Sabre Souvenirs: Ep 15 | Milestones and Memories

Preeti Sahu (PS): Welcome back to another episode of Sabre Souvenirs. This is Preeti Sahu, your host for today! I hope you enjoyed listening to our last episode with Aayusi Biswas where we talked about various Employee Resource groups at Sabre that would have also given you a glimpse into Sabre culture. Today, I have with me Sumana Kamath who’s recently completed 11 years with Sabre! Congratulations Sumana! I’ll let you introduce yourself to the audience. Sumana Kamath (SK): Hello everyone! Sumana here. I am part of the SPS team within the PSCS org and work in the capacity of a Program manager, implementing delivery programs across all Travel Solution products/features. In the past 11 years that I have been with Sabre I have been fortunate to be a part of 4 different teams and lead various initiatives which contributed immensely to the kind of professional I am today. My current role has been by far the most enriching. PS: Share some moments from your Sabre journey that you are particularly fond of. SK: There are many but the first one that comes to my mind is the day when my (then) manager encouraged me (within 2 weeks of me joining Sabre) to explore the amazing WFH option so that I could balance my roles as a business analyst along with a mom to a year old daughter. This support and encouragement was the exact push I needed for my career. Then couple of years later when the product that I supported was sunset, the leadership team made sure I was placed comfortably into another team without me taking any painstaking effort. PS: What was your 1^st job role like? Has it evolved a lot over time? SK: From being a business analyst for Revenue Accounting product to a Program manager managing multiple products/features surely speaks for itself. While being a business analyst was the core competency with which I had joined Sabre but over the years, across various roles, I have completely transformed as a professional with anenhanced understanding of the domain. PS: What motivates you to come to work each day? SK: I believe that learning is a continuous process and being associated to programs with multiple products/features ensures that I get to learn something new each day and that is a great motivation for me. PS: 11 years is a big milestone. Do you have any tips and tricks for youngsters to help them adapt and evolve better in their respective roles? SK: Sabre is not only an IT company in the travel domain but also a teaching institute, if one wants to learn all dimensions of travel industry. So keep an open mind and learn! PS: What made you continue to stay at Sabre? SK: Amazing opportunities, work life balance, constant leadership engagement (especially the transparency demonstrated during the pandemic) are some of the top motivators I recall on the fly! PS: If you have to redo your tenure at Sabre how will you go about that? Would you like to change anything? SK: What I am today is the result of my choices and also my mistakes so I think I wouldn’t want to change anything because I am glad to be here. Sounds cheesy but that is really how I feel 😊 PS: What positive impact Sabre had on your family? Would you like to share it with us voluntarily? SK: The flexibility especially for working mothers that Sabre provides is a boon. My daughter can see both her parents confidently contributing to family welfare professionally as well as personally without the need to compromise on either aspect. PS: Which destination is top on your travel list when normal travelling resumes worldwide? Why? SK: Singapore and especially the lovely Sentosa island with my family! Singapore was my first international destination and the country impressed me so I would like to visit again. PS: What do you like to do in your free time? SK: I like to go on long walks and listen to music. Spending time with my almost teenage daughter would be good too, provided she has free time for me as well PS: In your 11 years of service, you may have done a couple of team building activities. Talk about the ones that were both fun and insightful. SK: Few years ago we had participated in these trust exercises (eg. a volunteer is blind folded and made to fall over colleagues from atop a chair and the colleagues are expected to catch hold.) This surely was fun and made me realize the amount of trust I had on each of my co worker PS: If you could change something in the world, what would it be? SK: This one was a brain scratcher as I am sure like me everyone wants a lot of changes. I would like everyone to be considerate towards the vulnerable and underprivileged. This is not just in monetary terms but emotionally as well and hope that the world would be a better place for generations to come. PS: That’s a great takeaway Sumana. I’d like to leave our audience to mull over these noble thoughts! It was a pleasure having you on our podcast today. Thank you for taking out time to talk to us. You’ve given us a lot of insight into why Sabre culture is unique and allows oneself to bring their best to work. We will keep coming back with more stories in our upcoming podcast. The link to our podcast will be updated on our website as and when they happen. So, keep coming back to our YouTube channel and other social media channels for more such interesting stories from our team member’s experiences! Until then, stay safe and happy!

Sabre Souvenirs: Ep 15 | Milestones and Memories

Decoding Hiring and Engagement in the Gen Z Era

Sabre Spectrum – Ep.13: Role of Cloud in Enhancing Travel Experiences ft. Ravi Reddy

Application Performance Analysis

New Roadmap: Travel with a Low Carbon Footprint

Paving the Road Towards an Inclusive World

Roundtable: Advancing Women in STEM – Collaborative Solutions for Equity and Inclusion

Top 10 Women’s Guide to Being the Boss of Your Business

Navigating Barriers and Celebrating Achievements

Sabre Souvenirs: Ep 15 | Milestones and Memories

Related Resources