#empowHER50 – Aparana Gupta

When innovation is inclusive, technology becomes a force for transformation. 

For over 15 years, Aparana Gupta has redefined what it means to lead in AI, data science, and engineering at Microsoft. As a Principal Software Engineering Manager, she has led, co-architected programs that democratize access, empower emerging leaders, and shape responsible, inclusive technology at scale. 

Aparana led the APAC Exploring Leadership Program, equipping over 200 future-ready leaders with data fluency, strategic thinking, and the courage to challenge the status quo. Through knowledge partnerships and mentorship platforms like SkillUp AI, MLADS, AI and ML Connected Community – APAC and Microsoft’s Technical Women, she has supported more than 10,000 professionals, championing women in tech and cultivating diverse talent pipelines. 

As a governance leader in the MSD Data Council, she has been steering data-first and AI-ready culture across MSD. She has authored numerous intellectually stimulating & strategically innovative pieces for Data Science at Microsoft (7.3K+ subscriber base). A renowned thought leader in the AI and Data Science space, she has been a sought-after speaker and mentor across the academia and industry platforms.  

“Innovation is the sovereign birthright of every inquisitive mind—a potent force that, when unfettered by barriers, transforms dreams into the foundations of a future reimagined.” 
— Aparana Gupta 

Her work is grounded in a powerful belief: when we break down barriers to knowledge and opportunity, we unlock innovation that reflects the richness of humanity. 

Aparana’s legacy is one of inclusive leadership, bold thinking, and boundaryless collaboration—proof that when we invest in people, we ignite a future where everyone has the power to lead and transform. 

About #empowHER50 campaign

This campaign celebrates women leaders at Microsoft, past and present, who have been instrumental in democratizing access to technology, opportunity, and growth. By honoring their contributions over the last half-century, this campaign highlights stories of resilience, innovation, and inclusivity. Through digital spotlights, a commemorative coffee table book, live recognition events, and more, the campaign inspires collective action toward achieving equitable societal goals. To learn more about empowHER50, please visit https://womenincloud.com/empowHER50 

To learn about Microsoft 50th celebrations: https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-50/  

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#empowHER50 – JoAnn Garbin

When you’ve lived on the outside, you design systems that welcome everyone in. 

JoAnn Garbin didn’t take the traditional path into big tech—she created her own. Raised without easy access to resources or opportunity, she built her career by imagining bold futures and then doing the work to make them real. Along the way, she never lost sight of the people who helped her, and those still waiting for a door to open. 

At Microsoft, JoAnn was a bold systems thinker and changemaker. She led the Regenerative Datacenter of the Future—a groundbreaking initiative that reimagined how digital infrastructure could restore nature, empower communities, and scale mutualisms in tech. Even in the uncertainty of the pandemic, she and her team rapidly advanced a new model that tripled funding year over year and shifted the conversation around what’s possible. Its estimated impact? $1 billion to start. 

Determined to extend that mindset beyond Microsoft, JoAnn co-authored The Insider’s Guide to Innovation at Microsoft—a practical playbook for real-world innovation now used across corporations, schools, startups, and nonprofits. A new LinkedIn Learning course will spread that knowledge even further. Proceeds? Donated to STEAM education nonprofits to support the next generation of changemakers. 

“The future may be powered by AI, but it will be shaped by human creativity, connection, and care.” — JoAnn Garbin 

Now, as Founding Partner of Regenerous Labs, JoAnn is designing inclusive futures from the ground up. Her team has abandoned traditional hierarchy to build regenerative systems that scale well-being from individuals to communities through tools, stories, and bold experiments in collective agency. 

JoAnn’s story is a reminder: when you know what exclusion feels like, you fight to design systems where everyone is welcome—and everyone can thrive. 

