It’s been eight years that Preety Goyal joined Mahindra Defence Systems Limited’s Land System’s plant in Prithla, Haryana, in the R&D department. The 31-year-old, who hails from Ballabhgarh, a small town in Haryana, has always been a bright student. She graduated in 2014 from the Delhi Engineering College in Faridabad in Electronics and Communications Engineering.

Preety was the only woman to join as Design Engineer in the Electrical and Electronic domain. “For me, this has been a rewarding experience. I was treated just like everyone else. The ever-encouraging environment to learn was also a blessing,” she recalls.

Preety’s passion and dedication won her the Rise Award in 2018 for her significant contribution to her function. Currently working as an Assistant Manager, Preety has been part of every project in the electrical and electronic design domain. Nothing can escape her observant eyes, from nuances of electrical circuitry to signal architecture, or even rugged military hardware. She says, “There’s nothing that a woman can’t do. At Mahindra, equal opportunities and capability supersede everything else. It made me learn at every step of the process and shaped me into a confident professional.”

Today, she has a fulfilling career. Married to Rahul Gupta, a businessman, Preety is also a mother of two beautiful daughters — four-and-a-half-year-old Rudrakshi and one-year-old Naiya. She credits the support of her husband and her in-laws for helping her shine.

However, coordinating in her function has not been without challenges. She says, “Any work environment has its set of challenges. I would say that working in this domain during my pregnancy and COVID-19 was the most strenuous.”

Women engineers like Preety challenge stereotypes and pave the way for others to follow their dreams in automotive research and development. She says, “It feels good to work in the design domain and serve as an inspiration to other women engineers.”