What happens when you’re suddenly asked to lead the very people who used to be your peers?

For Carolynn Smith, that moment came with her first big promotion. It taught her lessons about courage, discomfort, and how leadership often begins by stepping into the unknown.

Today, Carolynn is Head of U.S. Service and Enterprise Process Excellence at Prudential Financial. She oversees large-scale transformation efforts and shapes how customer care is delivered at one of the country’s leading financial services companies.

In this conversation, guest host Karen Lellouche Tordjman sits down with Carolynn to talk about seeking discomfort, the role of AI in reimagining customer experience, and what it really takes to grow into leadership. Along the way, Carolynn reflects on raising a family while rising through the ranks, and why leaning into discomfort has been her best teacher.

1:59 Core Values and a Promotion

3:13 Business vs. Personal Relationships

4:50 Surround Yourself With People Smarter Than You

8:18 Seeking Discomfort

10:15 “Work-Life Blend”

14:03 AI and Customer Experience

17:45 Managing Customer Expectations

Links:

Carolynn Smith on LinkedIn

Suchi Srinivasan on LinkedIn

Kamila Rakhimova on LinkedIn

Karen Lellouche Tordjman on LinkedIn

About In Her Ellement:

In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn’t just arrived—you were truly in your element?

About The Hosts:

Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.

Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.

Karen Lellouche Tordjman is a Managing Director & Senior Partner at BCG. She has spent over 2 decades in the firm supporting clients across Europe, the US and Latin America. She leads the Customer Experience topic globally for BCG, and is an expert in omnchannel & AI transformation.

Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

What does allyship look like when you’re leading a company?

For Bhavesh Dayalji, it often means being honest about the challenges of balancing work and family, and choosing to show up as a husband and father first.

This is a throwback episode, but Bhavesh’s reflections on leadership and allyship remain just as powerful today. Bhavesh shares how vulnerability can build trust and create cultures where people feel safe bringing their full selves to work. It’s a principle that extends to how he approaches innovation in AI. Bhavesh is the CEO of Kensho Technologies, an AI solutions provider, and also serves as Chief AI Officer at S&P Global.

1:34 Meet Bhavesh

4:46 Seeing inequality in tech

6:17 AI at Kensho and S&P Global

9:21 Lessons from the CEO seat

11:26 Why diverse voices matter in AI

15:41 Being real at work

17:43 Advice for newcomers in AI

19:43 Family and balance

Links:

Bhavesh Diyalji on LinkedIn

Suchi Srinivasan on LinkedIn

Kamila Rakhimova on LinkedIn

About In Her Ellement:

In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn’t just arrived—you were truly in your element?

About The Hosts:

Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.

Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.

Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

While we’re busy working on new episodes, we wanted to revisit one of our favorite conversations from Season 3. When we first spoke with Hayete Gallott, she was Corporate Vice President at Microsoft. Today, she is President of Customer Experience at Google. We thought this was a meaningful opportunity to revisit her reflections on career choices, change, and growth.

How do you find the right career path when so many possibilities are in front of you? For Hayete Gallot, the answer has always been experimentation—trying new roles, seeing what sparks energy, and learning just as much from what doesn’t.

That curiosity has shaped her eclectic journey. Hayete has moved across engineering, product management, marketing, sales, and business planning—always following the thread of what felt meaningful at the time. Behind that drive is a lesson she learned from her mother: independence matters, because life can change in an instant.

2:10 Lessons from Mom

5:58 Being an Information Sponge

6:14 The Value of Curiosity & Lifelong Learning

10:24 Day-to-Day Leadership at Microsoft

14:42 You Probably Won’t Be Working on What You Studied

17:13 Confidence, Resilience, and Self-Belief

18:24 Prioritize and Protect Your Time

Links:

Hayete Gallott on LinkedIn

Suchi Srinivasan on LinkedIn

Kamila Rakhimova on LinkedIn

About In Her Ellement:

In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn’t just arrived—you were truly in your element?

About The Hosts:

Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.

Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.

Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

We want to hear from you! Email us at BCGInHerEllement@bcg.com with a voice memo describing your In Your Ellement moment. We might feature your story in an upcoming episode!

***

What does it look like to pivot while staying true to your purpose?

For Nilou Salehi, it meant putting her professorship role at UC Berkeley on pause to co-found Across AI, a startup built on her human-centered AI research.

Now Co-CEO, Nilou is exploring how AI is reshaping not just the tools we use, but the teams that build them. Her approach blends academic rigor with startup agility, always grounded in real human needs.

This episode is part of our Builders mini series, where we talk with founders, product managers, and digital leaders about what drives their passion for building.

You’ll hear Nilou reflect on the leap from academia to entrepreneurship, how AI is changing organizational life, and why the future belongs to flexible teams with shared intent.

1:19 Transitioning from Academia to Startup Life

5:04 The Role of UX Research in AI Product Development

7:23 Balancing Grit and Flexibility in Career Choices

8:42 High-Level vs. Low-Level Goals

14:17 New Challenges Facing AI Product Builders in 2025

15:44 Upskilling and the Future of Work with AI

18:57 Human-Centered Design and Organizational Change

20:36 Reflections

Links:

Nilou Salehi on LinkedIn

Suchi Srinivasan on LinkedIn

Kamila Rakhimova on LinkedIn

About In Her Ellement:

In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn’t just arrived—you were truly in your element?

About The Hosts:

Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.

Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.

Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

We’ll be back soon with a new episode. In the meantime, enjoy this throwback conversation with Elise Smith, Co-founder and CEO of Praxis Labs. Earlier this month, Praxis Labs was acquired—marking a major milestone in the company’s journey. This episode offers a look at the vision and values that helped get it there.

What makes a great manager in today’s workplace? And how can AI help companies develop better leaders?

Elise Smith is the co-founder and CEO of Praxis Labs, a startup using AI-powered immersive learning to train leaders at some of the world’s biggest companies. In this episode, Elise shares how her time at IBM Watson influenced her career, what she’s learned about effective leadership in today’s workplace, and her perspective on the evolving future of DEI initiatives.

02:25 Kamila’s Mindset Shift with Praxis Labs

04:12 Adapting Leadership Training for the Modern Workplace

07:14 Navigating Generational Shifts

09:42 Green Flags for Job Seekers

11:14 People Don’t Leave Companies, They Leave Managers

13:58 The Future of DEI Work

18:32 Finding the Right Co-Founder

22:10 Reflections

Links:

Elise Smith on LinkedIn

Suchi Srinivasan on LinkedIn

Kamila Rakhimova on LinkedIn

About In Her Ellement:

In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn’t just arrived—you were truly in your element?

About The Hosts:

Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.

Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.

Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

We want to hear from you! Email us at BCGInHerEllement@bcg.com with a voice memo describing your In Your Ellement moment. We might feature your story in an upcoming episode!

***

What do you do when the data doesn’t give you a clear answer—but the decision can’t wait?

For Angela Morgenstern, that moment came early in her tenure at Netflix. It offered a clear window into the company’s feedback culture firsthand and ultimately changed not only how she leads at work, but how she makes decisions in her personal life as well.

Angela is a media and tech executive, founder, and advisor. She most recently served as VP of Product Content Innovation at Netflix. In this latest installment of our Builders series, Angela shares how feedback fuels creativity, how she was captivated by media at a young age, and what excites her about the future of AI in community building and play.

01:39 When You Only Have 50% of the Data

02:17 Feedback and Decision-Making

05:41 A Media Career That Started in Childhood

09:04 Building AI for Entertainment and Fun

13:04 AI and Content Creation

15:48 Data Informed vs Data Driven

20:18 Reflections

Links:

Angela Morgenstern on LinkedIn

Suchi Srinivasan on LinkedIn

Kamila Rakhimova on LinkedIn

About In Her Ellement:

In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn’t just arrived—you were truly in your element?

About The Hosts:

Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.

Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.

Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

We want to hear from you! Email us at BCGInHerEllement@bcg.com with a voice memo describing your In Your Ellement moment. We might feature your story in an upcoming episode!

***

What do you do when a dream opportunity arrives at an inopportune time?

For Miki Tsusaka, it called for some tough conversations with the people she trusted most.

This episode is part of our Builders mini series, where we talk with founders, product managers, and digital leaders about what drives their passion for building.

Miki is now the president of Microsoft Japan, where she’s leading AI adoption and digital transformation across industries. Before joining Microsoft, she spent over three decades at BCG, rising from associate to global CMO.

In this episode, Miki shares how she’s bringing lessons from her consulting career into leading a major tech organization, and how growing up with strong women role models shaped her approach to work and life. She also offers a grounded take on AI: why using it well requires a willingness to build new muscles over time.

01:50 A Dream Job Offer

04:15 Solving Language Barriers With AI

05:56 Women in Tech Leading AI Adoption

09:56 The 70-20-10 Rule

11:50 A Family of Educators

15:09 Blind Spots and Finding Commonality

17:10 Buying Cookies for The Bake Sale

19:15 Reflections

Links:

Miki Tsusaka on LinkedIn

Suchi Srinivasan on LinkedIn

Kamila Rakhimova on LinkedIn

BCG Report: Women Leaders in Tech Are Paving the Way in GenAI

About In Her Ellement:

In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn’t just arrived—you were truly in your element?

About The Hosts:

Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.

Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.

Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

We want to hear from you! Email us at BCGInHerEllement@bcg.com with a voice memo describing your In Your Ellement moment. We might feature your story in an upcoming episode!

***

What do you do when your job drops you into the center of a global financial crisis?

That’s where Sophia Bantanidis found herself – helping craft post-crisis banking reforms at the UK’s financial regulator. The experience shaped how she thinks about risk, regulation, and building more resilient systems.

Today, Sophia works at Citi’s thought leadership division, where she explores the forces transforming financial services, from disruptive tech to global market shifts. In this episode, Sophia talks about her career journey, how AI could reshape compensation models, and why it’s so important to vet any job – especially your first one.

01:31 Writing Rules for Executive Pay During the 2008 Crisis

06:24 Early Aspirations and a Diverse Upbringing

09:36 A Terrible Day One At Work

11:53 Vet Potential Jobs and Built a Network

16:41 From the Frontlines: AI and Compensation

20:33 Reflections

Links:

Sophia Bantanidis on LinkedIn

Suchi Srinivasan on LinkedIn

Kamila Rakhimova on LinkedIn

Mayowa Jolayemi on LinkedIn

About In Her Ellement:

In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn’t just arrived—you were truly in your element?

About The Hosts:

Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.

Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.

Mayowa Jolayemi is a second-year Associate at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where she focuses primarily on projects related to education, economic growth, and workforce development. She earned her B.A. in Economics from Harvard University, concentrating her academic work on economic development in West Africa, particularly in education and women's workforce empowerment.

Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.