantwhatshehas.org/podcastITUNES | SPOTIFY | STITCHERITUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-want-what-she-has/id1451648361?mt=2SPOTIFY:https://open.spotify.com/show/77pmJwS2q9vTywz7Uhiyff?si=G2eYCjLjT3KltgdfA6XXCASTITCHER: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/she-wants/i-want-what-she-has?refid=stpr’Follow:INSTAGRAM * https://www.instagram.com/iwantwhatshehaspodcast/FACEBOOK * https://www.facebook.com/iwantwhatshehaspodcastTWITTER * https://twitter.com/wantwhatshehas