‘There’s a very overt message in the story’
The author talks about her writing, working in tech, and Bangladesh, her spiritual home
Please describe your latest novel. How did the idea take shape?
The Startup Wife is about Asha Ray, a brilliant coder who builds a platform to rival the biggest social media companies in the world. Along the way, she must find her voice and keep in balance the other love of her life, her childhood sweetheart Cyrus Jones.
I wanted to imagine what it might be like to be a female, non-white founder of a tech company. How might she navigate the limitations put upon her? This is how Asha Ray was born. She’s the heart of the story; it all begins with her.
I take it that the novel is inspired by your own experience. Do you ever feel like Asha?
The novel was only inspired by my life in the sense that my years at the music startup ROLI gave me a small window into the workings of the startup world. I got to sit in on board meetings, watch investment pitches and learn the language of tech, which has its own very particular vocabulary. But unlike in the novel, I really can take no credit for my husband’s startup. It is his invention. The rest of the story is entirely speculative.
In the novel, there’s a bit about Asha letting Cyrus (her partner) or even Jules (the co-founder) be the face of their company when, in fact, she was the one who did most of the heavy lifting. We know young women are often pushed to the sidelines in the world of tech. Is there a pointed message in the novel?
Yes, absolutely. There’s a powerful and very overt message in the story, because you see that despite Asha being the brains behind the startup, her power only gets diminished as the company grows. So, although there’s humour and romance and other enjoyable things about the novel, the uncomfortable truth is never far beneath the surface.
What’s your advice to young people facing such a dilemma?
I would say that coming together with other women towards the shared goal of breaking the glass ceiling is incredibly important. In the novel, Asha gains her self-awareness and power though her friendships with other women. Sometimes patriarchy creates divisions among women because we are given the message that there are only a few spaces for women and that we have to compete. But we must resist this message and work in collaboration with one another. If we do that, we will be unbeatable.
For me, the romance is important to the first half. But at its heart, it’s the story of a woman finding her voice. I would call it a comingof-age novel.