Three Indian American women win GSV Power of Women award

Three Indian American women —  Anupama Vaid,  Bijal Shah and Shalinee Sharma — are among 14 winners of 2024 Power of Women award instituted by GSV Ventures, a multi-stage venture capital firm focused on more than $7 trillion global education and workforce skills sector.

‍The Power of Women award recognizes influential female leaders who are bringing about a world that provides equal access to the future through the promise of education, according to a media release.

“As entrepreneurs and innovators in EdTech these women are achieving successful outcomes at scale in the education and skills sector,” it says. Power of Women is presented by Cambium Learning Group.

The honorees will receive their award at the Arizona State University ASU+GSV Summit 2024, April 14-17, 2024, in San Diego.

READ: Eight Indian Americans among Atlanta’s power 500 (March 11, 2024)

Indian American winners are:

Anupama Vaid, President & Founder, ParentSquare

Anupama (Anu) Vaid came up with the idea for ParentSquare during a sabbatical when her children were young, recognizing the need to enhance the parent experience in school communications.

She holds a degree in Computer Engineering. Anu and her husband, Sohit, CEO of ParentSquare, started ParentSquare in 2011. They spent the first few years developing the platform based on school needs and gaining industry insights.

The company expanded its team in 2014, alongside securing its first round of funding and partnering with schools beyond their hometown of Santa Barbara. Since then, ParentSquare has been growing.

They recently acquired, Remind, one of the largest free services in education used in over 80% of public schools and by 60% of teachers in the US. Together they serve over 18 million student families on their paid platform.

Bijal Shah, Interim CEO, Guild

Bijal Shah is the Interim CEO at Guild, a Public Benefit Corporation that partners with America’s largest companies to provide employer-funded education, skilling, and career mobility to their workforces.

In her role, Shah oversees Guild’s work with the nation’s largest employers — including Walmart, Chipotle, Discover, Hilton, Target, The Walt Disney Company, and healthcare systems like Providence Health and UCHealth — to unlock opportunities for America’s workforce.

In the last year, more than 5 million Americans have had access to Guild’s Career Opportunity Platform to gain new skills, knowledge and support.

For its work, Guild earned recognition as one of Time’s Most Influential Companies, received Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Award, and has been named to CNBC’s Disruptor 50 and LinkedIn’s Top Startups.

Prior to Guild, Shah held executive and leadership roles at Ibotta and in corporate strategy at Visa. She works with the Board of Directors of Girls, Inc. and was named one of Denver Business Journals’ 40 Under 40 recipients. Shah graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Sloan School of Management. She lives in Denver with her husband and two children.

Shalinee Sharma, CEO, Co-Founder, Zearn

Shalinee Sharma is a math expert and is the CEO and co-founder of Zearn, a nonprofit educational organization behind the top-rated math learning platform used by 1 in 4 elementary-school and 1 million middle-school students nationwide.

At Zearn, Sharma and her team are committed to helping all kids believe that they are math kids. In addition to her role at Zearn, she serves on the Braven Board of Directors, is a Pahara-Aspen Fellow and serves as co-chair of the Brown University Advisory Council for the College.

Before founding Zearn in 2012, Sharma spent more than a decade at Bain & Co. leading work for clients in various sectors including technology and education.

She has a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. A child of refugees, Sharma is passionate about universal access to an excellent education.