Who Inspires You? - An SVG Women's History Month Spotlight

This month, we join millions celebrating and recognizing the achievements of women. We truly value the women who inspire us and have made a difference in our lives. In honor of Women's History Month, we asked our SVG community to share which women have inspired them. Check out the submissions we received and learn about the women who have inspired our SVG team members.

Sukaniyaa Menon – Lead Customer Engagement Engineer, San Jose

There have been many women who inspired me from my undergraduate career, graduate school, and in my workplace; however, the person who inspires me the most is my mom.  She has been so determined to continue her teaching career, and even after her retirement she is keen to learn new technologies and put her newly acquired skills to work. She was a person who was averse to technology; she had never used a computer throughout her career, but due to the pandemic, she learned it quickly and is so good now at Zoom and WebEx meetings. Even her aversion to technology did not stop her in continuing her career. She is a role model to me and truly shows that age is not a limiting factor in continuing learning and experiencing new things.

Lana Chan – Product Engineering Director, San Jose

My paternal grandmother was born in 1909 in China when foot-binding was still viewed as a display of social status and formal education was reserved for males. Throughout her life, she fought against society’s idealized ‘female role.’

• As a pre-teen she refused to have her feet bound to reflect her family’s upper middle-class status and improve her marriage-ability.
• She demanded to go to school and be literate. For her, being uneducated meant being taken advantage of every day of your life.
• She bought land to farm, against the wishes of her in-laws, with the foresight that the impending invasion by Japan in WWII would upend her family’s food security and prevent her husband from sending over-sea financial support.
• She sent her husband back overseas against his wishes, while pregnant with her youngest child as the Japanese entered China. In her words, “What kind of support can a conscripted, and likely dead husband provide?”
• She raised three children as a single mother while her husband worked in Canada to financially support the family.

With limited knowledge of English and of ‘advanced age’ upon arrival in Canada, my grandmother pursued the career of being a caregiver to help raise my brothers and myself. She instilled upon us the value of a strong work ethic, a sense of self, an open mind-set, giving back to the community and firmly believed that our role and place in society should never be assumed or taken for granted. Rather, it was for us to define and seize through hard work and the help of a supportive community. It is because of her that I ignored those who questioned and looked down upon my decision to pursue a “male” degree in Electrical Engineering. It is because of her that I stood my ground when a male classmate stated I got a coveted job because I was a woman. I got the job because I worked hard to be the best candidate for the role, not because of my gender, but in spite of it. It is because of her that I am a proud professional mother who has regularly brought her son into the Cadence office since he was a few months old, so he can see his mom work alongside a talented team of men and women to create innovative products. Above all else, it is because of her that I believe it’s not only our daughters who need strong female role models but our sons as well. It has been 10 years since she passed away and my “ah ngin” still inspires me.

Ayala Makmel -Program Management Director, Petah Tikva

I’m inspired by Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Prime Minister. Being exactly the same age, I’m inspired by what she has accomplished in 42 years: her passion to make a change through politics, her ability to act on it, her leadership, and her successful management of both a country and a family.

Moushumi Bhattacharya – Sr. Administrator, Noida

My inspiration from the public stage is Deepa Malik, a physically disabled athlete. She is the first Indian woman para-athlete to make our country proud by:

• Winning a Silver medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, held in Rio, in shot put.
• Won gold in the F-53/54 Javelin event at the para-athletic Grand Prix held in Dubai in 2018.

 At the age of 5 years old, Deepa was found to have a spinal tumor that got worse with growing age and it soon became non-curable, paralyzing her lower portion. At the age of 36 years old, she decided to pursue her interest in sports, which was her dream for a long time. And finally, she became active in this field practicing and participating in shot put, discus and javelin throw. After going through various competitions, she finally landed a spot at the Rio and Dubai events. She is an example of strong determination and perseverance. 

Maayan Ziv -Sr. Software Engineering Manager, Haifa

On a personal level, I draw my inspiration from my fellow women co-workers at Cadence. I see how hard they try to bring their best selves to their work and personal lives. Those who only just started their careers with great ambition and want to make a real impact, or those who are more experienced, that seek personal growth at work or in their personal lives, or mothers who try to have a satisfying work-life balance. All of them are my true inspiration, they struggle, they sometimes fail, but they always keep pushing themselves forward.

Ruth Boneh – Sr. Executive Administrator, Haifa

I want to mention Shulamit Aloni, one of the first women politicians in Israel, a non-relenting advocate for human rights, who supported all underrepresented populations, regardless of her own personal opinions. An endless advocate of all minorities’ rights, who did not shy away from conflict when needed, was never intimidated by mansplaining well before that term was coined, and a realistic idealist, who dared to dream about an equal and empathetic society in the young and tiny Israel.

It is thanks to her that the ministry of interior was forced to uphold the law and let married women keep their maiden name (it was customary to change it automatically once registered as married, with the assumption that it is the norm) – and thanks to her support I kept my name, 35 years ago. 

Paul Cunningham – SVP and GM, R&D, San Jose

I would like to spotlight Marissa Peterson as a woman who inspires me and has had a significant impact on me. Marissa (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissapeterson/) has been my executive coach for many years and I am still learning from her every time we meet. I always talk about high-performance culture and how this is the foundation on which all our SVG success is built. This message applies to me personally as much as to anyone else in team SVG, and I credit Marissa, together with Anirudh, as the two people who have most improved my own performance as a senior leader at Cadence. Thank you, Marissa!!