[100 Emerging Women Leaders] From an engineer to a marketing maverick, here’s how Sarika Naik found her inner calling

Sarika Naik’s childhood centered around discussions about marketing strategies and industry trends, thanks to her father who worked as a marketing consultant.

Although she found these discussions fascinating, her family emphasised the importance of education as key to a better life. As a result, she pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering after completing her 12th standard.

While she was good in her studies, she felt something was missing from her life.

“In those four years, I realised that while I could continue with engineering, I loved the art and science of marketing,” Naik tells HerStory.

Naik took the road not taken. She decided to put faith in her intuition and took a u-turn to pursue marketing.

Today, Naik has more than 20 years of experience in sales and marketing. She currently serves as the Group Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer and Member of the Group Executive Committee at Capgemini. In her role, she focuses her efforts on shaping and implementing effective strategies for diversity and inclusion, as well as social and environmental sustainability.

Sales became a stepping stone

Upon realising her calling for marketing, Naik pursued an MBA in Marketing from Gujarat University in 1996.

After an initial experience in infrastructure development programmes, Naik shifted to Wipro Limited as a front-line channel sales manager in 1999. She recalls that she was one of the first women to handle the channel partner programme of the organisation.

“I started with hardcore sales. I recall starting from pretty much the lowest rung. From there I moved on to account management and I started leading some of the largest accounts of the organisation once I moved to Bengaluru,” she adds.

Naik worked at Wipro for over 15 years, wearing many hats in roles spanning sales, process excellence, customer advocacy and marketing for Global Infrastructure Services and Wipro InfoTech.

She was also chosen to be a part of the Six Sigma initiatives under Mission Quality programme at Wipro. The programme was focused on improving business processes by reducing errors and increasing efficiency. She got to work with business heads to identify areas for process improvement using methods like DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control), and more as part of the programme.

As a certified Black Belt in these methods, she played a key role in setting up and monitoring systems for Mission Quality. She also designed and executed the Six Sigma training programme for Wipro Infotech and served as the lead trainer for Green Belt training in DMAIC methodology.

“This programme taught me the importance of backend and process. People who are in sales often miss the importance of process. You may have the best idea, but if you do not know how to create a process out of it that stays after you are gone then it's just a flash in the pan,” she shares.

In 2011, she was chosen to be the CMO for Wipro India business and Head of Marketing for Global Infrastructure Services.

“They wanted somebody who not just sits in an ivory tower, but somebody who is spoken to clients and hence I was picked for the role,” she adds.

Additionally, she was also the Ombudsperson and Head of PSHC (Prevention of Sexual Harassment Committee) at the organisation. At this point, she could see her ambition meeting a social responsibility for the first time.

Higher up on the corporate ladder

After Wipro, she joined Dell Technologies as the Global Director of Marketing.

In 2016, she joined Capgemini as its Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Her responsibilities included external and internal communications, social media and digital marketing, events, employee engagement, innovation marketing, recruitment marketing, campus branding, industry relations, and analyst relations.

“The reason I joined Capgemini was I had not done internal communications. I had done client-facing marketing and this role had a huge element of things I had not done,” she adds.

After six months, she was appointed as the Head of Client Engagement and Experience team. Within a year, she also became the Chairperson of Diversity and Inclusion for Capgemini India. Naik has also been a part of the CSR core committee, Policy on Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POPSH) core committee, and the Center Head Committee at Capgemini.

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Sustainability was a hand-down childhood value

Naik believes that her past experiences have significantly shaped her career. Reflecting on her childhood, she recalls wearing her sisters' hand-me-downs until she outgrew them.

“What we today call corporate social responsibility has always been a part of our upbringing. For many Indian families, especially those from middle-class backgrounds, the concept of reuse, recycle, and repurpose are not new. I strongly believe that our past and who we are fundamentally shape who we become,” she adds.

Challenges

Reflecting on her journey, Naik says that she has had her fair share of challenges, but she has always tried to see what she can learn through those roadblocks.

“If you choose to be in the workforce and have made a conscious choice to build a career, you must be prepared to accept the challenges that come with it,” Naik adds.

She recalls that one of the major challenges she encountered during her career was when her kids were born.

“We had only three months of maternity leave, and there was no concept of hybrid work. During that period, I learned to be fully committed when at work and to focus on family when at home,” she says.

She also highlights that when she started off in her career, there were very few role models to look up to. She recalls looking up at the stage and seeing the entire leadership, and there would be only one woman.

Naik always aspired to be that woman someday.

“But it also taught me that now, when I am in a position to influence decisions, I ensure there is equal participation from women. I strive not only for women to be present on the stage but also to have a voice and an active role,” she adds.

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Making difference to other women’s lives

Naik says that unconscious bias is a reality. She believes that offering solutions to mitigate the bias starts from the top.

“We have a lot of fancy promises stating that we are an equal company and we hire equally. All that is fine, but who really is your top C-suite? If you don't see women represented there then those are empty promises made by the marketing team,” she said at SheSparks 2024.

Being in a leadership position, Naik has played an active role in promoting various gender diversity programmes at Capgemini.

Under her leadership, the Captivate programme, which is Capgemini’s career comeback initiative, aims to support skilled female professionals who want to make a transition back into the workforce. TakeCHARGE is another such programme that runs for six-months and is primarily focused on making women employees the drivers of their own career trajectory.

The SheLeads Programme is a two-year programme that pairs women in senior roles with executive leaders who act as their sponsors, providing support and advocacy.

Additionally, the fareWelcome programme is designed to support women colleagues during their maternity phase.

Naik acknowledges that women's representation in leadership positions across various industries, including marketing, remains limited.

“We need to do much more and not just in India but globally. We really have a long road ahead,” she says. “I accepted all the challenges I faced in my career and they have made me more conscious and sensitive now. Today, in my role, I aim to turn those gaps I experienced into advantages for others,” she signs off.