Shaheena Attarwala

Shaheena Attarwala works at Microsoft where she builds experiences for emerging economies. She has previously worked in startups like BookMyShow, Zoomcar and Shaadi.com and also co-founded a product startup back in 2015. She has been a guest lecturer at premium institutes like IIM Bangalore and NMIMS Mumbai to name a few and spoken at international design conferences like DesignUp. Born to a poor and uneducated family in a village in Uttar Pradesh, she was raised in the slums of Mumbai. Attarwala resisted an early marriage and pursued education fearlessly against her families will and support. Life in the slum exposed her to severest living conditions, gender bias and sexual harassment. Her perpetual curiosity to learn and a focus to design a different life for herself paved the path for her subsequent achievements. She holds a degree in Law and her social work initiatives have received recognition from the United Nations. She was also named as one of the “Unsung Heroes” of India by The India Today 2019 edition. Her journey has inspired girls to pursue education and has changed the mindset of parents. Apart from making the digital world a better place, she also endeavors to open a school for the unprivileged children in her village combining the art of technology and design.