People are not rooting for you. Act like it. | Swati Vauthrin (Co-Founder, Recess App)

Carly sits down with Swati Vauthrin, co-founder of Recess, a new parenting app built by two former Instagram leaders. Swati shares how growing up in New Jersey with early access to computers led her to computer science, how she navigated being one of the few women in engineering, and what she learned building and leading teams at Disney, ESPN, BuzzFeed, and Instagram. She opens up about career pivots, motherhood in intense tech environments, and the decision to leave big tech to build Recess.

References:

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com
• BuzzFeed: https://www.buzzfeed.com
• ESPN: https://www.espn.com
• George Washington University: https://www.gwu.edu
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com
• Recess: https://therecess.app/
• Swati Vauthrin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swativauthrin/
• The Cobalt Group: https://cobaltgroup.com
• The Walt Disney Company: https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com

Timestamps:

(01:40) Swati’s childhood introduction to computers

(04:25) Developing a natural sense of curiosity

(06:19) Being a woman in a STEM field

(09:25) Working for the Cobalt Group

(12:57) The shift from building product to leadership

(15:32) Advice for job switching in your late twenties

(17:45) How to build a strong company culture

(20:57) The reality of being a working mother

(24:02) Swati’s journey to starting Recess

(30:03) Surviving the “un-sexy” startup moments

(32:55) Being the only female founder in the room

(35:25) How Recess was pitched

(37:56) What every young woman needs to hear