Dona Sarkar
- Director of Technology & Inclusive Design for Microsoft Accessibility
- One of Fast Company’s "Most Productive People"
Dona believes the 8 billion people we share this earth with can develop technical skills to help achieve their goals. She spends her days heading up the Accessibility tech team at Microsoft where she ensures their products are usable for people with disabilities, neurodiversity, and mental health concerns. Previously, Dona led 20 million community members...
read the restDona believes the 8 billion people we share this earth with can develop technical skills to help achieve their goals. She spends her days heading up the Accessibility tech team at Microsoft where she ensures their products are usable for people with disabilities, neurodiversity, and mental health concerns. Previously, Dona led 20 million community members for the #WindowsInsiders program and worked on advocacy for the Metaverse via Microsoft HoloLens and low-code development via Microsoft’s Power Platform. She spends her insomniac hours running an ethical luxury fashion line called Prima Dona Studios that’s tailored in cities all over the world and writing books to help young professionals have the careers of their dreams. Her favorite, FAVORITE job is being a bossy big sister to thousands of amazing humans who want to #DoTheThing. She was recently named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Productive People and Cosmopolitan magazine’s Businessperson of the Year.
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Speaker Programs
How many of you have heard of web 3.0? How about the Metaverse? So…all of you. But what does it mean? And more importantly, what does it mean for YOUR business? In this session, you’ll ...more
How many of you have heard of web 3.0? How about the Metaverse?
So…all of you. But what does it mean? And more importantly, what does it mean for YOUR business?
In this session, you’ll learn what exactly the metaverse is, how it can boost your business and most importantly, how you can start your journey to the Metaverse today. Dona has worked in the Augmented/Virtual Reality/Metaverse space for almost a decade and will give you a behind the scenes look at companies like Volvo, Lowe’s, Ford, NASA and others who are using this technology to thrive—and how you can do it too. ...less
“You need to find product-market fit!” “Like, now!” How many of you are so frustrated with hearing this? What if you could guarantee that the product or service you’re toiling away at will be AMAZINGLY ...more
“You need to find product-market fit!” “Like, now!”
How many of you are so frustrated with hearing this? What if you could guarantee that the product or service you’re toiling away at will be AMAZINGLY received…not just by your target audience…but by surprising other audiences as well?
In this session, you’ll learn about the 6 categories of audiences we think about and a 3 step SIMPLE and inclusive process to reach and delight them at any phase of your business. ...less
“Are you sure I should talk openly about this?” How many times have you had that thought? Are you hesitant to speak out openly about your mental health because of how it might impact your ...more
“Are you sure I should talk openly about this?”
How many times have you had that thought? Are you hesitant to speak out openly about your mental health because of how it might impact your credibility in your work? You might think – Will your peers take you seriously after this? What about your customers?
Yikes! We’ve had the same concerns and have come up with a formula that actually works. ...less
Are you weirdly irritable with your colleagues? Is the thought of checking your calendar just way too overwhelming? Are you feeling like you’re not actually having *real* impact in your work but rather just doing ...more
Are you weirdly irritable with your colleagues?
Is the thought of checking your calendar just way too overwhelming?
Are you feeling like you’re not actually having *real* impact in your work but rather just doing “activity”?
You, my friend, might be facing Job Burnout. The World Health Organization has defined this to be a real “occupational phenomenon” that’s impacting millions & billions of us.
So…what are you going to do about it?
Come here to learn a process to figure out if you’re burned out…AND a formula for how to debug, root-cause, and most importantly, banish it. ...less
You know those friends in your community who seem to have a clear reason, a clear WHY for both work and life? They’re relentlessly confident in their path & seem to have it all figured ...more
You know those friends in your community who seem to have a clear reason, a clear WHY for both work and life? They’re relentlessly confident in their path & seem to have it all figured out.
How’d they do that? Are they just born with it?
No. Usually, it’s because they’ve figured out a very important thing: their purpose. What’s a purpose anyway…and more importantly how can you create yours? Learn their stories and all of the amazing things they have done…but also learn how you can also create your own purpose using this non-hippy dippy 5-step formula specifically created to help us, nerds, INTENTIONALLY create our purpose. ...less
Any minute now, someone is going to point at me and say YOU ARE SO NOT QUALIFIED TO BE HERE. Have you ever felt like this? You’re not alone! According to research, about 70% of ...more
Any minute now, someone is going to point at me and say YOU ARE SO NOT QUALIFIED TO BE HERE.
