Neerja Raman is a talented woman with a flourishing career
spanning more than two decades, a devoted family behind
her, who has made many significant community contributions,
but she’d be the first to admit that she’s earned everything
she has today.
Born in Mussouri, Uttaranchal, Raman, nee Gupta, was
raised in a mid-sized family that was radically open-minded.
She recalls her father encouraging her mother to pursue a
career of her own. At a time when a wife’s role was to stay
home, cook, clean and raise the children, her mother
became a university professor with an advanced degree.
Raman was exposed to a variety of things that other girls
weren’t at an early age. Her athletic father, who taught at the
world-renowned Doon School in New Delhi, had the opportunity
to enroll his daughter in the all-boys school as part of
his condition of employment with the institution. Instead of
shying away from his daughter being surrounded by boys
from elite upbringings, he enrolled her
and even pushed her to participate in
sports.
Raman’s parents put emphasis on
their children to participate in activities
outside the school as well. They even
suggested that the young 16-year-old
stay in a dorm during her college days at
Delhi University, rather than stay with
relatives, in stark contrast to most other
students who are required to fulfill family
obligations by living with nearby relatives.
P R O G R E S S I V E T H I N K I N G
Her progressive-thinking parents
helped mold the young Raman into the
success seeker she is today. Although she
hadn’t traveled much until after her college
years, she bravely headed for
America’s promised land to collect on
her full scholarship at the State
University of New York in Stony Brook.
Yet, according to Raman’s personal experiences,
the American dream was far different
in planning and thought than in
reality.
After the plane wheels touched U.S.
soil, her life would be changed forever.
Being a minimalist, she didn’t have a lot
of luggage and so her worries about getting
to the university from the airport
were virtually non-existent. She jumped
onto a Long Island Railway train, which
broke down on the way. After the repairs
to the train were made, she was on her
way again to New York’s most famous
gateway, Pennsylvania Station. She carried
her luggage, mostly filled with
books, from the train when a seemingly
charitable man offered to help her to the
curb. She thanked him profusely for his
generosity until he asked for $10 for his
services. She didn’t have it and gave him
the last of what she did have. In spite of
these initial hiccups on her journey to
America, Raman’s luck was about to
change.
Her next experience would transform
her life forever. A computer science
major from South India, Vasan Raman,
came to pick her up. He was the only one
with a car, and he would eventually win
Raman’s heart and become her husband.
Her memories of coming to America for
the first time still hold a special place in
her heart, she says. She’s even kept the
first blanket she purchased from Macy’s
when she first settled down in the U.S.
During her SUNY-Stony Brook years,
Raman took up quantum chemistry and
computer programming. She had the
unusual opportunity to do original
research, and worked on an MRI instrument,
which became quite an intensive
project. Her professor, Paul Lauderdale,
eventually won a Nobel Prize for the MRI
technology she helped fix. She laughs
that she sometimes fantasizes it was she
who got him started.
When Raman was recruited to work
on the MRI, Lauderdale didn’t have a
budget, so she took the job despite not
getting any money for her efforts. She
supplemented her income that summer
by teaching in the chemistry laboratories
and being a resident advisor.
U N W A V E R I N G D R I V E
Raman’s strong sense of self and
unwavering drive helped her in juggling
her various responsibilities. Her philosophy
in life is to do things that create
energy. You can grow in certain ways but
learn more from the interactions.
Working on the MRI, she learned lessons
she would carry throughout her life, she
explains to Indian Life & Style.
As she began spending more and
more time at school with her first friend
in America, Vasan, they took a vacation
to Yellowstone National Park and around
the state of California. They soon knew
they wanted to get married. The Ramans
were married in New Jersey at a judge’s
office with no witnesses and no ring. The
judge used his office to conduct the ceremony
and called a friend to be the witness,
as required by law. In the evening,
they went to Atlantic City for their honeymoon.
They went on to marry in two
more ceremonies to further proclaim
their love and commitment towards one
another.
When gazing at photos of her younger
days with her husband and three children,
Kavita, Priya and Arjun, Raman
says, almost apologetically, that she
looked so much younger just years back.
She explains she was plagued by illness
after illness for some time, which aged
her dramatically. However, she still
appears years younger than her biological
age, and her worries would be lost on
anyone looking into her exceptionally
youthful eyes. To add to her life’s story,
within one year, her father died of a
heart attack, her brother was killed in a
train crash, and her older sister passed
on due to a heart condition–all while she
was far away in the United States.