About #empowHER50 campaign

This campaign celebrates women leaders at Microsoft, past and present, who have been instrumental in democratizing access to technology, opportunity, and growth. By honoring their contributions over the last half-century, this campaign highlights stories of resilience, innovation, and inclusivity. Through digital spotlights, a commemorative coffee table book, live recognition events, and more, the campaign inspires collective action toward achieving equitable societal goals. To learn more about empowHER50, please visit https://womenincloud.com/empowHER50 

To learn about Microsoft 50th celebrations: https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-50/  

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#empowHER50 – Kate Maxwell

Kate Maxwell has never seen leadership as a title—it’s a responsibility to lift others while forging bold new paths. Whether in defense, education, or tech, she has consistently turned barriers into bridges and used her platform to unlock opportunity at scale. 

Her journey began as a software engineer supporting U.S. Defense and Intelligence missions, where she was often the only woman in the room. As a result of her own experiences, she became a fierce advocate for the underrepresented, raising her voice for women, veterans, and the LGBTQ+ community in spaces not always built for them. That conviction about using her platform and privilege for good would come to define every chapter of her career. 

Kate joined Microsoft in 2020 as the Chief Technology Officer for Microsoft’s Worldwide Defense & Intelligence industry team. In that role, Kate led the company’s efforts to support allied defense organizations in digital transformation and cloud adoption. Her leadership earned her Microsoft’s prestigious Pinnacle Club award, as well as global recognition, including Technology Magazine’s #1 Woman in Tech in the world distinction in 2023. 

Today, as the Industry Lead for Worldwide Education at Microsoft, Kate leads a global team responsible for industry strategy and business capture serving customers across the K–12, higher education, EdTech, and academic research verticals. Her team’s mission aligns with the broader Microsoft mission: to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Every day, the Microsoft Education team works to bridge the digital divide and deliver solutions to education customers that help personalize learning, increase institutional efficiencies, accelerate innovation & discovery, and prepare students for success in an increasingly tech and AI-enabled world. 

Despite her many industry & technology successes, for Kate, the most important impact has always been the human one. “Be brave, lead boldly, and lift others. That’s how we create a ripple effect of empowerment that transforms lives and reshapes what’s possible,” she says. That ethos fuels her work both inside and outside of Microsoft. 

Kate is a mentor to dozens of diverse technical and business leaders, a keynote speaker inspiring audiences on a global scale (katemaxwell.com), and a champion for policy change to support and elevate underrepresented demographics. Through her nonprofit work with TechPoint Youth, her Maxwell Scholarship for Women in Computing and Engineering, and her advocacy at all levels of government, Kate continues to change the game and open doors for the next generation of changemakers. 

Kate Maxwell isn’t just shaping the future of education and public sector innovation—she’s ensuring that the future belongs to everyone. Her legacy is one of courage, community, and a commitment to making sure everyone can realize the fullness of their own potential. 

About #empowHER50 campaign

This campaign celebrates women leaders at Microsoft, past and present, who have been instrumental in democratizing access to technology, opportunity, and growth. By honoring their contributions over the last half-century, this campaign highlights stories of resilience, innovation, and inclusivity. Through digital spotlights, a commemorative coffee table book, live recognition events, and more, the campaign inspires collective action toward achieving equitable societal goals. To learn more about empowHER50, please visit https://womenincloud.com/empowHER50 

To learn about Microsoft 50th celebrations: https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-50/  

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#empowHER50 – Jacqui Miranda

Jacqui Miranda has spent over two decades transforming leadership in the digital economy—not through volume, but through values and voice. 

As the Head of Asia Corporate Segment at Microsoft, Jacqui leads strategies that accelerate AI adoption among mid-sized enterprises across the region. But for her, transformation doesn’t begin with technology—it begins with access. “Technology without access is privilege,” she says. “With access, it becomes power, shared power.” 

That belief has shaped a large part of her 26-year career. From co-developing AI transformation strategies tailored to the needs of local businesses to championing inclusive skilling through Singapore’s Women in Tech GenAI x Digital Leaders initiative, Jacqui has helped over 200 digitally mature companies embrace not only innovation but equity. 

