Kamini Ramani, Lotus Leadership, and the Women Missing from the Indian American Success Story
The longtime Mayfield marketing chief launched her HarperCollins debut, Lotus Leadership, at SALA 2026 on her 63rd birthday. She spoke with me about the 33 women in its pages, goddess myths, marriage as a family project, and life after Sand Hill Road.
When Silicon Valley tells the Indian American success story, it usually reaches for the same names: Sundar Pichai at Google, Satya Nadella at Microsoft, pioneers such as Kanwal Rekhi. Kamini Ramani wanted to make sure the women were in that story too.
Ramani spent 40 years in Silicon Valley, the last 20 as chief marketing officer of the venture capital firm Mayfield. Earlier in her career she advised Steve Jobs on marketing. Her new book, Lotus Leadership: A Modern Playbook of Ancient Wisdom (Harper Business 2026), draws on interviews with 33 Indian American women leaders. It builds a five-trait leadership framework, introducing each trait through the myth of a Hindu goddess.
She launched it at the South Asian Literature and Arts (SALA) 2026 festival at Menlo College in Atherton, CA on September 26, 2026, on her 63rd birthday, three days after publication. Before a panel discussion entitled “Lotus Leadership: South Asian Women CEOs,” I spoke with Kamini.
Interview with Kamini Ramani
Raji Pillai: The book came out this week, and you launched it here today. What does this moment mean to you?
Kamini Ramani: I got the idea for this book three years ago, on my 60th birthday. Today happens to be my 63rd. So it's a very auspicious beginning to the year that I get to launch it at SALA, a lovely community of people who love their work: writers, artists, filmmakers, chefs.
The book came out a few days ago on September 22, and it's already doing well. This morning it was number 16 on Amazon in professional development, in the 40s for women in business, and fairly high in a category I never intended: sacred Hindu texts.
That's because I open each of the five traits in the framework with the myth of a goddess. It isn't a Hindu book or a goddess book. But so many of the women I interviewed said those myths were a powerful inspiration. Being South Indian, you'll know that we're often given a goddess's name. Mine is Saraswati, and that put me on a path of acquiring knowledge and following my curiosity.
RP: You spoke with 33 women. How did you find them, and how did you choose?
KR: I wrote the book because I wanted the Indian American success narrative to include the women. Vinita Gupta is known. Indra Nooyi is known. But there are many powerful women whose stories are not.
Whenever we talk about tech success, it's Sundar Pichai leading Google and Satya Nadella leading Microsoft. They all deserve to be celebrated, Kanwal Rekhi too. But there are lots of untold stories.
Of course I wanted women in big roles, because readers like to hear from leaders. But my priority was: will they be vulnerable? Will they tell me the real challenges of getting to the top? As Thich Nhat Hanh said, “No mud, no lotus.” The women who spoke to me with real candor are the ones who ended up in the book.
They include Revathi Advaithi, who has led Flex for seven years and sits on Uber's board, and Indra Nooyi, because you have to talk to the most famous Indian woman in business. There's Aparna Bawa of Zoom, who kept it running for all of us during COVID. Most people don't know that was a woman of Tamil origin who has lived and worked in Silicon Valley for 20 years. There's Shalini Govil-Pai, head of Google TV, who earlier led teams at YouTube and Pixar.
Beyond tech, I included leading academics and movement creators. Leading a big organization that creates a movement is just as challenging as running a company.
RP: You were a busy executive. When did you find time to write?
KR: I started in 2023. In three years I went from a kernel of an idea to an amazing agent, a great publisher in HarperCollins US, and now a US launch, with an India launch to follow in January.
The idea took over my mind, as creative projects often do. In 2024 I told my boss at Mayfield that I wanted to hang up my boots by year's end. I'd been there so long that I wanted to hand off the baton properly and help find my successor. I kept interviewing women along the way, but I really wrote in 2025, once I had stopped working, and focused on it for a year.
I have a background in English literature, so I had that. I also found a wonderful thought partner, a former journalist friend who coached me through the process. And I worked with a young editor at HarperCollins who wasn't Indian American. That was really important: she asked me the obvious questions. It was a collaborative process.
RP: How are you getting the word out?
KR: HarperCollins is helping with publicity, and they did great work on the design. I have seven events in the Bay Area and three in New York, including Kepler's in Menlo Park and the Commonwealth Club. You have to meet readers to get that energy and feedback. Public events are listed on my website, LotusLeaders.org.
Then there's a series of corporate talks: Intel, Uber, Nvidia, Google, KPMG, Accenture. So many companies are responding to the idea of tapping into wisdom to lead. People are hungry to know how to build a meaningful life and career, and how to rise without burning out. And how to do it by owning your heritage rather than burying it or running away from it.
RP: Women speakers are almost always asked about work-life balance. Men rarely are. What do you make of that?
KR: There's a section of the book built on Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha as a harmonious union. Woman after woman described building non-contentious relationships with their spouses that let both partners pursue their ambitions and manage their other obligations.
They saw success as a family project. They weren't keeping a 50-50 score in the moment: who did the chores, who emptied the dishwasher. Many of the immigrant women said, we're in the foxhole together. It's us against the world.
It's a real antidote to Lean In, which Sheryl Sandberg published about 13 years ago. It gave women permission to pursue their ambition, but it made you anxious that you couldn't lean out. These women had no problem leaning out, for caregiving or to pursue a passion.
One took a year off for a wildlife sabbatical: lions in Africa, penguins in Antarctica. She came back so refreshed that she reinvented her company's business model and was promoted to president. That company was Atlassian.
It doesn't have to be "your career or mine." If you have a partner who's your cheerleader, you can do it all. I'm fortunate to have one; we celebrate our 35th anniversary next year.
KR: What will the India launch look like?
RP: It runs from January into February, a tour of at least four cities: Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai, which I know as Bombay because I grew up there, and possibly Hyderabad. I'll go to women founders' events, perhaps some festivals, and corporates with lots of amazing women leaders.
My goal is for rising leaders to feel they have a playbook to get to the top without burning out. These women have shown it can be done. If readers take that away, my job is done.
KR: Outside of the book, what do you do to recharge?
RP: Forest bathing. We live in San Francisco, up from Golden Gate Park, and it has beautiful redwoods. I love walking and communing with nature. I feel like I've entered vanaprastha. It's calming and meditative, but also inspiring: I get ideas on my walks.
I lived in San Francisco for 35 years and commuted to Sand Hill Road for 20, except during COVID. I'm very happy to have hung up my boots and given up that commute.
This article was published in indica News on October 11, 2026
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