Speaker: Aanan Contractor, Head of Storefront Engineering, Wayfair
Why is Women’s History Month important to you?
Aanan Contractor: Women's History Month is very important for me. It is a great time to honor the accomplishments of all those who work to make the world better, more equal place for us women. This month I have been devoting time to learn, renew my pledge for paying it forward and be thankful for all those who have made profound contributions to my own accomplishments.
What is the most important diversity goal for women in your organization?
Aanan Contractor: At Wayfair we have always cared about building an inclusive and engaging workplace. We have made great strides towards achieving gender parity. However, we still have a lot of work to do. Within engineering, we are partnering with our global talent team and reach higher to hire qualified women for some of our more senior roles and help them and contribute to advance in their careers with learning opportunities.
Which woman in history has inspired you the most, and why?
Aanan Contractor: Being a technologist and engineering leader, iconic women pioneers in STEM like Shakuntala Devi, Grace Hopper and Marie Curie have inspired me the most. They are role models for courage, paving the way, helping me be supremely ambitious for my fellow women technologists.
What is the biggest challenge for the next generation of women?
Aanan Contractor: The biggest challenge for the next generation of women is to build a muscle to take some calculated risks to further their ambitions. My advice is to start early and build courageous girls within playgrounds. Teach them tools to calculate last radius for risky moves they are considering and build skills by test and learn approach.
