For a woman in the 1970s, moving abroad, starting a company, and taking it public in a new country seemed like a movie plot. Yet, Vinita Gupta achieved it all. Born and raised in Delhi, India, she earned a bachelor's degree in electronics and communications engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in 1973. A year later, she moved to the US and became the only woman in her class to graduate from UCLA with a master's degree in electrical engineering.
"I was the only woman in (my) class. I was coming from a developing country to the most significant nation in the world and the fact that there were no other women in my class was a surprise to me," she told The Almanac. After graduating, she worked in telecommunications at GTE Lenkurt and Bell Northern Research before co-founding Digital Link Corporation in 1985. In 1994, she became the first woman of Indian origin to take a company public in the US.
Reflecting on her achievements, she told the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering: "The milestones are good to have. But very soon after that, you say, 'What is the next milestone?' When you're hiking, you get to a place to rest, and you take a deep breath. That's how I think of milestones. But then you go on the next trek."
She shared that for the first five to seven years of working, people had trouble understanding her Indian accent, so she would twist her tongue to imitate an American accent. "'Til I witnessed one of the Indian Stanford professors give a talk on his 60th birthday. He talked and I said, 'I can understand him perfectly. He's not trying so hard to change his accent.' And suddenly my life became so much simpler," she shared.
During her professional journey, she married Narendra Gupta and had two children. In 1996, a report titled 'The day Vinita Gupta's water broke' described how she attended her husband's board meeting despite being nine months pregnant, fighting for his place in the company he founded. "The Guptas show that the struggle can be won. They also show that the old practice of arranged marriages may have something to it after all," the article said.
Gupta served as chair, president, and CEO of the firm, later renamed Quick Eagle Networks, until her retirement in 2016. She also holds two US patents: one for a solid-state relay issued in 1984 and another for a square root circuit issued in 1986.
When asked for advice to students, she said, "Work for another company first and learn on someone else's dime. Don't start a company right out of school. There are exceptions — Sam Altman left school and started one — but those are few and far between. Working elsewhere first gives you a broader landscape to choose from. Whatever you choose, treat it as the right thing and stick with it, unless you can clearly see there's no future there."
Since retiring, she has become an avid Bridge player, earning three national championship titles, and resumed painting after 35 years. She serves on several boards, including the Asia Society of Northern California, TiE, Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute, and Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Her memoir, 'The Woman in Deed', was published in 2025.
With her achievements, Gupta has become an exemplary icon for women in tech.
