Though she has enough professional achievements to healthily pack any resume, Sonia Sharma considers taking control of her career as her single biggest accomplishment since receiving her 40 under Forty award in 2019.
While still at Dell, Sharma launched the company’s customer stories, detailing how Dell partners with individual customers to solve business needs and promote human progress. Sharma led her cross-functional team in delivering Dell’s first generative AI customer story featuring the company’s partnership with the City of Amarillo in Texas. Sharma led teams across several entities including Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Motor Neurone Disease Association, and Intel to create “I Will Always Be Me”, a novel book designed for individuals living with motor neurone disease that banks their voices as they read it aloud. Sharma faced burnout during the COVID pandemic, and though she was tentative at first, she decided to leave the comfort of a role she had outgrown. With the goal of being her own boss, Sharma bypassed immediately available opportunities to focus on creating a career in which she could pick and choose to work on projects aligning with her passions, especially those which support women-owned businesses and female professionals.
What did getting the 40u40 award mean to you at the time? It was unexpected, humbling. I’m grateful to WBJ for celebrating and developing a network of community leaders and achievers.
What advice do you have for this year’s 40u40 winners? Get to know at least three or four people, and make a commitment to meet/check in with each other regularly.
