#empowHER50 – Vatika Gupta

For Vatika Gupta, access to technology isn’t just a feature, it’s a foundational right. With nearly two decades of relentless innovation, she’s made it her mission to transform tech from a privilege into a platform for possibility. 

At Microsoft, Vatika leads global cloud infrastructure efforts, focusing on emerging and underserved markets. Her work streamlining provisioning and deployment strategies has enabled faster, more efficient data center rollouts, bringing affordable, scalable cloud services to communities that need them most. Whether it’s powering educational platforms, telehealth networks, or local small businesses, her engineering vision reaches far beyond code. 

Before Microsoft, at Intel, Vatika helped re-architect cloud insight software into a modular, microservices-based platform, making AI-driven edge computing accessible to industries like manufacturing and logistics, even in environments with limited connectivity. 

At the heart of all of this lies a simple, powerful philosophy: 
“Build what lifts, share what grows—make tech a path that freely flows.” 

It’s a mindset that shapes every decision Vatika makes, whether simplifying complex systems, expanding infrastructure into hard-to-reach regions, or mentoring those just starting their tech journeys. 

Her designs turned once-complex systems into tools that enabled real-time insights across the globe. But for Vatika, the work doesn’t stop at systems, it starts with people. She’s built diverse, high-performing teams from the ground up, mentored rising technologists from nontraditional paths, and championed inclusion not as a checkbox, but as a cornerstone of innovation. 

Her journey, uninterrupted for 19 years, hasn’t always been easy. It’s taken resilience, sacrifice, and bold leadership to carve space in the tech world while balancing personal responsibilities. But through it all, her conviction remains: Technology is only powerful when it’s universally accessible.  

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 

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#empowHER50 – Nindy Hunter

Nindy Hunter has spent her career turning good intentions into tangible outcomes, especially for communities too often overlooked by traditional tech solutions.

From early work with Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Group, where she helped design products for developing markets, to leading transformative customer feedback programs today, Nindy’s approach has remained consistent: listen deeply, remove friction, and build with equity in mind. 

Her impact spans product, strategy, and people. Through feedback-driven initiatives in underserved regions, she helped resolve over 75 product and support blockers, improving customer satisfaction by 15 points and influencing more equitable investments. With the Accelerate program, she enabled customers to modernize their tech stack, cutting deployment time by up to 40% and delivering real cost savings. 

Nindy also helped bring sustainability to the forefront of infrastructure planning, translating renewable energy goals into differentiators that resonate with customers. Her work made sustainability not just a checkbox, but a business advantage. 

Beyond technical strategy, Nindy is a passionate mentor and community advocate. As a Leadership Circle sponsor and active member of Employee Resource Groups, she’s mentored over 60 professionals, many of whom have stepped into broader leadership roles. 

Her philosophy is rooted in action: access isn’t just about what’s available, it’s about what’s possible when systems are designed with intention, inclusion, and impact. 

 
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 – Aparna Gupta

From running Engineering & Product Management for a startup to now leading Microsoft Industry Solutions Delivery’s Global Delivery Center, Aparna Gupta has followed a bold, curiosity-fueled path. One that brings innovation and inclusion together to shape a better future through technology. 

In her current role, Aparna is driving an AI-first consulting transformation aimed at positioning her team as Microsoft’s AI Center for Customer Innovation & Delivery Excellence. Under her leadership, the center is accelerating commercial cloud growth, powered by top-tier engineering talent and a thriving partner ecosystem. 

But Aparna’s vision goes far beyond tech delivery, it’s about democratizing access to opportunity. As Microsoft India’s sponsor for AI Careers for Women, she helped launch a government-partnered program to equip 20,000 women across six states with AI skills. She also spearheaded AI Odyssey, a national initiative that engaged and upskilled over 300,000 developers. 

Her passion for ecosystem-building is evident through initiatives like engaging 300,000+ developers nationwide through AI Odyssey, hackathons that foster breakthrough thinking, and Copilot adoption pilots designed to lead by example. Aparna also sponsors the Early in Profession community, nurturing future tech leaders from day one. 

Aparna’s impact goes beyond Microsoft through CSR initiatives that have supported digital literacy for women micropreneurs, STEM access for visually impaired students, and learning support for children with disabilities, reaching more than 65,000 lives to date. 

