Revathi Advaithi: From the Factory Floor to Fortune 500 CEO of Flex

Simi speaks with Revathi Advaithi, CEO of Flex — a $24 billion global manufacturing company that builds the critical infrastructure behind AI, cloud, healthcare, and automotive. Flex operates in 30 countries with over 140,000 employees, and under Revathi's leadership, the stock has soared from ~$7 to over $60.Revathi started her career on a factory floor in small town Shawnee, Oklahoma. She is the youngest of five sisters and lost her father at the tender age of 15 in India. After nearly failing out of engineering school, she built her career in the industrials sector in small-town America at companies like Honeywell and Eaton. She ascended to the C-suite at Eaton and was eventually tapped to lead Flex. In 2024, she was diagnosed with breast cancer while traveling — and chose to stay on as CEO, working through treatment without missing a single day. Today, she is one of Fortune's Most Powerful Women in the World, Fast Company's Modern CEO of the Year, and serves on the board of Uber and MIT.Recorded live in San Francisco in partnership with Pratham USA, this unfiltered conversation covers breaking into the boardroom, immigrant grit, a battle with breast cancer, and what it actually takes to lead at the highest level.KEY TOPICS:Breaking into the boardroom as an immigrant woman in industrial AmericaLeading through a cancer diagnosis without stepping downTransforming a legacy manufacturer into an AI infrastructure powerhouseOn work, family, and navigating motherhood across continentsThe moments that nearly broke her — and the ones that made herRevathi's TIME Op-Ed on her Cancer BattleABOUT REVATHI ADVAITHI:Revathi Advaithi is CEO of Flex, the global manufacturing partner helping a diverse customer base design and build products improving the world. Since 2019, she has led Flex's transformation across 30 countries, driving technology innovation and supply chain resilience. Previously, she served as President and COO of Eaton's electrical sector with corporate responsibility for EMEA, and spent six years at Honeywell in manufacturing and supply chain leadership. She has been appointed by the U.S. President to advisory committees on trade policy and supply chain competitiveness, and serves as co-chair of the World Economic Forum's Advanced Manufacturing CEO Community. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from BITS Pilani and an MBA from Thunderbird.REVATHI ADVAITHIInstagram:  https://www.instagram.com/revathiadvaithi/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revathiadvaithi/South Asian Trailblazers is an award-winning media platform, community, and agency dedicated to elevating leading South Asians. Join our community at SouthAsianTrailblazers.com. Subscribe to our newsletter to get new episodes and updates on our latest events in your inbox. Follow us @southasiantrailblazers on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Spotify.