Sumi Shan (@sumishan1) is a connector, former politico and co-founder/Chief Strategy Officer at agritech start-up Dunya Habitats (@dunyahabitats), which was originally started to help minimize food scarcity issues in Indigenous and refugee communities. In her professional career, Sumi has managed award-winning communication and advocacy campaigns across corporate, government, and non-profit sectors over the last 17+ years. She joins Ara on this week’s episode of The Tamil Creator to discuss topics including her experience as a female Tamil in tech, managing egos while operating a business with family, how she went about building her extensive network and talking about the topic of food scarcity & farmers having become an afterthought in the world we live in.
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Follow Sumi:
– Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sumishan1/)
– Twitter (https://twitter.com/sumishan1)
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Timestamps
00:19 – Ara introduces this week’s guest, Sumi Shan
03:28 – Running for the Ontario Liberal Candidate Race for Scarborough Rouge Park
07:53 – How do you reconcile the role of government versus companies
11:42 – Dunya Habits; what it is and what it does
18:42 – How the data Dunya Habits provides is beneficial to farmers
22:55 – Food scarcity and farmers having become an afterthought
28:49 – Self-funding Dunya Habits and overcoming various barriers
34:14 – Initially garnering international interest before deciding to set up shop locally
38:32 – Doing business with family; managing work frustration and trying to ensure it doesn’t crossover into personal life
41:15 – Being a Tamil female in tech
44:13 – How Sumi went about building her network
48:35 – Where Sumi sees herself and Dunya Habits in the next 3-5 years
50:01 – What Sumi is insecure about; fear of failure and fear of success
52:08 – Hobbies and interests outside of work; family time, travelling
53:21 – The personal legacy Sumi hopes to leave behind
54:16 – Creator Confessions
57:29 – The Wrap Up
Intro Music
Produced And Mixed By:
– The Tamil Creator
– Yanchan
Written By:
– Aravinthan Ehamparam
– Yanchan Rajmohan
