Chetana Deorah - From Silicon Valley to Soulful Design

Chetana Deorah explores what it means to step off the career treadmill 🚶‍♀️, rediscover creativity beyond metrics 🎨, and build a life rooted in connection, community, and courage 🌱—sharing why the most meaningful design often begins within ✨.

Highlights include:

⭐ Leaving India to Escape Cultural Expectations
⭐ Leading Global Growth Design at Netflix
⭐ Deciding to Leave Silicon Valley
⭐ Redefining Work and Purpose in Auroville
⭐ Learning the Power of Doing Nothing

#UXLeadership #DesignThinking #LifeCenteredDesign #CreativeCourage #SustainableDesign #HumanCenteredDesign #BraveUX

======

Who is Chetana Deorah?

Chetana Deorah is a seasoned design leader, educator, and community builder whose career bridges tech, creativity, and social impact 🌏.

She has led high-performing product design teams at companies like Netflix, Scribd, Yahoo, Pivotal Labs, and Pentagram, shaping global digital experiences for millions of users. At Netflix, she served as a Design Director focused on global acquisition and growth, refining the pre-customer experience for a fast-growing platform with hundreds of millions of subscribers worldwide 🎥.

In recent years, Chetana has consciously chosen to apply her learnings from the tech industry toward new creative, community-driven explorations. Now based in Auroville, India, she is leading multidimensional design and creativity initiatives centered on education, sustainability, and human unity 🌱.

Her projects include Sakhi, a Life Education Centre brand that focuses on social enterprise for women artisans, with an emphasis on integral well-being; Auro Artworld, a platform for artists; and BloomO!, a soulful flower card game designed to foster connection and reflection. She’s also the co-founder of Pizzawale Pop-Ups, a food, creativity, and community experiment where she and her team craft gluten-free, vegan pizzas in a uniquely collaborative environment 🍕.

Guided by a vision of designing experiences that nourish both people and the planet, Chetana is redefining what it means to live and create with intention ✨.

======

🔗 Find Chetana here:

LinkedIn:   / chetanadeorah  

======

🎬 Episode Chapters:

00:00 – Growing Up in a Sheltered Business Family
00:30 – Welcome and Introduction
02:11 – Meet Chetana Deorah
03:24 – Opening with a Poem by Sri Aurobindo
04:30 – Leaving Silicon Valley and Returning to India
07:30 – Life and Purpose in Auroville
12:00 – Yoga as Union, Not Just Asana
13:34 – Leaving India to Resist Cultural Norms
17:38 – The Marriage Path She Refused
20:16 – Her Father’s Rebellious Influence and Strength
25:00 – Seeing India Change While Living Abroad
29:00 – Asking: “Is There Another Ladder to Climb?”
33:01 – From Busyness to Learning How to Do Nothing
42:54 – Creativity and Community Projects in Auroville
50:00 – Rethinking Money, Growth, and Human Unity
57:30 – Lessons From Silicon Valley on Bravery and Growth

======

🎙️ Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to Brave UX:


Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast...
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7j2ocni...
YouTube:    • Brave UX with Brendan Jarvis 🇺🇦  
Podbean: https://braveux.podbean.com/

Learn more → https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/brave...

======

👋 Follow Brave UX for more conversations:


LinkedIn:   / the-space-in-between  
TikTok:   / brave_ux  
Instagram:   / thespaceinbetw__n  

🎙️ Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:


LinkedIn:   / brendanjarvis  
Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/
X: https://x.com/brendanjarvis