Ayushee Nigam 
Save the Water and PwC
Excellence in Client Services
Ayushee Nigam is no stranger to hard work and overcoming obstacles to success. "Being recognized as one of the honorees for 2021 means a lot to me and my parents, seeing their hardships and my efforts receiving recognition at an international level is quite rewarding. I come from a place where female infanticides are common, and delivering a girl-child is unfortunate. Fought against all odds to become the first one from my family with multiple degrees (MBA, LLM, and MSBA, Columbia University). I am delighted to share the platform with other inspiring women leaders. Thank you, Consulting magazine, I am truly honored and humbled to receive this award."
Nigam doesn't identify any specific milestones as her greatest personal or professional achievement because she believes the journey one covers from where they start is more important than any specific milestone. She does share this, "One of the projects that I always cherish is while I was leading a team of 25+ CSR volunteers across four cities and two countries (India and Philippines) under my manager's guidance (Vice President, HCL). We engaged in the budgeting of funds, balance sheet projections for the financial year, selected 'education for orphanages' as the target, listed their education needs, and helped schools with Organizations' CSR funds in fulfilling infrastructure, sanitation, and resource needs, and improving their teaching/learning methodologies."
The result of those efforts after one year included improved literacy and passing rates, separate closed toilets for girls, women instructors to train specifically on women's safety/sanitation needs, libraries with proper chairs and tables, and much more. All of the preceding facilities/services were made available to the students for the first time. Nigam proudly points out "The best part of this initiative was that the state government noticed it and appreciated our efforts by increasing funding for those orphanages."
Q&A: What unique challenges have you experienced being a female consultant in the technology field?
"When I started looking for senior consulting roles (based on my experience) in the technology field, I applied to 1000+ companies, was interviewed 50+ times, and received rejections in 80 percent of the roles before getting an offer at PwC (and from two other highly reputable firms). Ninety percent of the rejections were due to firms not considering my Indian work experience and academic credentials even after telling them the impacts I have made throughout my career." She adds, "At so many instances, I have seen a gender bias as well (people preferring males because they feel men would better suit their project dynamics).
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