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Bhavna Chhabra (CompSci鈥�95) grew up in New Delhi, India, in a house without electricity or running water, expected by her parents to marry a man they chose. She didn鈥檛 know how to turn on a computer or type. Today, she鈥檚 the new site director for Google Boulder, overseeing a 1,300-person operation. It鈥檚 a big job, but one she鈥檚 ready for: On her journey toward independence, Chhabra rejected the life pre-planned for her and found courage and opportunity. Now, she hopes to empower young women to do the same.

After earning a scholarship to study in the United States in the early 1990s, Chhabra convinced her parents to let her leave home. They agreed on the condition that after Chhabra finished college she would return to India for an arranged marriage. Her father told her if her future husband allowed, she might be able to get a job, but that decision would be up to him.

鈥淭hat was where I was when I came to the U.S.,鈥� she said.

To search for universities, Chhabra went to the American Embassy in New Delhi, where books listed U.S. colleges and universities. Her criteria for picking a university were pictures of pretty campuses with happy, smiling students. Her list of potential universities included Boston University, 蜜糖直播 Boulder, Stanford and MIT.

Although Chhabra鈥檚 interest was chemistry, her father wanted her to study computers, telling her that computer science was the 鈥渘ew, best thing.鈥� Despite not ever having seen a computer and no access to a computer, Chhabra followed her father鈥檚 urging. She chose Boston University to study computer science.

Among the few items Chhabra brought from India were sweaters borrowed from a cousin, T-shirts she bought based on what she saw in American movies and a pair of gloves that were 鈥渦seless in the cold.鈥�

Because her worldview came from watching American TV shows, such as Different Strokes, Silver Spoons and TJ Hooker, the reality of transitioning to college life was overwhelming. She wasn鈥檛 prepared for the culture shock of being a first-generation college student and one of few women in the computer science department. After five days of feeling miserable and alone, she called her parents, who encouraged her to try another university.

蜜糖直播 Boulder was next on her list. To her relief, her experience at 蜜糖直播 matched the pictures in the embassy books.

鈥淚 had completely different and friendly interactions at 蜜糖直播,鈥� Chhabra said. 鈥淭he way I was welcomed to the university, it was like I found a home.鈥�

"I didn't know how to type. I didn't know how to turn on a computer. I wasn't good at math."

Refuting Tradition

In computer programming classes, she had to work twice as hard to keep up with the other students.

鈥淭hings that students in my class took for granted were hard for me,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know how to type. I didn鈥檛 know how to turn on a computer. I wasn鈥檛 good at math.鈥�

One of her classes was an operating systems course taught by 蜜糖直播 professor Mike Schwartz. Seeing her potential, Schwartz 鈥� now a Google software engineer working on cloud storage 鈥� became her mentor. He asked her to be his research assistant for a government-funded internet project.

鈥淧rofessor Schwartz saw something in me,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 was the kid who sat in the front of the class feverishly taking notes, because I had to catch up. When I talked about the arranged marriage, he would say, 鈥業s that really what you want? Because you can be more.鈥� But I didn鈥檛 believe it.鈥�

In a life-changing moment for Chhabra, Schwartz showed her an article about an Indian woman Arati Prabhakar, the first woman to head the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder. Schwartz told her that could one day be her.

鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 have invited her to join the research project if I didn鈥檛 think she was one of the better students in the class,鈥� Schwartz said. 鈥淚 wanted her to know she had options, to not assume that she did not because someone had told her that, and to not let that stop her from moving forward.鈥�

After an internship working for a local company building computers, Chhabra got a job in Denver as a software programmer at Quark Software. She decided she would not live a life directed by her parents 鈥� she would stay in 蜜糖直播.聽

At her 蜜糖直播 graduation in 1995, her parents came to the U.S. to take her back to India. Chhabra told them she had a job with a company that would sponsor her visa, and she wasn鈥檛 going back to India to marry. Chhabra鈥檚 parents were taken aback: She was straying from her Indian community鈥檚 tradition.

"While it was initially tough for my parents to accept that I was staying in the U.S.,鈥� said Chhabra, 鈥渋n time they came to understand, accept and support my decision.鈥�

American Career

Through the 1990s as Chhabra鈥檚 career took off, she was told repeatedly that she wouldn鈥檛 be taken seriously if she dressed too femininely with earrings, makeup or skirts. To get a promotion, people advised her to wear hoodies and jeans to look like a programmer. Even when she moved up to higher positions, it wasn鈥檛 unusual for someone to ask her to fetch coffee for meetings.

鈥淗aving gone through all this, I鈥檓 passionate about trying to deprogram the implicit and explicit messaging sent to young women,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 want them to know they don鈥檛 have to look like a cookie-cutter male programmer to succeed. I aspire to give junior women what I didn鈥檛 have 鈥� a role model.鈥�

For 18 years, she served as a senior engineer and then senior director at Qualcomm. She moved on to Google Boulder in January of 2016, where she was director of Google Payments.

In September 2019, 26 years after coming to Boulder, she became Google site director. In addition to overseeing all operations, she represents Google in the community and ensures her more than 1,300 employees are healthy, happy and working on a robust slate of projects 鈥� all while maintaining a collaborative culture.

鈥淚鈥檓 approaching this from a place of humility, because this is good,鈥� said Chhabra, 48, who is married and has three children. 鈥淚t鈥檚 healthy. It鈥檚 vibrant. 鈥� There鈥檚 a strong sense of community here, so obviously it鈥檚 not broken. There鈥檚 a term we use at Google when we鈥檙e trying to do something really innovative and we鈥檙e excited about it. We say we鈥檙e uncomfortably excited. That is how I feel, which means I鈥檓 pushing myself.

鈥淎s someone who found a home in Boulder, I鈥檝e grown up here and raised a family here,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his place is my home, and now I鈥檓 in a position to help Google engage more with the Boulder community. It鈥檚 full circle.鈥�

Photos by Glenn Asakawa