Learn how an influencer built her career − Forrester Research VP and Principal Researcher Sucharita Kodali: TWMM 033

Sucharita Kodali is one of the country’s leading authority on retail, shopping and mobile commerce. She is a highly-regarded and frequently sought-after public speaker and has presented her research to audiences around the world. She is frequently cited in leading media outlets such as CNBC, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and The Financial Times.

Since 2005, Sucharita has been the lead retail analyst at Forrester Research where she focuses on eCommerce and the intersection of technology and commerce. She has authored more than 50 research papers on the topics of online and multichannel retail. She also served on the board of Shop.org, the digital division of the National Retail Federation.

Before Forrester, Sucharita was the director of marketing at Saks Fifth Avenue, where she managed the customer acquisition, retention and market research efforts for the $2 billion luxury retailer’s online channel.

She has also held management positions at Toys R Us, where she was a merchant in the Babies R Us division and a store manager in one of the company’s largest toy stores, and at the Walt Disney Company, where she developed and managed marketing plans for new business initiatives including the Disney Stores, the Disney Cruise Line and Club Disney. Additionally, she was involved in the expansion of Cap Cities/ABC properties, specifically ESPN Zone, ESPN Magazine and the Go.com network.

She was a member of the founding team of a startup in the maternity and baby products headquartered in Los Angeles during the first dot-com boom. She has authored two non-fiction books and has contributed to Business Week Online.

Sucharita holds a BA in Economics from Harvard University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Sneak Peek Into What You’ll Learn…

01:35 – Sucharita tells us more about her role at Forrester Research and her extensive background in the retail industry.

08:32 – Sucharita describes the presence of women in the executive ranks of the retail industry.

09:37 – We learn about two leading edge retail trends we should be paying attention to.

12:09 – Sucharita shares her interesting experience interviewing while pregnant and jumping into a new role after maternity leave.

14:24 – Sucharita discusses the unique approach her family took to juggling a travel-heavy job and a new baby.

17:35 – We learn about the critical role extended family played in providing childcare in the early days of Sucharita’s Forrester career.

22:40 – Sucharita shares what she still struggles with as a working mother.

30:41 – Sucharita discusses things she’s done well as a parent and areas where she wishes she could do better.

35:52 – Sucharita talks about how she has built and maintains a robust professional network.

40:42 – Brass Tacks— The lightning round of concrete advice and tips.

Quotable quotes:

“Use phase 1 of your career to explore what you truly love,…use the next phase, phase 2, to master it….and use the third phase, your final phase, to exploit it, to take advantage of it.”