Q&A with Pampa Dutta Sr. Manager, Last Mile Tech

What is your favorite Amazon memory?

There are several memories that would last a lifetime during my 5+ years in Amazon, but so far my favorite memory is participating in a women’s day panel with other senior Amazon leaders. The event was to foster our DEI culture, spread awareness of critical dates and recognize the need of equal pay. The topic was very close to my heart and apart from sharing my own life experience, it was very educational for me to hear the diverse perspectives of the audiences. It was enlightening to me to discuss critical topics like how unequal compensations and work prioritization drive family dynamics and how discussions around compensation and promotions are still perceived in a negative way in the corporate culture. It not only matured my point of view in workplace but I had critical takeaways for my personal life as well. Another experience that got etched in my memory was doing a delivery route ride along in Austin, Texas. Though I am a long time Amazon customer and employee, it was mind-blowing to experience day of a driver, the amount of hard work and planning that goes into delivery is insane. I'm appreciative to be on the Last Mile team and so thankful of our delivery drivers consistently going above and beyond to elevate the delivery experience to our customers everyday. .

What accomplishment at Amazon are you most proud of?

I am lucky to have worked in Amazon Advertising and Last Mile and in every role I have been laser-focused on unlocking business values in line with our customer obsession philosophy. Speaking honestly, I feel most accomplished about my transformation to an empathetic leader. Born and raised in India, in a lower middle class family, it was not an easy journey for me to reach this stage. I started working very early in my life, sacrificed my dream of higher education after undergrad to financially support my family and left my thriving career in India a decade back to support my husband’s job relocation. However, each aspect of that adversity and struggle not only matured me as a person, it enriched me with outlooks and perspectives that I continue to apply in my day to day work. Even after few setbacks, my personal story has taught me how to appreciate the hard work of my team members, be proud of their accomplishments and to give my 100% in everything I do. While I am very fortunate to lead some of the highly strategic and complex programs (Drone delivery, Sub-Same-Day offerings, Amazon Today, Micro-mobility Solutions to name a few) in Amazon, I feel humbled by the knowledge of my colleagues, the support of my managers, mentors and family and our leadership principles. Women leaders are not that abundant in tech industry, hence, I am very passionate to coach and mentor aspiring leaders to accomplish their goals and that is the most fulfilling part of my job in Amazon.

What brings you passion and excitement to your role and team?

I thrive in ambiguity and my role gives me plenty of opportunity to solve that. Our team has the unique vantage point to look at the customer problems holistically and then connect the dots to build a scalable and extensible solution. I am passionate about my team’s vision to connect people and technology to solve a diverse set of customer / driver requirements. Last Mile is a complex space and I am fortunate to have a group of very talented individuals who continuously push their boundaries to innovate and simplify.

How do you foster diversity and inclusion on your team?

In my team, diversity and inclusion is part of our culture. We continuously work towards nurturing an environment in which everyone feels they belong, treated with dignity, and are encouraged to fully participate as themselves. In my team we are transparent about inclusion and the improvement areas that we need to focus on. As a leader, I work hard to remove day to day unconscious bias in every part of our program planning processes and advance diversity improvement efforts by building more inclusive leaders that will service diverse customers needs.

What do you do for fun/ work-life balance?

I maintain my work-life balance by setting boundaries and priorities. I am conscious of my responsibilities both personally and professionally. I rigorous pre-plan and organizing to ensure I deliver on both. I have certain non-negotiable activities in a day such as home work with my daughter, family time and I specifically carve out opportunities for exercise and self care. For fun, I am a voracious reader and I read everything under the sun. I love to cook (especially Bengali food) when my mood strikes and TRY to manage a teenager!

What is your favorite leadership principle and why?

Amazon leadership principles are All near and dear to my heart and I practice them every day in my world. My favorite is “are right a lot”. I believe that good leaders have strong judgment and good instincts and it also helps me earn trust with my employees and peers. The secret to "are right a lot" is, seeking diverse perspectives for every decision and work to disconfirm my own beliefs even if I feel awkward in doing so.

Which is your favorite place from the ones you have ever travelled?

I love to travel and working in global organization such as Amazon I have been given the opportunity to visit lots of amazing places. Recently I was fortunate to fulfil one of of my wishlist I had the chance to visit Chichen Itza in Mexico. Upon my visit I was blown away by the Mayan architecture and the history of the Chichen Itza Pyramid which is not to be climbed, but we were lucky to just experience the locals and culture of the main sacred site. Another one my favorites places would have to be Cliff of Mohr in Ireland. It was absolutely breath taking, I really enjoyed the serene countryside and stunning sea views.