Prolific in Parallel: On cultivating excellence across dance, engineering and life
What If Your Art and Your Career Don’t Have to Compete?
What if you can be a master of many trades?
Join us for a fireside chat with Rasika Kumar about building a life where creativity and career don’t compete for space, and where each one makes the other stronger.
Rasika Kumar is a Bharatanatyam performer, choreographer, and software engineer who has built parallel careers in the arts and technology for over two decades.
Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she began dancing at age four under her mother, Mythili Kumar, and is currently a Principal Dancer and Choreographer with Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose.
As a choreographer, she combines the traditional vocabulary of Bharatanatyam with contemporary themes and diverse narratives, while advocating for artistic practice to be recognized as rigorous and meaningful professional work.
A graduate of MIT with a degree in computer science, Rasika has spent much of her engineering career at Google, working in search technology and engineering leadership.
She is also a mom of two. Her experiences across dance, technology and motherhood have shaped her approach to creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving.
Chat will be hosted by Apoorvaa Deshpande, a Tech Lead for AI privacy at Google, PhD in computer science from Brown University. She is a senior musician at IndianRaga, featured in popular music productions that have garnered millions of views, and is invited to perform her curated concerts internationally.
She is also a mom to two boys and believes in the power of embracing your multidimensionality. Apoorvaa is the founder of PolyPaths, with a mission to help other creative tech professionals design a life of joy and fulfillment!
So how do you keep a creative path thriving alongside a demanding tech path?
What does it take to sustain excellence across two domains for decades, not just a season? And how can the learnings of one practice make you better at the other?
In this conversation, Apoorvaa and Rasika will explore what it means to be a prolific polypath who seeks mastery in multiple domains.
What to expect
A candid conversation on living a creative life alongside a demanding career
Real stories from two decades of pursuing art and technology side by side
Audience Q&A
Coffee, snacks and new meaningful connections
A curated lunch for deeper conversations (If you choose the Conversation + Lunch pass)
Date: Saturday, November 14
Time: 11am PDT
Location: Mountain View, CA (exact address will be shared on registration)
Conversation Pass: [$15]
Twin Pass (Bring a Friend): [$20]
Conversation + Lunch: [$75] (limited spots)
Come curious. Leave inspired. ✨