At AWS, Mona Chadha takes lessons on experimentation to customers
“I’ve always been really focused on technology to help and accelerate people who are actually using it,” Chadha says.
Mona Chadha
“I’ve always been really focused on technology to help and accelerate people who are actually using it,” Chadha says.
Mona Chadha
A large multinational corporation like AWS probably isn’t what you would think of as a hotbed for experimentation—but that’s what the company’s Director of AI and Strategic Partnerships Mona Chadha likes most about working there.
“Amazon is a culture of ‘show me the data’—I think that’s really important, but with the benefit of being able to experiment,” Chadha said. “That mentality has helped me.”
Forward momentum. Working in tech was a natural fit for Chadha, whose undergrad work at Lehigh University focused on chemical engineering. New technologies that can help users realize their potential is one of her favorite things, she told us.
One of her first jobs after graduating was building fuel cell units for Eskom, the second-largest utility company in South Africa. The polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells she worked on provided clean electricity for local communities, including schools in the Soweto township.
“I’ve always been really focused on technology to help and accelerate people who are actually using it,” Chadha told IT Brew. “That has been the thread that has gone across everything in my career.”
ISV me. She’s carried that into her almost 14 years at AWS, where she works to help ISVs—independent software vendors—with security, data and analytics, and cloud observability. It’s a role that grew out of her prior position with AWS Marketplace, which merged with the company’s Partner Network.
The integration coincided with the rise in AI use cases. Chadha told IT Brew she sees AI as just the latest evolution of existing technologies.
“It’s always been there, but now AI has developed into this way bigger thing,” Chadha said. “The model providers—the OpenAIs, the Anthropics, Mistrals of the world—are now integrated into our partners’ platforms.”
Unforgiving clarity. To most effectively utilize AI and AWS’s massive scope, Chadha said, it’s important to take a ruthless approach to innovation. Experimentation requires knowing when to walk away, and having the freedom to shut down a project when it’s not working out without fearing negative consequences.
That’s especially important when you’re managing models and AI pilot programs, she told IT Brew.
“It lets you set your guardrails that you’re setting for your pilot, and the goals that you’re trying to get to,” Chadha said. “It’s about not looking for reasons to fail, but reasons that you’re successful.”
