15 | Lessons From a Woman in STEM - with Data Scientist, Lipika Ramaswamy

Lipika Ramaswamy | Data Scientist, LeapYear

Lipika did her undergrad at Bryn Mawr, an all-women’s college where she found the confidence and community that helped her succeed in her STEM career. She then did her Master’s in Data Science from Harvard and is now working at a LeapYear, an organisation that works on data privacy protection.

Arjun and Lipika talk about her experience at Bryn Mawr, her inspiring grit, and how maintaining a sense of community keeps her grounded.

Episode Takeaways

Her Bryn Mawr Experience

The biggest impact that Bryn Mawr (an all women's college) had on her career was helping her realize that she does not see herself as a minority in a man's field (STEM). In her current job she is one woman working with 20 Indian male engineers. Seeing women achieve in college without having to even think about men overpowering the room led to her confidence in her STEM career. The sense of community came very easily at Bryn Mawr and 5 years after graduation she still talks to her friends every Sunday evening. Traditions and experiences in an all women's college are unique when she compares it to other colleges in the US. The alumni network is also very strong - she got a lot of support from them even after college when she had to start thinking about dealing with gender issues.

Mentors in Her Life

She worked as a consultant at Ernst & Young in Washington D.C. for 3 years before Grad School. It was very hierarchical but one of her managers believed that everyone in the team should have equal say. She learnt about leadership from him. Finding her voice took a year - to figure out which opportunities were worth voicing her opinion on.

Grad School

While at Ernst & Young, she found working with large datasets on Excel very difficult. She picked up Python to help her improve the process and make something scalable. She learnt to code from the internet and that made her realize she wanted a more formal education in CS, specifically to be applied to datasets. While her undergrad major was Math and that taught her how to structure arguments, she felt the need to move to CS now. At Harvard, she drew a lot of inspiration from collaborators on how to structure her code and her problems.

Current Activities

Moving homes for 10 years she has learnt what she likes and dislikes. After college, she realized she valued connections with the community. So in DC she started working in Farmer's Markets to interact with people in her community. She found that very rooting. In SFO where she lives now she has been working with an NGO to feel part of the community. She loves fresh air and finds running meditative. She runs twice a week.

Current Job at LeapYear

The firm builds scalable differential privacy software. There is a lot of data available out there that is being used for analysis but could potentially harm people's privacy. LeapYear works on how to enable analysis without leaking private data. They do that by adding some "noise" to the data.

Future Plans

At the moment she is in Austin with her sister due to COVID. She is looking forward to going back to SFO which presents a lot of opportunities in tech. She is curious how theoretical ideas are converted to big companies in the bay area. What she does not like about the bay area is the lack of a public transport system. She is curious about the positive environmental impact of working from home in COVID times.

Her Strengths

Focus, Grit and Meditative capability. 

Learning from Failure

She started her new job 4 months ago and half of that has been remote due to COVID. During this time, she asked a stupid question on a public forum and was shocked and embarrassed herself. After this experience, she made a checklist for herself of things that happened before she made the post so she does not repeat that mistake again. 

Advice to High School Kids Applying to College

You are going to hate something about any college you go to so make sure you choose the college for the right reasons. You have to be proud of your decision and you have to be convinced of your choices. You have to be clear why you see things the way they are and be authentic.

Her Edbrand Experience

Edbrand helped her articulate why she chose the schools on her list. She learnt to talk about herself.

Media She Follows

She is a big fan of investigative journalism because it's about trying to uncover things that are being concealed. She enjoyed "Bottle of Lies" about the pharmaceutical industry and she is currently reading a book on the rise and fall of Russian oil. These stories keep her connected to the real world outside her bubble.