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From IIT-BHU to Expedia and ISB: How Addya Joshi turned campus experiences into a career in product and technology
Addya spoke about how she took up engineering, what working with Expedia taught her and why she chose ISB after a career in technology.
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Not every career journey begins with a clear plan. For Addya Joshi, joining IIT (BHU) Varanasi marked the beginning of a journey to discover her interests and explore different opportunities.
With a natural interest in mathematics but little clarity about her future, she used every opportunity on campus—from student clubs and competitions to conversations with seniors—to discover new possibilities.
Today, her journey spans IIT (BHU), global technology and travel company Expedia Group, and the Indian School of Business (ISB). Along the way, she has explored consulting, product analytics, technology and social entrepreneurship, while taking on leadership roles and building communities.
While speaking to HT Digital, Addya spoke about how she took up engineering, her interest in doing something different, what working with Expedia taught her and why she chose ISB after a career in technology. Read it here:
1. From Ceramic Engineering at IIT (BHU) to working in technology and travel at Expedia Group, your journey has been quite diverse. What were the key experiences or turning points that shaped your career path?
Honestly, when I joined IIT (BHU), my only real certainty was that I enjoyed mathematics. I had spent Classes 11 and 12 preparing for JEE, and engineering felt like the natural next step, but I had very little sense of what lay beyond it.
The first turning point was the campus itself. Through its clubs, and through seniors who had gone on to work in remarkably different fields, I discovered how many paths were open to me. Joining the Business Club introduced me to product management around 2019-20, when the field was booming in India. I was drawn to the idea of solving problems with technology at the core. Working on my institute's first casebook deepened that interest. I spoke with seniors who had just interviewed for product roles and with others who had spent years in the field, and they gave me an honest picture of what the work really involves.
The second turning point was being selected for the Upraised Top 40 Product Intern Program, a first-of-its-kind initiative that took us through the fundamentals of product management over two months. It confirmed that I didn't just like the idea of product, I genuinely enjoyed the day-to-day work of breaking down problems and solving cases.
Joining Expedia Group was the third. It was my first professional experience of working in a truly global setting, with teams across the UK, the US and India. I was building products for travellers who often lived in different countries and had very different needs from my own. That taught me two things I still carry with me: how to collaborate effectively across cultures, and how to build with genuine empathy for users whose lives look nothing like yours.
2. You secured Department Rank 2 at IIT (BHU) and have also won and been a finalist in several national and international competitions. Which achievement has been the most meaningful to you, and what did it teach you?
The achievement that means the most to me is being awarded the IIT (BHU) Honourable Mention twice, in recognition of my contribution to the institute.
Walking into an IIT can be overwhelming. You are surrounded by people who seem smarter and more capable, and who are already doing bigger things. It is easy to start questioning whether you belong. For me, that recognition was the result of a journey that began with that very doubt. I found my footing academically, then took part in case competitions, won some of them, and represented IIT (BHU) on national and international platforms such as the Inter IIT Tech Meet and the Hult Prize.
Having the institute acknowledge that effort was special, but it mattered even more to me personally. It showed me that I could hold my own in that environment, and it gave me the confidence to keep taking on bigger challenges, first at Expedia Group and now at ISB.
3. You have taken up leadership roles across the Business Club, Spardha and ShARE, while managing large student communities and teams. What have these experiences taught you about leadership, teamwork and handling responsibility?
I took on these roles quite young, without any prior experience of leading a club, so each one taught me something different.
The Business Club, a community of over 250 members, showed me what it means to grow within an organisation. You start as a member, contribute consistently, and earn the trust that eventually leads to a leadership role. Spardha pushed me beyond the campus. I had to reach out to senior industry professionals and distinguished guests, often much older and far more accomplished than me, and learn how to communicate with them and build those relationships professionally. ShARE, where I established the IIT (BHU) Chapter, taught me how to build something from the ground up. As part of a larger international network, it also taught me how to work effectively in a global setting.
These roles were also the first time I led teams that included people senior to me. That taught me how to hold my ground, how not to be intimidated by seniority, and how to keep the team moving forward together.
Most importantly, I learnt that leadership is about creating opportunities, not claiming them. A club might take part in a hundred competitions, and you don't need to lead every one. Giving everyone a fair chance makes the team stronger, and it makes you a better leader.
4. You have explored technology, product management, analytics, consulting and social entrepreneurship. How did you decide which areas you wanted to build your career in, and how do you see these different experiences coming together?
I'd like to say product happened by chance, but really I encountered it early, realised I enjoyed it, and then pursued it deliberately. I see myself building a long-term career in product. Even with the rise of AI, I believe good product managers bring enormous value, and that value is often underappreciated.
I haven't been working for very long, but looking back, these experiences connect more than I expected. Consulting got me used to frameworks and to breaking a messy problem into smaller parts. When I moved into product analytics, I became much more comfortable working with data. As a product manager, I ended up using both almost every day, first to structure a problem and then to let the numbers guide the decision.
Social entrepreneurship is an area I feel I haven't fully explored yet, but it is where I hope all of this eventually leads. I'd like to take what I'm learning from real-world businesses and from working at a multinational company, and apply it in ways that do meaningful good for society, particularly for women entrepreneurs.
5. After building a strong academic and professional foundation at IIT (BHU) and Expedia Group, why did you choose to pursue the ISB PGP, and what specific skills or opportunities were you hoping to gain from the programme?
There were three main reasons.
First, I wanted my education to connect directly with my work. My undergraduate degree was in ceramic engineering, which isn't something I use day to day. At ISB, I'm studying subjects like Frontier Technology, Strategy and Marketing Management, which are central to how the companies I've worked for actually operate. The faculty and the classroom discussions have been phenomenal, and they have helped me think far more from a business perspective.
Second, the peer group. My classmates come from incredibly diverse backgrounds, from finance and general management to consulting, and many have careers that look nothing like mine. Learning alongside them has broadened my professional understanding in ways no textbook could, and these intangible learnings are among the most valuable parts of the programme for me.
Third, breadth. Expedia Group gave me deep, hands-on experience in technology and travel, and it shaped me enormously as a product professional. Having built that depth within one industry, I felt ready to broaden my perspective and understand how businesses work across sectors. ISB was the natural next step, and its reputation and network also open doors to product and consulting roles across a wide range of industries.
6. Looking ahead, what kind of career or impact do you hope to create after ISB, and are there any industries, roles or problems that you are particularly excited to work on?
After ISB, I want to work in product or technology consulting roles where I can apply my product experience across many different businesses, rather than staying within a single domain. After several years in travel, I'm curious to work on problems I haven't seen before, in industries with very different users and business models.
The problem that excites me most, both now and in the long run, is supporting women entrepreneurs. Women-led businesses have enormous potential, but many still don't get the support they need to grow, especially in India. Many are run informally, without easy access to credit, the right digital tools or a wider market. I would love to build products, and eventually a venture of my own, that help women-led businesses scale and encourage more women to start businesses in the first place. The skills, knowledge and network I'm building at ISB are, in many ways, preparation for that.
Her story is a reminder that a career does not always have to follow a straight line; sometimes, it is shaped by curiosity, the courage to explore unfamiliar paths and the willingness to learn from every experience.