A frequent speaker at major forums including NASSCOM, Microsoft’s 50th, Microsoft Access for All, Grace Hopper Conference, and more, Aparna brings authenticity, clarity, and purpose to every stage she steps on. 

 
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’s 50th celebrations: https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-50/  

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#empowHER50 – Ginniee Sahi

For Ginniee Sahi, access isn’t just about affordability, it’s about comfort, confidence, and visibility. 

A senior leader at Amazon, a former Microsoft alum, with a career at the intersection of enterprise innovation and inclusive access, Ginniee has shaped sales and AI strategy across some of the world’s most influential technology companies. Her focus has always been clear, creating space for voices too often left out of the conversation.  

That commitment led her to advise a team of Gen Z innovators and early-stage founders building einsteini.ai, a GenAI platform designed to empowering founders, hiring teams, job seekers, students, and creators from non-traditional backgrounds show up with clarity, confidence, and intent on platforms like LinkedIn. 

“Using AI to cut through the noise and surface the signal is truly game-changing.” — Ginniee Sahi 

For Ginniee, the mission is simple but profound, visibility should never be a privilege. While millions are online, too many still struggle to stand out. Einsteini.ai’s signal over noise approach, commenting, profile views, direct messages, is already delivering results, giving people their first real step into a professional world shaped by access, not just credentials. 

Her leadership is anchored in three principles: start with storytelling, not software, to center real human voices; build with communities, not for them, to ensure solutions reflect lived experiences; and design advanced AI tools that feel natural and native for the Instagram, TikTok, and X generation, breaking down the intimidation barrier of traditional enterprise platforms. 

Like reading Amazon docs in the room, where the first voice belongs to the junior person and the last voice to the senior most person, Ginniee believes technology should empower the signal to rise above the noise, ensuring every voice has its place and power. 

 
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 – Julie Slocum Bennani

When Julie Slocum Bennani first joined Microsoft as an Accenture analyst in 1996, she didn’t anticipate that her short UAT assignment would evolve into a multi-decade legacy of transformative impact. But her gift for aligning big-picture vision with cross-functional collaboration and operational execution would soon position her as a critical architect of scalable change. 

Over the next 11+ years, Julie’s Accenture work spanned some of the most pivotal programs in Microsoft’s evolution—from leading the end-to-end launch supply chain operations of Xbox in North America to co-designing the go-to-market strategy for the Open Value licensing program. She played a key role across CRM/PRM strategies and operations for global teams and worked extensively across Microsoft’s Enterprise, Mid-Market and Small Business, OEM, Developer\ISV, and Field partner and customer organizations. Her strong reputation was built not only on execution, but on her ability to bridge silos and create structures that would scale end-to-end. 

In 2007, Julie transitioned from consultant to full-time Microsoft employee, stepping into a leadership role under then-Channel Chief Allison Watson. Her mission: transform the aging Microsoft Partner Program (MSPP) into the modernized Microsoft Partner Network. At the height of the global financial crisis, Julie led a broad coalition across Business Groups, IT, Operations, and Services to deliver a vision rooted in clarity, consistency, and community and despite major pivots to the hundreds of thousands of partners in the program globally, partner retention and alignment was excellent. 

Her leadership enabled several firsts: transitioning Action Packs from physical to fully digital delivery, launching Microsoft’s first-ever global partner sales accreditation program and co-building a strong partnership and synergy between Developer and Customer and Field enablement organizations, and building repeatable partner-type launch frameworks and growth and investment alignment across all commercial product groups that could flex to new technologies (and partner business models) —including Microsoft’s shift from on-premise to cloud software, which also happened during her tenure. 

Julie’s approach was patient and persistent. She prioritized deep listening, gave stakeholders true ownership in the process, and stayed the course—even when economic headwinds challenged the pace of innovation. “Real transformation happens when you align vision with trust,” she says. “It’s not about leading alone—it’s about empowering others to co-create with you.” 

From 2008 to 2014, Julie was recognized externally as one of CRN’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women of the Channel and served as global spokesperson for Microsoft’s five-star partner program. Internally, her legacy lives on through the systems, frameworks, and partner enablement structures that continue to scale across the Microsoft ecosystem. 

Now serving as Executive Advisor at Accenture, Julie continues to bring her unique blend of strategy and empathy to global change initiatives—always grounded in the belief that big systems evolve best when built on trust. 

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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