Beyond the Code: Leadership in the Age of AI | Cristina Vintila

Beyond the Code: Leadership in the Age of AI | Cristina Vintila

In this episode of Suba Unscripted, Suba sits down with Cristina Vintila, a senior leader at Google, for an honest conversation on identity, leadership, and what it means to find your power. Born in Romania and now navigating one of the world's most fast-moving industries, Cristina shares what it was like to grow up where hard work was simply expected, where being a woman in engineering never felt like a barrier, and how that changed the moment she crossed into Western Europe and looked around the room. Together they explore inclusive leadership, the tension between humility and confidence, AI safety and its everyday stakes, and why staying connected to real community, your neighbours, your team, your inner voice, matters more than ever in a tech-driven world. At its core, this episode is about connecting the dots between where you came from, who you are leading, and the world you are quietly helping to shape. Honest, grounded, and full of unexpected warmth. For anyone who has ever had to earn their place in the room, or simply wanted a reminder that real power lives in the connections we choose to make.

Choosing Yourself, with Sharandeep

In this episode of Suba Unscripted, Suba sits down with her longtime friend Sharandeep for a deeply personal and reflective conversation on identity, courage, and what it really means to choose yourself. Born and raised in the UK to Indian parents, Sharandeep grew up navigating life between cultures, constantly balancing who she was at home with who she felt she could be in the world outside. She shares what it meant to grow up as a third culture child, the quiet ways she learned to adapt, and the longing to fully belong. The conversation moves into expectations placed on South Asian women, the pressure to follow stable and traditional paths, and the moment where that begins to shift. Sharandeep opens up about building a successful career in finance, walking away from it in search of something more meaningful, and the courage it took to retrain, start over, and eventually step into entirely new worlds, from wellness to acting. Together, they reflect on self-awareness, generational patterns, forgiveness, and the power of listening to your inner voice. At its core, this episode is about learning to move from people pleasing to self-trust, from expectation to intention, and from surviving to consciously choosing your life. This conversation is honest, grounding, and expansive. It is for anyone who has ever felt caught between worlds, questioned the path they were on, or wondered if it is too late to begin again.

Showing Up

In this debut episode of Suba Unscripted, Suba introduces herself and the heart behind this podcast. Born in Sri Lanka, raised in Switzerland as a refugee child, and having spent over two decades in international development and philanthropy, Suba has spent her life navigating between worlds. Here, she opens up about what that has shaped in her: the fractures, the gifts, and the quiet power that lives in the in-between. She reflects on growing up as a third culture child, the weight of South Asian family expectations, her journey into mental health and what it took to bring her parents along, and what two decades of working alongside grassroots changemakers across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and beyond has taught her about what real power looks like. This episode is personal, honest, and intentionally unscripted. It's also a manifesto for anyone who has ever felt between worlds, carried a problem too big to hold, or waited too long to show up.