Nina Godiwalla

Women have historically faced massive hurdles when aiming for the C-Suite. Some of those obstacles are deeply ingrained, while others could be easily overcome if the right set of tools were in place, a fact Nina Godiwalla knows all too well. She entered Wall Street as an outsider -- a woman and Indian American -- and left enlightened on how minorities can thrive in a male-dominated corporate culture.

As part of her drive to spur a national diversity initiative, Godiwalla and several elite CEOs have joined The Wall Street Journal's "Women in the Economy" Executive Task Force, which produces recommendations for creating more high-level opportunities for women in corporate America.

After a decade working for Fortune 500 corporations, Godiwalla founded MindWorks, which provides executive leadership, diversity and stress management training. She also authored the bestseller Suits: A Woman on Wall Street, based on her experience dealing with the subtle and overt ways that Wall Street holds back women and minorities. The New York Times hailed it as The Devil Wears Prada of investment banking.

She has been a keynote speaker at a variety of venues including The World Affairs Council, Smithsonian, Harvard, and TEDxHouston Conference, and she has contributed to The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Elle Magazine and Wharton Magazine. In 2012, along with Barbara Bush and Sandra Day O'Connor, Godiwalla was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame.

With humor and honesty, Godiwalla shares her all-too-real tales from Wall Street and offers lessons on how corporations can create a culture that is more open to diversity and business professionals can become better -- and less stressed -- leaders and communicators.