Sophia Sharda

Harboring excellent time management skills while taking ownership of my resourceful work ethic, my name is Sophia Sharda and I currently work at SAP as the Marketing & Branding Consultant. I have completed my MBA in Marketing from the Indian School of Business. While my prior education was primarily technical, my interests in marketing, strategy and business led me to pursue a degree in business. I believe that my education, business acumen, and experience have equipped me with the credentials necessary for success as Brand Manager. This also led me to be handpicked as the Marketing & Branding Consultant by the Marketing Director at SAP and a Strategy & Marketing Consultant by the MD for the Digital Native and Private Equity program fellowship. 

When tackling difficult problems, one needs to have perseverance and a creative mindset. I think of myself as someone who thrives and shines brilliantly when faced with adversity. One event that immediately springs to mind is when I returned from a period of leave (PTO), I discovered that several projects had been put on hold (including the SP release) while I was gone. It took great effort to streamline and bring everything back on track to meet certain deadlines. I frequently volunteer for the most difficult projects since I am naturally curious, analytical, and a problem-solver. Working as the Marketing Consultant, I was assigned to develop the Marketing strategy of SAP SuccessFactors which was degrowing. Even though SAP is the market leader, it was losing its market share to small players. I creatively redesigned the pillars of our strategy to recreate the value proposition and align our events and initiatives accordingly. During my time in the Digital Natives & Private Equity program, I was tasked with designing the company's initial push into an ongoing expansion in the digital native space. In order to successfully complete the assignment, I had to coordinate with a range of stakeholders, analyze data, and devise a plan for promoting SAP's products to the target demographics. I realized that I was at my most inspired and energized when I was testing my limits and undertaking innovative endeavors. Through my experience, I learned that businesses value and encourage these traits. After completing a detailed examination of their business models, I partnered with stakeholders across organizations and engaged in new market-building initiatives with startups and startup forums to amplify the SAP message to digital natives.

As AIS GRC underwent a major reorganization, my team gained full responsibility for the outcome, and I was an integral part of that process. Professionally, this was one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with. I had to come up with a plan to get the most out of the least amount of work since our goals were changed and new ones were added that required more accountability without hurting client engagement or customer satisfaction. My ability to initiate and drive ideas to produce tangible outcomes resulted in my promotion to the position of quality manager at my organization at the youngest age ever. During my tenure as Quality Manager, I successfully led members with more experience, exhibited impeccable aptitude, and contributed to the enhancement of product quality. This responsibility enabled me to acquire valuable professional characteristics such as empathy, people management, and the ability to deliver within a time- and resource-constrained environment.

Throughout my tenure, I have accumulated significant cross-functional expertise that has sharpened my first-order reasoning and pushed me to assume new and challenging roles. Given the chance, I believe that your company would greatly benefit from my creative skillset, problem-solving abilities, strategic partnership skills, and collaborative approach.

Curated & designed the marketing strategy of SAP SuccessFactors with creative ideas to drive growth and brand premium for the organization

Completed my MBA in Marketing from the Indian School of Business