IPN Spotlight: Shelmina Abji (Empowerment Speaker at Shelmina Abji Consulting and Advisory Board Member at United Nations Foundation- Girl Up)
Shelmina Abji was born in Tanzania and was the first person in her family to obtain a college degree. She is a global empowerment speaker, a former IBM Vice President, a Distinguished Alumni, a Board member and an angel investor. She rose up to become one of the highest-ranking women of color at IBM by delivering superior business results consistently for 20+ years while being a single mother of two children since they were 2 and 4. She has led hardware, software and services businesses and has delivered over 1Billion USD in annual revenues. She has hired over 1,000 individuals during her career. She has had the privilege of participating in meetings at our state capital and the White House to increase women in STEM.
Abji holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She also has a Bachelor of Science Mathematics from University of Poona India. As IBM’s top talent, she received extensive leadership training at IBM, Harvard and UCLA. Presently, she is an advisory board member at United Nations Foundation Girl Up and TiE-Seattle where she leads the women’s entrepreneurship chapter. In November 2018, Shelmina will be honored for her trailblazing work as a female leader in technology and women’s empowerment by the Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business at their Young Women’s Business Leadership Conference (YWBLC).
What skills have helped you in your career?
• My ability to earn the trust, confidence of and create a win-win for all stakeholders
• My ability to prioritize what’s most important and focusing to deliver on all metrics while not getting distracted by urgent fires coming from multiple sources
• My complete trust in myself to overcome any and all challenges without getting overwhelmed
• My ability to build people up, recognizing their strengths and placing them in the right position to achieve a desired outcome
What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
Being on board of TiE, an angel investor in individual companies as well as part of a fund, I get to interact with and learn from many entrepreneurs and other angel investors as well as venture capitalists. I am also an avid reader and love to travel which provides a constant source of learning.
What is next for you in your career?
Over the years, I have witnessed profound positive changes in the girls and women I have had the fortune to work with. After receiving multiple requests, I have decided to share my insights and accelerate the strengths of others by writing a book on empowerment.
What advice would you offer to others?
• Define what success means to you (personal and professional) and ensure all your choices of action are taking you towards that definition. Do not get distracted by noise. Course correct and redefine as necessary
• Become self-aware. Understand what your strengths and weaknesses are so you can lead with your strengths amplify them and neutralize your weaknesses
• Constantly add value in all your interactions
• Continually build new relevant competencies
• Do your personal best under all circumstances
Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Be a keynote speaker at events where I can share my insights for personal and professional success
• Lead workshops on various topics as found on my website
• Participate on panels on various topics from leadership to entrepreneurship to work life balance
• Lead round table discussions
Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Shelmina Abji
Please provide your preferred email address so interested professionals can network with you:
www.shelmina.com
Region:
West
If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.