Co-founder, Women’s Entrepreneur Center, Manzana Auckland, NZ
Dil (Dilpreet) Khosa
Please introduce yourself. Who are you and what is your job/career?
Originally from Malaysia, settled in New Zealand, I am currently co-founder of Manzana and the Women Tech Founders Aotearoa Community. I have entered the space of social justice, sustainability of people and planet, as I learned through my former role as as an Ethical and Sustainability Officer for a local charity in West Auckland, called Sustinnoworx.
I come from a tech startups & science commercialisation background, having worked in investment & operational leadership roles in multiple tech start-ups over the last decade. In 2015, I was selected to be one of EY’s Entrepreneurial Winning women, and has been recognised as a creative leader by Idealog in 2017.
My career has been up and down, and pre-pandemic, post burn out, I pivoted my career into something more aligned to my values.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Hah! I wanted to be many things! An astronomer, archaeologist, palaeontologist - mostly because I was into books with information on the universe, and discovery and science. I also had a creative side and thought of interior decoration! However, our culture almost dictates that we go down a professional stable job pathway, and after rebelling a bit, I did biotechnology.
What was your first job?
My first ever job was working in a cafe over summer in Auckland.
My first job after university was working two jobs actually - in a software startup as an operator / admin, and associate with a life science firm.
Can you describe your profession to those who might have never heard of it before?
Yes! So basically, ideas need to come to life and be executed, and I am the person that helps bring them to life and makes shit happen. My passion is mostly in tech, science and impact led startups, founded by women or historically excluded entrepreneurs.
What was your process for choosing your career path? Was it a long journey or an easy one? At what moment did you know that you wanted to be in this profession?
This is the zig zag part. I thought I wanted to work in startups my whole life. I was wrong. After burning out (always seems to take a big life event for me to change!) I went down a self healing discovery path, which led me to more aligned work.
Its hard to know, even now, what my career will be long term. Because 1. The world is changing so fast, 2. Technology also refreshes very fast and 3. There are real problems in the world to solve like water scarcity, climate change and modern day slavery for example.
And adding on to that, my value set changed as i experienced life more - so finding that spot of values x what I want to work on now, while allowing my creative side to come out a bit - it is working for me now, but who knows what the future could hold as more opportunities come to light that may not have existed ten years ago. Keeping an open mind helps.
What do you love most about your job?
Helping and working with women and underrepresented people! Whether its to problem solve something they might be struggling with, or to connect dots where needed to help them progress.
What did you study? How much schooling do you think is required to get into your role? What could you have skipped?
Biotech, and Bioscience Enterprise. I think these did help me with my foundational skills. However, real world learning is where I picked up the most skills and understanding. While some education is useful, I think there are elements that are still missing in our systems such as emotional skills, wellbeing, how to deal with bullying etc, things that I have had to learn the hard way.
How is the flexibility? Work life balance?
At the moment, I am in the most flexible lifestyle I have ever been in. My life is tipped more on the ‘Life’ part, than ‘work’, and this is my sweet spot. I learned after burning out, that this is what works for me and the only way I could achieve it is by contract work and building my own work.
What is something you do when things get difficult? How do you handle stress/ challenges?
For someone who has Generalised Anxiety Disorder, this is top of mind for me. I have a massive toolset now after years of managing it! Mainly, self care, mindfulness, moving, eating well, looking after my gut, being with family and my dogs, and shifting gears from ‘work’ helps a lot when it comes to stress.
Did you have any mentors that helped you along the way?
I actually found peer mentorship the most helpful! Along my journey, I have often tapped women in / around my age group and got inspiration off them.
What was the biggest piece of advice that helped you get to where you are?
Nothing is more important than your health and wellbeing.
If people have further questions how can they find you/contact you?