Noteworthy Women in Wireless Infrastructure – 2023

Manjari Govada

Principal
DigitalBridge

As a Principal at DigitalBridge Group I have led and participated in investments across the digital infrastructure space which is the ‘critical infrastructure’ supporting the growing mobile data traffic and cloud-based services. Digital infra is essential to the wireless sector, for example, optic fiber is used to transmit large amounts of data ‘quickly’ and ‘reliably’ over long distances, forming the core of the high-speed internet backbone, data centers, on the other hand, are facilities storing and processing data generated by wireless devices and applications.

While demand for digital infrastructure is growing, still relatively few young people pursue careers in the sector, and even less females. There are several reasons why hiring female talent can be challenging in the sector, including:

Gender bias: The industry has traditionally been male-dominated, and as a result, there can be unconscious bias in the hiring process that favors male candidates over female ones.

Limited networks: Women can face challenges in building networks in the industry, which can limit their access to job opportunities and exposure to potential employers.

Addressing these opportunities, as we scale our European operations has been rewarding and challenging at the same time. I have strived for a diverse workforce at DigitalBridge and our portfolio by actively finding new ways to recruit female candidates for investment and leadership roles, often the biggest hurdle through traditional recruitment paths and have deployed multiple initiatives such as mentoring programs.