Google Director & Author Alana Karen on ambition, balance, and changing gears

Published on: 25th October, 2020

Alana Karen started working at Google back when no one had ever heard of that strange word, way before it turned into the world-changing giant that it is. She's an award-winning leader and speaker who's spent 20 years in tech, today as a Director at Google. Her new book is “Adventures of Women in Tech: How We Got Here and Why We Stay.” In it, advice, a lot of insight, and interviews with over 80 women, who all followed very different paths to get to where they are. We go in-depth on everything from learning how to be a great leader, to her way of figuring out what to do next in life, and what she would tell her 20 year-old self.

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About the Podcast

Life, Deconstructed

Candid conversations with inspiring women on doubts, decisions, and success

What's the right path for me? How can I discover and fulfill my own potential? Where's my tribe? Many of us spend years asking ourselves those questions, and don't have easy answers. And that's ok, because the truth is life isn't linear. Think of it like a heart monitor: the sign of life isn't a flat, straight line - it's a constantly fluctuating, vibrant zigzag. But that doesn't mean we have to figure it out alone. From CEOs to tech founders, designers, and journalists, join me for candid conversations with incredible women on how they got to where they are and the debates, decisions, and doubts along the way.

About your hosts

Nurit Ben

For over 12 years, I've worked in news and broadcasting as an anchor, senior producer, and reporter. I started out behind the scenes at the CBS Evening News, did some stints in print at GQ Magazine and the New York Times Magazine, and for the last 7 years was a managing editor and anchor of global evening news programs. In that space I've interviewed thousands of people, from government officials and political candidates to actors and musicians. But I've always been most drawn to how people actually got to where they are; how they figured it out, and how their paths formed behind the scenes, you know, in real life - not just the shiny final packages we see. Those are the conversations we're having here.

Talia Golijov

Producer
For the past seven years I have worked as a television producer, first at a production company housing the Middle East bureau of several international news channels, and then as a senior producer of the main evening broadcast on an international network. My background is in cultural anthropology and I have a master's degree in conflict resolution and mediation. I’ve been a news junkie and avid podcast listener since the form emerged in the mid-2000s. Throughout the many nights of breaking news about war, political turmoil, and on the rare occasion, peace, what I show on screen often seems at odds with the stories I most want to hear myself - about shared experiences and personal triumphs.