Have you ever felt like this? You’re not alone!
According to research, about 70% of the people around you get this sense of being a fraud, this Imposter Syndrome at some point or another. I used to feel this way all the time–until one day, I got sick and tired of feeling like a fraud and decided to DO something about it. I’ve spent the last decade running a series of experiments to banish Imposter Syndrome for myself and the people in my life.
Let me walk you through a 9 step banishing spell that has worked for me and for hundreds of others who have confessed their impostering to me. By the end of the 9 steps, you’ll not only have banished your imposter syndrome, but you’ll have the tools to keep banishing it shall it ever dare to return. ...less
How long are you going to procrastinate starting that business? You’ve been thinking about it for years. A few years ago, Dona and her team embarked on the greatest journey of their lives, to understand ...more
How long are you going to procrastinate starting that business? You’ve been thinking about it for years.
A few years ago, Dona and her team embarked on the greatest journey of their lives, to understand how the modern entrepreneur starts and runs a profitable business–not only in Silicon Valley, but anywhere in the world.
Starting in Lagos, Nigeria and extending the program to East Africa where they worked with 46 entrepreneurs building life-changing businesses. They created a framework that’s worked for EVERY SINGLE ONE of those founders. They’re now ready to share with you the 47th iteration of the framework, based on the brand new book, Model 47: A Startup Storybook.
Whether you live in London or Liberia, San Francisco or Sao Paolo, Portland or Port Harcourt, if you want a no-nonsense step-by-step guide to success, they believe this model will work for you. ...less
How many of you have ever had a crazy idea for something you want to implement in an organization? How many of you had no clue where to even start? After 20 years of experience ...more
How many of you have ever had a crazy idea for something you want to implement in an organization?
How many of you had no clue where to even start?
After 20 years of experience in the corporate world, Dona realized that corporations are HUNGRY for disruption and innovation. And like a horror movie….it’s got to come from within the business!
Dona will walk you through an 11-step process that her and some special guests from very traditional industries have used to create change within organizations…even when it seems impossible.
Remember: You do not need permission to make your business better. This is very much YOUR JOB.
Come and learn how to do this in any job you will have in the future–while not only remaining employed but also emerging as the intrapreneurial hero in your organization! ...less
People are talking about you behind your back. Everyone is doing it: Your friends. Your co-workers. Your management. People you don’t even know! What are they saying? (What? You don’t know?!!) Whether you like it ...more
People are talking about you behind your back.
Everyone is doing it: Your friends. Your co-workers. Your management. People you don’t even know!
What are they saying?
(What? You don’t know?!!)
Whether you like it or not, your name has a brand attached to it. Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. Here’s the kicker though: You can’t control your brand. It’s what OTHER PEOPLE think, say, and feel about you.
However, you CAN craft and control your story. Your story is the thing that leads to your brand.
If you don’t tell people the story you want them to repeat about you—they’ll absolutely make one up for you. Without your input.
My friend, it’s time to take action. Today, using the classic Hero’s Journey formula for crafting fictional stories, you can spin the tale you want being told about you. Join us! ...less
Once upon a time in a land not too far from here. Companies used to make products. Test them in-house. …and throw them over the wall at their users. It was a terrible time. We ...more
Once upon a time in a land not too far from here.
Companies used to make products. Test them in-house.
…and throw them over the wall at their users.
It was a terrible time.
We all had NSync CDs. AOL dialup was a thing. You used to go home and binge-watch Dawson’s Creek (don’t lie, you did too).
But those days are GONE. What worked then does not work now.
Today, you can’t just create for your customers. You must CO-CREATE with them. But how? Come and hear about how Microsoft Windows – one of the biggest software projects in the world – shifted to this paradigm and attracted a community of 20 million global Windows Insiders who we have been co-creating with for almost a decade. By the end, you’ll know how to set up your own community and fan club and more importantly how to co-create with them. ...less
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