Deepa Purushothaman

Deepa Purushothaman [per-shot-a-man] is a fierce advocate for women looking to rise on their own terms and a vital advisor to executives and leaders grappling with questions of advancement and retention. Her seasoned and visionary approach to leadership grants individuals and companies the courage and permission to challenge the status quo of ambition, success, and power.

Purushothaman spent more than 20 years at Deloitte helping clients transform and grow. She was the first Indian-American woman and one of the youngest people to make partner in the firm's history. As a Senior Partner, Purushothaman was the US Managing Partner of WIN, Deloitte's renowned Women's Initiative, where she focused on internal advancement programs and marketplace research.

In 2022, Purushothaman’s debut book, "The First, The Few, The Only," was published by HarperCollins to international acclaim and hailed by David Pink as “a category-defining book for the corporate world.” It was one of Financial Times' best business books, a Next Big Idea Club pick, and an Axiom award winner.

Purushothaman’s voice resonates not only with activists and underdogs but also with leaders and corporations. She counts Indra Nooyi, who blurbed her first book; Simon Sinek, who sought her help with programming around inclusion; and Billie Jean King, with whom she partnered on groundbreaking research, as advocates of her work in the world.

She recently founded "the re.write," an unconventional think tank advancing a new story of work. Purushothaman is also an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School. She has worked closely with the Aspen Institute, both as a fellow and now as an advisor, to roll out nuanced and necessary conversations around the future of talent. She is about to launch a new podcast series with Aspen and EgonZehnder called "The Leadership Rewrite." Her passion to advance women extends to her board work. Purushothaman serves as a board member of Avasara, India's first leadership academy for girls, and the Rutgers University Center for Women in Business.

As a keynote speaker, Purushothaman has addressed tens of thousands of people around the world at prestigious organizations such as the United Nations, Disney, Amazon, and Yale. Purushothaman is a TED and SXSW speaker and has been featured in TIME, PBS, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Harvard Business Review. Her TED talks have over 3 million views. She is a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review.

She has degrees from Wellesley College, Harvard Kennedy School, and the London School of Economics, and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their four fur kids.