In a new series called #TechTalk10, we'll be asking powerful women in the tech industry 10 questions each. We're tempted to ask them way more questions, of course, but these women are busy and important and have really, really interesting work to get back to—like Padmasree Warrior, chief technology and strategy officer at Cisco.
Photo: J.R. Mankoff
Related: Meet ELLE's Women in Tech
In ELLE's July issue, for the first time ever, we celebrate the most influential women in technology. (And just this week we held a dinner in their honor at San Francisco standby Quince, sponsored by Verizon.) Warrior, who served as CTO at Motorola and moved to Cisco seven years ago, was an obvious choice. Not only does she oversee investments in new technologies for Cisco, but she's also a self-proclaimed art and fashion lover and poet. (Follow her on Twitter for nail art selfies and haiku as well inspiring nuggets about women in tech—over a million others already do.)
Name: Padmasree Warrior
Occupation: Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at Cisco
Twitter handle: @Padmasree
Olivia Pope or Selina Meyer?
Selina Meyer.
What is your preferred Instagram filter?
I don't use Instagram much.
To selfie or not to selfie?
Not to selfie. Because I feel like it's become such a meme without a purpose.
What is your favorite app?
Twitter.
If you could only follow five people on Twitter, who would they be?
@sciam, @badbanana, @yoda, @PhysOrg_com, @DiscoverMag
Greatest piece of advice you've ever been given?
Don't second guess yourself.
What would you tell your 16-year-old self?
When you see a door open, walk through it.
What was your biggest mistake?
Not taking an opportunity when it was right there in front of me.
What was the last book you read?
The book I'm reading right now is a book of poems called Slow Time. It's a collection of poetry by Irish poets.
Someone gives you a crystal ball that lets you look five years into the future; what do you see?
Self-driving cars, more 3-D printing, a lot of sensors that give us [a way to] keep track of the health of our planet and give us information in real-time.
Photo: Drew Alitzer
