Coupang India’s female leaders spotlight series: Meet Sowmya, Sadhana, Isha and Divyani

Thursday, March 26, 2026 minute read

Coupang views the recognition of women’s accomplishments as an ongoing effort – not something confined to International Women’s Day. The women of Coupang continue to shape new innovations that enhance the WOW experience for our customers, and the company is committed to nurturing their growth. Through this two-part article series, we introduce inspiring leaders and share their stories, reflections, and advice.

In today’s feature, we interviewed Sowmya, Sadhana, Isha and Divyani.

Sowmya is a technology transformation leader with over 20+ years of experience in global e-commerce. She has led major digital initiatives, scaled online grocery business, and accelerated cross-border marketplace growth. With a system-first mindset and a strong sense of ownership, she builds scalable solutions that drive adoption and measurable customer impact.

Believing that innovation thrives when technology, strategy, and teams move with clarity and urgency, she consistently dives deep, thinks big, and raises the bar on execution. As a woman leading large-scale transformation, she designs systems that empower teams and create long-lasting impact.

Beyond International Women’s Day, she encourages women leaders to think big, move with urgency, and cultivate environments where innovation can flourish. She believes that when women lead with clarity and grit, they don’t just innovate – they expand what’s possible for customers and teams.

Sadhana leads Fraud Detection systems for the Taiwan market, at Coupang, building next-generation decisioning platforms powered by graph intelligence and machine learning.

With over 13 years in Tech, Sadhana has learned that leadership is not only about scaling systems but also about scaling people, resilience, and impact. Her career began in Hardware Protocol Modelling at a leading American multinational company, followed by a decade at major e-commerce organization where she grew from an IC into a leader overseeing 25+ engineers, re-architecting legacy stacks and stabilizing mission-critical platforms during peak events.

Her journey has been shaped by an inclusive culture rooted in trust, flexibility, and sponsorship – an environment that enabled her to pursue ambitious goals without the “guilt tax”. As a woman leader, she has learned to navigate ambiguity, set bold directions, and lead with empathy, creating spaces where teams feel safe to take risks and grow.

To women leaders, she offers this advice: pursue high-impact problems, made trade-offs explicit, say no with clarity, and cultivate a circle of sponsors and allies while lifting others along the way. Being a visionary leader and a present human being are not mutually exclusive – bringing your whole self, with both action-orientation and empathy, can be your greatest superpower.

Isha began her career in networking and partner integrations engineering before transitioning into e-commerce – a shift that sharpened her focus on scale and customer obsession, allowing her to translate complex systems into seamless customer experiences.

Within Coupang’s Post-Purchase organization, her role expanded from Fraud Detection to leading Customer Service Intelligence and Returns. A major milestone during this period was building the Bangalore engineering team from the ground up, transferring knowledge, strengthening ownership, and elevating technical excellence across the group.

Her work today centers on architecting Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) integrations that enhance speed, accuracy, and customer experience at scale.

Beyond engineering, one of the most meaningful aspects of her growth has been navigating leadership alongside motherhood – a constant balancing act that builds a deeper resilience and strength than she ever expected. While the trade-offs are real, advancing her career creates a powerful model of independence and real-world problem-solving for her child, making the juggling act worthwhile.

Joining Coupang two years ago became one of the most transformative chapters of Divyani’s career. She arrived both eager and unsure, and quickly discovered a culture that pushed her to grow, take ownership, and stretch beyond her comfort zone – all while feeling trusted and supported.

Around the same time, she stepped into motherhood. Pregnancy brought shifting priorities and emotional ups and downs, and balancing work wasn’t always easy. Yet she felt supported at every stage by her team and leaders. Maternity leave reshaped her perspective, strengthening her resilience and allowing her to return with greater clarity and confidence.

Returning to Coupang felt empowering, as she learned to blend ambition with motherhood by setting clearer priorities and giving herself grace along the way. Now, as a mother of twin boys, she remains grateful for a culture that enables her to raise the bar both at work and at home.