As Chair of Microsoft Asia Pacific’s Women Council and Co-Chair of its Allyship D&I Council, Jacqui drove inclusive leadership across borders. She led listening circles, launched allyship campaigns, and mentored women and minority talent at every career stage—all in partnership with leading institutions like United Women Singapore, Dell, National University of Singapore (NUS), and Adobe. Her team’s work was shortlisted for the Asia Women in IT Awards – DEI Category in 2021. 

Her advocacy goes beyond corporate walls. A certified Blackbelt Coach and member of the Singapore Institute of Directors, Jacqui continues to mentor rising leaders and champion inclusive governance. She’s taken the stage globally to speak on bias in AI—including at the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society, where she joined 500+ leaders from 50 nations to discuss “Tech as a Vector of Inclusion.” 

Jacqui’s approach is rooted in three core strategies: cultivating inclusive leadership through allyship, mentoring emerging talent with honesty and intention, and supporting public-private partnerships that bridge the digital divide for underserved businesses. It’s this intentionality that makes her leadership resonate—from boardrooms to bootcamps. 

About #empowHER50 campaign

This campaign celebrates women leaders at Microsoft, past and present, who have been instrumental in democratizing access to technology, opportunity, and growth. By honoring their contributions over the last half-century, this campaign highlights stories of resilience, innovation, and inclusivity. Through digital spotlights, a commemorative coffee table book, live recognition events, and more, the campaign inspires collective action toward achieving equitable societal goals. To learn more about empowHER50, please visit https://womenincloud.com/empowHER50 

To learn about Microsoft 50th celebrations: https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-50/  

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#empowHER50 – Shannon Huffman Polson

Shannon Huffman Polson has always met resistance head-on. As one of the first women to fly the Apache helicopter in the U.S. Army, she learned that flying—and leading—means turning to face the wind, not away from it. “When you take off in the Apache helicopter, you turn to face the wind,” she says. “Making change, we have to do the same thing. Turn to face the wind, and the resistance will help you rise.” 

That ethos has powered her through every chapter of a remarkable career—from the military to Microsoft, from public libraries to national leadership programs. After earning her MBA and working in enterprise at Microsoft, Shannon redirected her focus to community impact. In Winthrop, Washington, she led a $6.5 million capital campaign to replace a tiny, outdated trailer with a new public library that now serves as a digital and educational lifeline for a rural community grappling with poverty and isolation. The project, launched and completed through a pandemic and economic downturn, has transformed the region’s access to learning and connection. 

As founder and CEO of The Grit Institute, she wrote her book The Grit Factor: Courage, Resilience and Leadership in the most male dominated organization in the world, through that, Shannon now equips executives, military leaders, and students alike with the tools to lead through purpose, pressure, and complexity. Recognizing a growing mental health crisis among youth, she redesigned her institute’s leadership curriculum for high school and college students, delivering it through a blended model of digital training and in-person community facilitation. With its first deployment at a Boys & Girls Club in California, the initiative marks a new chapter in scaling access to character-based education for the next generation. 

Her advocacy doesn’t stop there. She continues to support veterans, champions educational reform in underserved regions, and is helping to co-found a new school that prioritizes both academic excellence and economic inclusion. 

Across each endeavor, Shannon uses technology as a lever, not a substitute, for human potential. Her belief is simple: tools are powerful, but it’s the people who wield them with courage and clarity that truly change lives. 

From cockpit to classroom, Shannon Huffman Polson shows us that leadership is not just about rising. It’s about facing the wind—then lifting others with you. 

About #empowHER50 campaign

This campaign celebrates women leaders at Microsoft, past and present, who have been instrumental in democratizing access to technology, opportunity, and growth. By honoring their contributions over the last half-century, this campaign highlights stories of resilience, innovation, and inclusivity. Through digital spotlights, a commemorative coffee table book, live recognition events, and more, the campaign inspires collective action toward achieving equitable societal goals. To learn more about empowHER50, please visit https://womenincloud.com/empowHER50 

To learn about Microsoft 50th celebrations: https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-50/  

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