V Teamers Tanya Daga and Suganya Mohan talk about their experiences working at Verizon India and how they excel at work with support from their teams.
At Verizon, we’re committed to fostering a diverse culture that is welcoming to all. Last month, we celebrated Disability Pride Month. We’re eager to continue with this momentum and showcase all that we’re doing at Verizon India to foster an inclusive workplace.
Meet Tanya Daga and Suganya Mohan, two Verizon India V Teamers, who share their experiences on the team.
A para-cycling champion.
Tanya Daga, part of the Management Information Systems team, joined Verizon India during the pandemic. Before joining the V Team, she was seeking an organization that prioritizes a thriving work culture and inclusivity — so Verizon was her first choice!
Living with a disability — her left leg above the knee, amputated — has not stopped her from pursuing her passion for sports. In fact, Tanya has been an athlete all her life and has won multiple sports awards.
“In the initial days when I was playing table tennis, I had a fall which resulted in an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tear surgery,” Tanya shared. “Later in 2018 when I was traveling to Haridwar (Uttarakhand, India) for a college project, I was in an accident. After four months of hospitalization, nine surgeries and 40 units of blood, my left leg above the knee had to be amputated.”
Despite these medical setbacks and rehabilitation, Tanya excelled in her education, completing her Master’s and later getting a scholarship to pursue a Diploma in Sports and Exercise Psychology from ISST Pune (Maharashtra, India). She also followed her passion for sports and joined the Indian Paracycling team, becoming the first woman para-cyclist to cycle from Kashmir to Kanyakumari on one leg.
Shooting for the stars.
Suganya Mohan, an engineer at Verizon India, echoes Tanya’s sentiments when it comes to having a supportive team at work. After facing an injury that resulted in a bilateral knee amputation, she was worried about what this meant for her future. She overcame this, however, by setting goals for herself and following through.
“After my injuries, I had doubts about my abilities and difficulty imagining how the outside world would treat me,” Suganya said. “However, I challenged myself by setting up short-term goals like getting a degree and a job, and not being so dependent on others.”
After taking one year off from school, she continued to pursue her education and later moved to Chennai, India, for a job. At the same time, she also discovered her passion for competitive shooting and began participating in competitions, even winning silver medals in the sport.
Joining the V Team.
Joining Verizon India at the height of the pandemic, Tanya has truly appreciated the support and encouragement that she received from her team members.
“Those I’ve met have been great allies to me and made me believe that I can contribute to the team and organization,” she shared. “My heartfelt thanks to them for their support, guidance, and encouragement.”
She says her manager, Sateesh, has played an especially important role in helping her adapt to her new team and feel confident at work: “I see Sateesh as a mentor and a supporter. I am a person with a disability and this is my first job,” she shared. “Sateesh always makes sure that I am doing well. He guides me whenever it is required and always appreciates the tasks I do, which keeps me motivated to do more.”
Similarly, Suganya, who joined in March of this year, had a successful onboarding experience. She said that the team was easy to approach with all of her questions, and she was provided with frequent updates on the hiring process. In her first days on the job, she was even assigned a “buddy” who helped make her onboarding process as smooth as possible.
To this day, her team is there for her every step of the way: “My team made me comfortable by supporting me and explaining all the work-related queries. I quite like the concept of assigning a buddy to new hires as this helped me understand the organization much better,” Suganya shared.
“My corporate tech journey would never be easy without the mentorship and guidance from my team. Being a person with a disability doesn’t mean that I can’t do some tasks. It only means I have different ways to complete that task. Verizon is doing its best to make the organization a diverse, equitable and inclusive one.”
