Intergenerational Wisdom for High Achieving Moms
Missed this event? Get a recording here!
A candid fireside chat with two ambitious moms who balanced the demands of career and family – and came out on the other side with strong careers, happy & successful children, and close relationships with their kids.
Meet Kelly Huang, board leader, adjunct professor, and former Fortune 500 executive – and mom of two accomplished adult children, a scientist and a filmmaker.
And Jayashree Raju, a former senior leader at a Wall Street bank – and mom of two adult daughters with four Ivy League degrees, who still call her every few days to tell her everything about their lives.
Moderated by Pooja Venkatraman, executive coach for high-stress high achievers – and Jayashree's daughter :)
Together, they’ll talk honestly about the questions ambitious moms are constantly asking themselves but rarely get real answers to:
How do you balance a demanding career with being a present, attentive parent?
How present is “present enough” at different stages?
When do you press the gas in your career, and when do you ease off?
How do you raise driven, successful kids without burning them out?
And how do you do it all while competing with male colleagues whose partners are shouldering the load at home?
This won’t be theory or “perfect parenting.” It’s lived perspective – from women who have made different choices, navigated different seasons, and learned what actually mattered in hindsight.
Pooja will also bridge the conversation for moms in the thick of it – translating big-picture wisdom into practical, psychologically grounded ways to apply it in real life today (especially when advice sounds good but feels impossible to implement).
The session will include:
A moderated fireside chat
Time for audience Q&A
Optional small-group discussion with other high-achieving moms
This is a space for thoughtful, ambitious women – whether you’re raising toddlers, teens, or launching kids into adulthood – who want to stop white-knuckling an outdated model and start designing something that works across a lifetime.
🎥 Can’t attend live?
The fireside chat portion of this event (not the small-group discussions) will be recorded.
All registrants will receive:
The replay of the teaching segments
A written summary of key concepts and takeaways
We encourage you to register even if you’re unsure you can attend live.
👋 Meet Your Hosts
Kelly Huang
Kelly is an executive coach, board diversity advocate, and former Fortune 500 executive with over 20 years of experience spanning corporate leadership, entrepreneurship, academia, and board service.
Having taught at HBS Online's Corporate Learning programs, Kelly has supported leaders through major career transitions — including promotions and returning to work after career breaks.
Kelly is the former Co-Chair of the award-winning Boardroom Ready program and a member of the Forbes Coaches Council.
She brings a long-range, “looking back” perspective to questions of ambition, meaning, and identity — particularly for women navigating the later stages of career and life.
Jayashree Raju
Jayashree is a senior data governance and technology leader with over 20 years of experience in global financial services, including a long-tenured senior leadership role at a Wall Street Bank.
Over the course of her career, she navigated demanding Wall Street roles, global teams, and long commutes while raising two daughters. She brings a candid, long-range perspective on balancing ambition, career progression, and family life across different stages.
Jayashree holds an MBA with distinction from Cornell University and is known for her calm, pragmatic approach to work, parenting, and leadership—grounded in clarity, prioritization, and perspective gained over time.
Pooja Venkatraman
Pooja is an executive coach for high achieving professionals navigating inflections, decisions, and major transitions in their careers and lives.
A double Harvard graduate and former BCG consultant, Pooja has worked across industries and roles – from management consulting and research with Clay Christensen to senior internal leadership roles – before launching her coaching practice.
Pooja helps clients build lives and careers of aligned ambition – where purpose, performance, productivity, and well-being actually work together.
She specializes in supporting people who look successful on the outside but feel stuck, depleted, or conflicted on the inside – and helps them build lives that feel as good on the inside as they look on the outside.