We are SO excited to bring you our 50th episode! Thank you, as always, for joining our host Teresa Palacios Smith for un cafecito with three highly intelligent leaders – Dr. Chitra Dorai, Dr. Vanessa Montanez, and Desiree Patno. Listen in to hear these leaders describe the moments that brought them where they are today.
Meet the Leaders
- Dr. Chitra Dorai – CEO/Founder of Amicus Brain
- Dr. Vanessa Montanez – Senior VP and Community Lending National Sales Manager at Citi National Bank
- Desiree Patno – CEO/Founder of Women in the Housing & Real Estate Ecosystem
The Leaders’ Journeys
- Vanessa has been in residential lending for 27 years. She fell in love with helping families achieve their homeownership dreams, and that passion took her all the way to thinking of the big picture and helping families at a national level.
- Chitra was with IBM for 20 years as a top technical leader, CEO, and IBM fellow. She started her company for personal reasons – her mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and she realized she was not alone in dealing with the challenges of being a caregiver.
- Desiree has always been a problem solver. She loved selling homes, but was always looking for the next problem to be solved – in the foreclosure crisis, she became a connector and solution strategist to protect communities.
The Moments When Everything Changed
- Dr. Chitra was VERY successful at IBM, but when she became one of her mother’s caregivers, she knew she had to throw herself behind a new passion. Her product uses AI to support caregivers at all stages of supporting those with neurological degenerative disease.
- Dr. Vanessa’s moment came when she was laid off. She took her severance package and decided to spend it on something she truly loved: learning. She went back to school to understand more about executive leadership in the wake of the 2008 crisis.
- Desiree was recruited into working in the gender space of highly wealthy people in real estate. “Clubhouse” is a collective-created audio app that grew out of the pandemic shutdown to bring people of many specializations together to connect and share ideas.
Tools the Leaders Recommend
- Desiree likes Gamma, an AI company that can help you think and make connections.
- Chitra’s app, Amicus Brain, can be found at http://amicusbrain.com.
- Mckenzie Institute and the Urban Institute have well-researched articles.
Leaders’ Favorite Books/Courses
Leaders’ Favorite Quotes
- Vanessa: “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was going to end, it became a butterfly.”
- Chitra: “If you do not work on important problems, it’s unlikely you’ll do important work.”
- Desiree: “Technology-Human Balance.”
- Teresa: “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.”
When you help another woman rise, we all shine. And that’s how we make an impact. So let’s build each other up, and shine brighter than the sun. For more great content from Teresa, connect with her on LinkedIn, join her Women Who Lead Series on Facebook, and subscribe to her YouTube channel. You can find more episodes of Women Who Lead on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and anywhere else podcasts can be found.
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