I Found My Coordinates: Code, Community, and Okta

It all started with a phone call from an institute that reached out to recruit me for its campus ambassador program. I was navigating my first year of college, figuring things out. It was all new for me, a new city, far from home, and a hostel room. I was not aware of anything except books and lectures.

A senior at my campus ambassador program advised me to create a LinkedIn account and start looking for opportunities from day one. As they say, “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” So I started applying for random internships. Soon, I received my first offer, where I discovered the power of networking and community.

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” – H.E. Luccock

Community has always been the best part of my life. The love and support we receive from each other are invaluable. I have always given to the community and gained far more in return.

I attended an institution that wasn’t particularly well-known. There weren’t many communities, so why not do something about it? Through professional platforms, I discovered Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC), researched the opportunity, and applied. I became the pioneer GDSC Lead at my institution, and one of 280 leads across India.

We built the community from scratch, organizing meetups, workshops, and hackathons that delivered real value to students. These experiences sparked curiosity and helped students find their voice. When I stumbled across the Developer Advocate role, I was very happy and curious, so I started digging into it.

My journey into advocacy

“What you seek is seeking you.” - Rumi

One day, I got an email from a founder who said he liked my LinkedIn profile and wanted me to join his organization as a Developer Advocate – that moment was surreal. That’s how I landed an internship as a Developer Advocate at Zuplo, where I learned something crucial: to understand developers’ pain points, I needed to walk in their shoes. To truly advocate for developers, I needed to be a developer myself.

Wanting to experience the world of technology from the inside led me to join JPMorgan as a Software Development Engineer, where I got to experience their work firsthand, hear about their challenges, and understand their breakthroughs and victories.

Each project and colleague shaped my perspective. By the end, I didn’t just understand developers, I was one of them.

Building impact and recognition

Over the past few years, I delivered various sessions at leading Indian colleges, mentored over 10,000 students, and built a community of more than 600,000 tech enthusiasts. Every session sparked curiosity, every mentorship helped shape someone’s path.

I collaborated with brands I admired, while enterprises, founders, and the Government of India recognized my work with a National Award. Magazines, articles, and podcasts also featured my efforts. At that moment, I knew this was my calling to make my professional life an extension of what I love doing.

I remember one time I went to a college for a session where I was the only woman on a panel speaking to nearly 3,000 students. Afterwards, several women approached me, nervous, excited, and full of questions. One said, “Seeing you on that stage inspired us. If you can do it, we can too.”

That moment stayed with me. I understand that this is the work that matters. These conversations remind me why I do this work every single day; it’s worth it.

The next chapter at Okta

When I saw that Okta – an organization I genuinely admired – was hiring, I applied immediately. I’m eternally grateful that I did.

There is something surreal about writing this: I am joining Okta as a Senior Builder Advocate. I am writing this sentence, and my brain is doing a thing where it’s not sure if this is real life.

Yes, Builder Advocate, because in today’s AI era, we don’t need to be traditional developers to create products and bring ideas to life. With the right tools and platforms, anyone can build and advocate not just for developers, but for builders of all kinds. Builders today aren’t just coders.

They’re AI builders, vibecoders, LLMs/agents, no-code and low-code builders, and developers, all creating real value. Okta is here for all of us.

This is the kind of role I once admired from the outside and thought, “This is where all my pieces fit.” I’m grateful to be here.

I’m excited for the journey ahead. Okta’s mission to secure every interaction deeply resonates with me. I’m committed to bringing my passion for community and advocacy to this role, listening to builders, understanding their challenges, and helping them succeed.

Let’s connect. Whether you are a developer, a builder, or curious about identity and access management, I’d love to build together. That’s what Okta is about. That’s what I’m here to do. Come talk to me on X, LinkedIn, or GitHub.

Here’s to new beginnings and the incredible community we’re building together at Okta.

Cheers!