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When Vinita Gupta moved to California five decades ago, she couldn’t anticipate that she would be the first woman of Indian origin to take her company public in the United States. Now Gupta, 75, a Woodside resident, has documented her life in her memoir, “The Woman In Deed: Road to IPO, Bridge Tables, and Beyond,” published Sept. 20.
The book follows her upbringing in India, journey to the United States to earn a master’s degree at 23 in electrical engineering from University of California, Los Angeles, her success in Silicon Valley building her own company: Digital Link Corporation, which specializes in internet networking. The book offers memorable anecdotes, like the time Forbes magazine documented when she went into labor during a board meeting. She also describes raising her daughters and managing challenging health issues within her family.
The United Kingdom’s House of Commons recognized Gupta for her work in the tech industry in November. She also holds two U.S. patents.
In retirement, she has shifted her focus to the semi-professional bridge team she owns and enjoying time with her 3-year-old grandson.
We spoke with Gupta about her memoir and some of her accomplishments .
The following interview has been condensed for clarity and space. It has also been edited to remove spoilers.
Embarcadero Media: Tell me about how you decided that you wanted to document your life.
Gupta: I’m an avid “New Yorker” reader; the stories of New York culture, its artistic, creative culture have been told over several decades by people writing the stories in different ways, shining the light on the people from different walks of life.
However, in Silicon Valley, we have only portrayed the lives of the top few people in an expansive way, and stories like mine, even though I was very successful at some level, I am not in those icons. … And I think more stories need to be told which are inspirational and give a real flavor of what makes Silicon Valley tick.
Embarcadero Media: What was the cultural shift like for you from India to UCLA and then Silicon Valley?
Gupta: There were two levels of culture. One was the social culture from India to the U.S. and UCLA; it was startling to me. Living in a dorm, you get American food so you don’t get your Indian food. Also the girls, young men and women lead very, segregated lives (in India). … In UCLA, there was physical proximity of the students, girls and guys, hugging and kissing each other, so … it was something that I had to adjust to because I was a single woman.
And I was the only woman in (my) class. … I was coming from a developing country to the most significant nation in the world and the fact that there were no other women in my class was a surprise to me.
When I moved for my first job to Silicon Valley, what was different was the work culture. … Assimilation was hard. The guys basically did not invite me to social get-togethers, whether they were card games on Friday nights or whatever. I only worked with men, so I felt very isolated.
Embarcadero Media: What gave you the fortitude to shrug off a professor in India who told you and another woman to leave your engineering program to open your spots to men?
Gupta: We knew these thoughts were prevailing in the society, so it did not come to us as a surprise. … What came as a surprise was that just two women in the class were called into his office. We said, “You know he’s old and stodgy. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” We didn’t think it made any difference to our lives going forward. … We do remember that incident very well.
Embarcadero Media: What did it mean to you when you became the first Indian woman to take a tech company public in the U.S. in February 1994?
Gupta: When it happened, it was more the joy of being able to take a company public. I wasn’t thinking “Oh, I’m the first one.” I’ve actually seen that every time when you cross an external milestone … it is only a pause that’s never a destination. … But then the next set of problems you have to face. … I call my book the “Woman in Deed” because I learned everything by doing. Nobody gave me a playbook on how to run a company, how to be a CEO, how to be a woman CEO.
There was an incident where I felt in the beginning, like in the first five, seven years after working, “Oh my accent was so different.” People had problems understanding me as an Indian and I started imitating twisting my tongue to copy the American accent. … ‘Til I witnessed one of the Indian Stanford professors give a talk on his 60th birthday. … He talked and I said, “I can understand him perfectly. He’s not trying so hard to change his accent.” And suddenly my life became so much simpler.
Embarcadero Media: You said that Forbes published a story about when your water broke during a board meeting. What was it like to read that?
Gupta: They had come and taken pictures and talked to us … and we knew an article would come out, but we didn’t know what the headlines were going to be. I remember that distinctly because we were invited to (venture capitalist) Bill Draper’s home. … They always had a lot of good food and music. And he said, “Congratulations.” And that’s when he told us about the Forbes article, and … those were pre-cell phone days, so after coming home, a couple of days later, the magazine arrived, and we read it and I almost fell off the chair. I was so embarrassed with that “The day Vinita Gupta’s water broke” (headline). I said, “What a tagline.” Those were private issues in my mind, coming from India.
Embarcadero Media: You didn’t touch on this in the book, but how often did you go back to India after you moved to the U.S.?
Gupta: In the beginning, we used to go, or plan to go, every year to India. There was a fondness and attachment to India. Slowly you become American. After 50 years being here, I would say that I consider myself an American and not Indian anymore. The fondness for India is still there, but not to the same extent as the attachment was for the first 10 years of my life.
Our kids are born and raised here. They are fully assimilated, integrated into the culture. … That’s when the kids’ progress happens, but they also retain some of the heritage.
I have a 3-year-old grandson. … I invited him to celebrate our biggest festival, the Festival of Lights (Diwali). … He got up the next morning and told his mother, “Oh in my school … we should have a Diwali party.” She said, “Yeah, next time I will bring some things for Diwali for your school.” He said, “No, I want my grandmother to be there.” So he associated me with Diwali. You know, how you influence your generations tiny bit. … I thought it was very cute. … I never expected that he would retain anything about it.
Go to guptavinita.com/thewomanindeed for more information.
