This is a really cool San Diego Union-Tribune profile on Commander Shanti Sethi, one of only a handful of female skippers in the entire U.S. Navy, and the first Indian American woman to command a warship: Decatur commander relishes 'firsts;' with video.So you can imagine it was a pretty amazing moment when Sethi maneuvered her ship, the San Diego-based destroyer Decatur, into the dock at Chennai this spring -- the first time since 2007 that U.S. Navy warship has visited India. She has an interesting story, with a rather non-traditional career path:
Sethi has a uniquely American story.A 39-year-old, 4-foot-11 Indian American woman from Silicon Valley -- definitely not the first person you'd imagine commanding a Navy warship. Definitely a Desi doing something different. And if my Googling is correct, you can actually follow Shanti Sethi on Twitter.
Her father, an Indian citizen, was studying in the United States when he met her mother, an American. They married and remained in this country.
But her parents divorced when Sethi was 5, and she was raised by mostly by her mother, an engineer who worked for NASA for many years.
So, unlike some girls of Indian descent, Sethi didn't feel any pressure to choose a career that was acceptable in the eyes of tradition.
"That's one thing I'm eternally grateful for," the Decatur commander said, sitting in her office on the ship.
"As long as I had a plan, and that plan didn't involve staying at home after I graduated from high school, my mom has always been incredibly supportive," she said.