Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC) recently released its 12th annual Top Women in Retail report last month, highlighting female executives who impressed us as well as colleagues from the industry. 2022 Top Women in Retail honoree Barkha Saxena, chief data officer of Poshmark, provided valuable insights during her interview. Here’s a sampling of what she had to say:

Women in Retail Leadership Circle: What’s your proudest professional accomplishment of the past year?
Barkha Saxena: 2021 was a memorable year for Poshmark. In January 2021, we went public. I joined Poshmark eight years ago, when we were a small startup of around 30 people. We had big aspirations, but it was never a given that we would become a public company. Watching the company grow from a Series B startup to a public company has been an incredible experience. Looking back, 2021 was another year defined by COVID with the continued challenges of taking care of the team in a remote environment and in a world full of uncertainty. I’m proud that we were able to retain and grow our global data team by doubling down on our culture of caring for, engaging and developing the team.

WIRLC: Describe a risk you’ve taken in your career and how it paid off.
BS: I think most of my career decisions have been risky ones — or at least often unconventional ones. My love for math, an unusual subject for girls in those days, took me to study engineering at a college where there were only 12 girls in a class of about 400 students. After college, I took a software engineering role and quit after a year in the middle of the dot-com boom to pursue my passion for data. My first job as a data scientist was at FICO, where I quickly grew through the ranks and started managing a large team. Five years into that role, I left it for a sales and corporate strategy position because I believe that every data leader needs to be an excellent salesperson with a strong strategic mindset. Our job is to have a holistic perspective way beyond the immediate problem at hand, and we need to convince someone else to act on our recommendations.

WIRLC: How do you motivate and inspire your team?
BS: I’m passionate about building high-performing, engaged and strongly connected teams. In working with my team, I focus on five things:

  1.  Creating and communicating a powerful vision for the growth of the data team and its influence on driving Poshmark growth.
  2. Providing a diverse set of opportunities. In partnership with my leadership team, ensuring that everyone is doing high-impact work and recognizing all small and big wins.
  3. Truly caring about people and building meaningful connections so that I understand how to take care of the team’s needs. I’ve focused on building the leadership team where all leaders at every level operate with the same principle.
  4. Creating the right growth opportunities for everyone on the team and enabling their growth. I coach all people leaders in my team to have proactive conversations with their teams to understand each individual’s career aspirations, and support them with backwards planning so they can reach those goals. I believe it’s the responsibility of a leader to get employees excited about their next chapter, and then do what they can to help their team get there.
  5. Inculcating a strong team culture where everyone feels that they belong and everyone cares about the other person.

WIRLC: How do you advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in your workplace?
BS: Diversity, equity and inclusion is critically important to our culture and success as a company. From day one, our goal has been to build an inclusive environment where people can come as they are, no matter their background. That will not change. As a woman of color in the tech field, I understand what it’s like to be on the other side. Companies need to be intentional about creating an inclusive culture for women and people of color. Thoughtful recruiting and career progression are critical to enable this.

WIRLC: What should companies do to attract and retain more female talent?
BS: Start at the top. It’s very important to have women in executive leadership. Women need role models that will inspire them and advocate for them. As a female executive at Poshmark, I actively have conversations with our leadership team on how we’re working with our women employees and giving them additional support at Poshmark and beyond. We’re fortunate at Poshmark to have cultivated a culture that empowers all women, but in the tech industry as a whole, there’s still a long road ahead.

WIRLC: How do you recharge?
BS: Going for walks, working out, reading, and spending time with my kids are some of my favorite ways to recharge. It’s fun to get into my kiddos’ worlds, whether it’s listening to stories from school, hearing about a book they’re reading, or immersing myself into an imaginary world of characters and super creative story plots with my youngest.

Read more interviews from our 2022 Top Women in Retail report by downloading it here. Want to connect with women leaders such as Barkha? Apply to become a member today!