Page 44 - Woman 061220_interactive

Women of Distinction

Anasuya Morill Strasner grew order to fit in this new environ- I just needed to be myself and not
up with a somewhat untraditional ment. However, looking back, I just try to fit in.”
childhood. Before she was born believe that this unusual childhood Anasuya’s original career path
her parents converted to Hindu- helped me grow into the woman I was to earn a degree to become
ism, and as a result her earliest am today.” a marriage and family counsel-
years were spent in a homeschool After a couple of years in or. “When I got out of college, I
commune environment. As a her new environment, Anasuya ended up having an interview with
young chilc, she had a some- managed to catch up on all she Andersen consulting for Arthur
what nomadic childhood living was missing and fit in. “I spent a Andersen. They did this really in-
in several different communities lot of time trying to camouflage teresting interview called a Critical
in the U.S. culminating in the my ignorance to all the culturally Behavior Assessment, which was
last stint at the age of eight where normal things my friends spoke really fascinating. They analyze all
she lived without her parents in about. Being able to say, Oh, I the different components of your
a community boarding school in know that song or I know that TV personality and behavior. I ended
up getting a job in their human re-
sources business consulting group.
ANASUYA And it was really focused on orga-
nizational change and behaviors.
MORILL STRASNER In this position I had a chance to
be exposed to a lot of different
customers, a lot of different issues,
a lot of different challenges. I think
ORACLE CORPORATION that job was truly, still to this day,
VICE PRESIDENT NORTH AMERICA CLOUD, one of the best jobs I ever had
in the sense that it really taught
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE me how to think critically about
business and activity. People some-
By Judith A. Habert times miss that chapter. It gave me
the confidence to say, you know
what? No matter what the industry
is or no matter what the busi-
Photos Courtesy Northern California at the base of show, but eventually I found a way ness is, every business and every
of Anasuya the Sequoia National Park. to blend in.” industry experiences challenges.
Morill Straner Mostly raised with an Ortho- On the home front, things It's just the context that is differ-
dox Hindu Vedic background, were a bit tougher since her mom ent because of the industry or the
transitioning into a mainstream and dad had separated. Anasuya activity that the particular business
school environment was a huge spent time traveling between is in. But if you know how to take
transition for her. At twelve, she California and Florida so she could a step back and assess it, using
moved once again, this time to Es- have time with both parents. “I the scientific method, you can
condido, California to live with her counted at one point and realized apply your critical thinking to any
Mother and attend public school that I had attended 13 different industry and learn to understand
for the first time; in sixth grade. schools before I started college. So, and be confident in many different
Having been in school six days a this meant a lot of change, and I business situations. I think that's
week for most of her childhood, had to learn how to navigate it.” really helped me personally.”
she found her new educational en- Anasuya graduated from high After working at Arthur
vironment easy and found she was school and went on to college, first Andersen, she went to work at a
ahead of most of the students in at George Washington Universi- startup company called SeeBeyond
her new school, although fitting in ty in Washington D.C and then and managed the partnership
socially was a bit more challenging. transferred to the University of relationship between this company
“When I started public school, Southern California. It was after and their partner Seibel Systems.
I had absolutely no idea how the college that Anasuya realized This role enabled her to really see
modern world worked I didn't something that helped her im- the connections between compa-
listen to popular music, or watch mensely. “Everything up until that nies and their partners, vendors
popular TV programs, so I had no point that ruled my life was how and customer ecosystems. This
sense of how those things should do I exist and fit in, in a world that role helped her see how these
work, because I wasn't exposed I don't really fit into. Then finally I companies and their customers
to any of it. I had to learn a lot in got to a point where I realized that work together to solve business

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