Sukriti Chadha, a product manager for Spotify specializing in adaptive technology, is passionate about encouraging students to pursue careers in technology.
When she left Manhattan to stay with a friend in Chattanooga during the pandemic, she took an opportunity to work with Red Bank High School students to design projects that would help a peer with autism become more independent.
After immigrating to the U.S. from New Delhi, India, in 2010, Chadha graduated from Princeton University with a degree in electrical engineering. Bored with the consulting job she worked after graduating, Chadha taught herself software development and became an Android developer for Yahoo Finance, the largest finance news website for retail investors.
Her interest in adaptive technology – which involves creating special versions of existing technologies that help people with differing abilities accomplish specific tasks – began when her father lost his vision in one eye. His experience taught her how dependent we are on technology in our everyday lives, and the pandemic has emphasized that dependence even further, she said.
Chadha met Red Bank High School computer science teacher and fellow private pilot David Wilson at flight school in Chattanooga, and she heartily agreed when he asked her to speak to his students about careers in tech.