Having learned lessons about the toughest
side of life, it took a toll on her but
she is a survivor.
After earning her master’s degree from
SUNY-Stony Brook (after a master’s from
Delhi University as well), Raman began
working with Hewlett Packard in San
Jose, Calif., on their Real Time technology
where she worked for more than two
decades. She is also a graduate of the
Kellogg Executive Program at
Northwestern University. Her HP life has
been well documented over the years. In
addition to being director of strategic planning
for imaging and printing at HP Labs,
Raman spearheaded the HP Arts and
Science program, which aims to promote
cultural understanding by digitization,
preservation and sharing of paintings and
other art objects.
“HP is a global company that ties together
diversity, business, and innovation,” she
says proudly. “Specifically, HP provides a
positive working environment for women.
These core values are what drew me to HP
and what kept me there.”
As a young woman, Raman realized that
with science and computers she could create
the most opportunities for herself. She
explains this to all her young audiences and
though she talks about the amount of work
it takes, she acknowledges how it changed
the course of her life too.
Raman tells kids the hard truth that they
must get good grades, that life isn’t always
fair, they should learn from these lessons of
life, and that everything is based on economics
so they must learn how to make this
work to their advantage. She also preaches
that desires are very difficult to squash, so
don’t try. She really wants to reach today’s
youth because they are our future leaders,
she says. “Education is just another word for
understanding,” she emphasizes.
Being a serious career woman, many
might question her loyalty towards her
career over her family. But she has successfully
managed to juggle and balance being
both a great mother and working without
feeling guilty about her work and home
“You do what you think will keep you
whole as a person and this is the best way,”
Raman explains.
She admits to being a very logic-based
thinker. She also feels people think about
their personal lives as long-term and their
business life as short-term. If business is
always viewed as short-term, it becomes
difficult to achieve major initiatives and
goals, she cautions.
Her desire to make a difference led
Raman to become actively involved with
and make valuable contributions to several
non-profit organizations. She was a board
member of Indian Business and
Professional Women and helped to build an
awards program to mark the achievements
of women. “There are a lot of unsung heroes
in the world,” she comments. She is also on
the advisory board of Maitri, a women’s self
help organization in Silicon Valley. Raman is
now trying to use IBPW as a springboard to
start a broader group. She wants to return to
the roots and address issues like layoffs,
career changes, homemaker challenges,
and health.
Her most recent success was receiving a
fellowship from Stanford University to do
research in China with a technology application
that has a large social impact. To
Raman, this is an exciting prospect and a
testament to her life’s work. She wants to
build sustainable projects. And although
some of the return on investment of these
projects isn’t always measurable or direct,
she explains the need to measure success
and return on the social aspects of a project,
too. She looks at developing literacy tests
for rural women, for example, so they have
proof for the banks and prospective
employers so they can start businesses.
Raman isn’t just a dreamer; she puts her
brain power towards finding a real solution.
Raman has also worked with the Tech
Museum in San Jose, Calif., for the HP Tech
Camp for Girls. One girl told Raman she
came to the youth camp thinking she would
become a beautician one day. By the time
she left, she said she was thinking about
becoming a researcher, proving how the
tech camp opened up more options for this
young girl and showed her how many
opportunities there are for girls today.
Raman often gives inspirational talks to
kids, but admits she receives just as much
as she gives. She is not only energized by the
youth but inspired by them as well.
Aside from inspiring kids, adults are also
charmed by her innovation, her passion for
life, and brilliant mind. Being inducted into
the prestigious Women in Technology
International Hall of Fame this past
December was a moving experience for Raman. After the
awards ceremony, attended proudly by her mother, Raman was
shocked at being asked by guests to pose for a photo as though
she were a celebrity, and humbled by the endless number of
congratulations from people she didn’t know.
Raman recently compiled some of her managerial secrets in
a book entitled, “The Practice and Philosophy of Decision
Making: A Seven Step Spiritual Guide.” She wrote the book to
try to bring ethics back into management and to provide readers
methods to access the power within each of us.
At home, her successful family looks at her with admiration
and respect: her husband, a serial entrepreneur; her first-born,
Kavita, who lives in New York city with a promising career in
investment and finance strategy working for a leading fortune
500 company; her other daughter, Priya, a professional consultant
in Dallas, Texas; and her youngest, Arjun, who is studying
cybernetics and works with cyborgs. It is clear that Neerja
Raman has made an impact in many people’s lives and that her
legacy will be carried on proudly by her children.
