Rashmi is pictured with Ryan when he recently graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. Ryan just started working for Apple.

Rashmi started as an undeclared major at Cal and took a wide variety of classes as an L&S student. She took her first computer programming class her first year and decided to try more, eventually majoring in computer science. After working as a software engineer for a few years (including at Apple), she decided she was interested in how companies could collaborate and protect their intellectual property. She enrolled at Berkeley Law and has practiced law in the Silicon Valley for more than two decades. Rashmi was the first attorney at three companies, establishing and building their in-house legal function. She is currently the chief legal officer at Sophos, a cybersecurity company, where she leads an established legal and compliance team of about 35.

Rashmi gives to the College of Letters and Science and Berkeley Law because both have been the basis of the unique trajectory her career has taken. And because of her son’s path at Cal, she and husband Jeff now give to the College of Engineering.

“One of the most rewarding things you can do is pay it forward,” Rashmi says. “There were so many people at Berkeley who helped us along in our careers, including the faculty and other students who helped us, challenged us, and expanded our perspective.”