Looking back, my career has been shaped less by a clear roadmap and more by a series of choices to step into the unknown.
Growing up in Nepal, I was always curious and pushing beyond the boundaries of what I knew. That instinct stayed with me as I moved through different phases of my career. Over the past 17 years in the oil and gas industry, across geographies and roles, it has continued to guide how I approach challenges, learning, and growth.
I found myself drawn to problems that could not be solved with experience alone. Problems that required you to pause, rethink, and sometimes accept that you did not yet have the answer.
At some point, I realized that experience by itself was not enough. I wanted to challenge how I think, not just what I know.
MIT became a natural extension of that intent.
Going back into an academic environment after years in industry was not easy. It meant becoming comfortable with being a learner again. The problems were not always clearly defined, the data did not always behave the way you expected, and the answers were rarely straightforward.
What MIT teaches you goes beyond frameworks or tools. It teaches you how to approach complexity.
A moment from the convocation stayed with me throughout the journey. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, said,
“Run toward the hardest problems. Hard problems really teach you what you’re capable of.”
That idea felt familiar. It gave words to something I had been doing instinctively.
This experience was not just about learning supply chain management. It was about understanding how global systems operate across industries and contexts. Looking at supply chains beyond oil and gas and working on a machine learning project in the food industry opened a completely different perspective. It made me think differently about resilience, uncertainty, and decision making at scale.
At the same time, this journey was not only professional.
Living in Cambridge with my daughters added another dimension. Watching them adapt, explore, and enjoy a new environment brought a different perspective on growth. It was happening in parallel, in different ways, for all of us.
What I take away from this experience is not a single lesson or skill, but a mindset.
A comfort with ambiguity.
A willingness to begin even when the path is not clear.
The confidence that you can figure things out as you move forward.
In many ways, this journey brought me back to something simple that had always been there.
Be curious.
Keep learning.
And when faced with uncertainty, do not step back.
Run toward it.
Pooja Kashyap is an accomplished global sourcing and commodities leader with 15+ years of international experience across the UAE, USA, UK, and India. She received her Master of Applied Science in Supply Chain Management at MIT in 2026, building on her MBA from the University of Bath and her engineering degree from MNNIT Allahabad. Known for her strengths in strategic sourcing, category management, and supplier performance, Pooja has delivered multimillion‑dollar value in her roles at Schlumberger (SLB). Outside of work, she is passionate about classical Indian music, enjoys exploring new vocal styles, and actively volunteers with nonprofit initiatives.