Asima Khokhar

For many people, graduation is the most memorable day of their university experience. But for Asima Khokhar, her first day in the bachelor of business administration in entrepreneurial leadership program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) is the one that most stands out. “The moment I walked into my first class was a huge relief,” says Khokhar. “I thought, ‘OK, I am going to get an education. I now have a journey and a path.’ That first day at KPU is my most memorable moment of the time I spent there.” For Khokhar, who at the time was still grieving the death of her mother and had recently immigrated to B.C. from Pakistan with her father and two brothers, being able to attend KPU near her home in Richmond was a blessing during a difficult time in her and her family’s life. “I was an immigrant coming from a different culture, a different country,” she says. “KPU was a small college campus that had small class sizes where everybody knows everybody. Looking back, I think that was really good in helping me get settled without feeling overwhelmed.” The achievement of arriving on campus that day was also one she knew would have made her mom proud. “Growing up, my mom wanted me to have a professional education and a career,” she says. “She wanted me to be someone in my own regard and she wanted me to be financially independent. The dream that my mother had for me has been a huge inspiration in my life.” That inspiration has led Khokhar on an admirable career path. A seasoned technology consultant who is currently head of portfolio operations, cloud systems at Google, Khokhar has spent the last decade delivering technology transformations in industries spanning transportation, financial services, retail, higher education, healthcare, publishing and industrial manufacturing in Canada, the United States and Europe. While she didn’t start out in the tech industry, it wasn’t long into her first job after graduating from KPU in 2005 that Khokhar discovered her passion. Working in the publishing division of a print media organization, she collaborated with the IT team to complete the design, testing and deployment of a new circulation system. Her work was quickly noticed, and she was promoted to the marketing division, where she helped with the company’s enterprise management system. “I realized that I really enjoyed that project-based technology work,” says Khokhar. “I decided to pursue that as a career by going into technology consulting, but entering management consulting is not easy, and I needed more education to pursue my new career goal.” While completing her MBA at UBC, she landed an internship with Rocky Mountaineer, helping it implement its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, “which as luck would have it was one of industry’s first SaaS tools that disrupted the market for CRM systems,” recalls Khokhar. That internship resulted in Khokhar getting noticed by many management consulting firms that were doing campus recruiting for MBAs. She got the attention of Deloitte Consulting, where for seven years she worked on major technology transformation projects for Fortune 500 companies and the public sector. That experience led to her being recruited by Google, and she relocated to the United States three years ago. Today, she is committed to giving back and helping other women of colour who want a career in tech and aspire to land their dream jobs in Silicon Valley. She volunteers on the executive board of OPEN Silicon Valley, or Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America, a non-profit dedicated to providing educational programs, career coaching, business mentoring and networking opportunities in the Bay Area. She also coaches high school students and recent university graduates looking to land jobs in tech. “There are a lot of companies who are looking to hire people from underrepresented minority groups, including women of colour, because we bring diversity into the organization,” explains Khokhar. “In big tech, and the tech sector in general, it is hard to find too many women, especially women of colour, in very senior executive positions. Therefore, it is my deep desire that more women like me pursue careers in tech, so that one day more of us can make it to senior leadership positions, and eventually make our way to CEO roles of big tech companies.” Khokhar hopes to encourage others to set high goals for themselves, and to not be defeated by life’s setbacks and disappointments. She wants to inspire others to believe in themselves, the way her mother inspired her to believe in herself.

Despite her many accomplishments, she remains humble about her success. “What I’m most proud of is that I fulfilled my late mother’s dream, and I made something of myself,” reflects Khokhar. “I think I have made my parents, especially my mother, proud. To this day, I still think that has been my biggest achievement.”