From Delhi to Dublin: Shreya Aggarwal’s inspiring career in data analytics
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Shreya Aggarwal, Data and AI Lead at PwC, is a trailblazer in the world of data analytics, seamlessly merging business acumen with technological expertise to drive innovation in a male-dominated field.
“It’s a very male-dominated field? Are you sure?” Shreya still remembers her mother asking her this when she said she was going to study engineering. “At that time in India, if you were interested in science, men usually went into engineering and women took biology. But I wanted engineering and I only applied to two schools, which was a bold move.”
Her risk paid off and she secured her spot at NSIT, Delhi College of Engineering, majoring in biotechnology, where her introduction to data analytics sparked a passion. “My favourite subject was genomics, which focused on studying genes and how data can improve health outcomes for people and society,” Shreya explains. This foundational experience led her to join a boutique consultancy firm, where she began exploring how companies could leverage data analytics, particularly within the pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors.
“At that time, data was abundant, but there was uncertainty about its application. The idea of generating reports and dashboards was novel,” she says. As her career progressed, Shreya merged her knowledge of business and technology, noting that this unique intersection was “quite niche” and something she genuinely enjoyed. She took a detour into financial analytics, but felt a compelling need to return to life sciences, believing she could make a more significant impact there.
What followed was a number of years with a professional services firm, where quarterly travel cycles saw her spend one month in Delhi, one in Bangalore and one in the US. She cites a big client meeting in the US as a moment from which she “didn’t look back”.
“The MD couldn’t attend and asked if I could take it. I was one of two women at a roundtable of 15, and the other woman was one of the highest stakeholders in the room. I was wondering if this group of really experienced people with sharp minds would listen to me, in my early 20s. They all listened. They all took in what I was saying and what I proposed to them as a solution to their problem. I didn’t expect them to listen to me, because I thought ‘I’m not that credible’. I remember ringing the MD after the meeting and telling him it went better than I had expected. It was then I realised that we, as women, sometimes hold ourselves back, because we think we are not good enough, that we are not credible. But we are. We are really good. We need to condition our brains to know that and to recognise our value. That first board meeting, that made the difference.”
The challenging travel schedule meant Shreya was ready for a change and decided on Europe as a base, on the recommendation of her MD. She applied with PwC and arrived in Ireland 10 days before the pandemic lockdown. “I knew no one and was watching YouTube videos on things I should know about Ireland. But I was living with a wonderful Irish couple… we spent a lot of time together,” she laughs. Despite the unusual circumstances of the lockdown, Shreya found her footing and success at PwC, working on data strategy, business intelligence, and reporting projects. The work was, in her words, “fantastic”.
Pictured, left, Kelly McKillen and Shreya Aggarwal as part of the IMAGE x PwC Women in Tech series.