From Technical Foundations to Product Leadership
Vaishnavi Anand Kulkarni portrait. Courtesy photo.
Vaishnavi Anand Kulkarni, MS’26, is an Information Systems student at Northeastern whose co-op at Google-backed startup Evenness put her at the center of a real product launch, coordinating cross-functional teams and navigating high-stakes decisions firsthand. With a background in computer science and machine learning and a consistent user-first mindset, she is now pursuing full-time product management roles where she can continue building technology that creates meaningful impact.
For Vaishnavi Anand Kulkarni, curiosity has always been the driving force behind her work in technology. Long before stepping into a product role, Kulkarni found herself asking deeper questions: who is this being built for, what problem does it truly solve, and how will it create meaningful impact? That mindset, paired with a strong technical foundation in computer science and IEEE research in machine learning systems, shaped a path that naturally led her toward product management.
Northeastern University’s Information Systems program stood out to Kulkarni because it offered more than academic preparation. The university’s experiential learning model, anchored by its co-op program, promised something she valued deeply: the chance to learn by doing. Rather than limiting product management to classroom discussions or hypothetical case studies, Northeastern enabled her to step directly into industry and take ownership of real outcomes. Programs such as AWS She Builds and McKinsey Forward further reinforced that choice, helping her develop leadership, strategy, and problem-solving skills alongside her technical expertise.
Kulkarni working with her team. Courtesy photo.
Kulkarni’s co-op at Evenness became the defining chapter of her graduate experience. Evenness is a Google-backed startup focused on building AI-powered, personalized web experiences that improve digital accessibility for people with disabilities. In 2025, the company received the Wholistic World Innovation Trophy in Barcelona for its work in advancing socially impactful technology. Joining the team as an Agile Project Manager, Kulkarni became deeply involved in the development and launch of a Chrome extension central to the company’s mission.
From the outset, Kulkarni was entrusted with responsibility that mirrored the realities of product leadership. She coordinated more than 15 team members across engineering, design, and quality assurance, serving as the connective thread between disciplines. Her work required translating technical constraints into clear priorities, facilitating discussions when teams disagreed on implementation, and ensuring leadership had accurate, timely visibility into progress. The role demanded adaptability, decisiveness, and constant communication, skills Kulkarni strengthened daily.
One particular moment reshaped her understanding of effective product work. Just days before a scheduled launch, Kulkarni recognized that although teams were executing well, misalignment in interpretation threatened the final outcome. Rather than allowing the issue to escalate, she convened stakeholders, clarified user-focused priorities, and worked with leadership to recalibrate scope under tight deadlines. She then created documentation detailed enough to prevent similar issues in the future. The launch succeeded, but more importantly, the experience reinforced that strong product management is built on clarity, accountability, and systems that support teams long-term.
Screenshot of the Career Story Generator. Courtesy photo.
Outside of her co-op, Kulkarni has consistently applied the same user-first approach to independent projects. She built the Career Story Generator, an AI-driven tool designed to help job seekers articulate their experiences more effectively. Developed without funding or promotion, the tool gained organic traction and continues to support users navigating competitive job markets. She also created The Perfume Vault, an inventory management platform tailored to perfume collectors, informed by extensive engagement with enthusiast communities to ensure the product reflected real-world needs.
As an Information Systems student, Kulkarni has paired these experiences with advanced coursework in large language models, business analysis, and web design, allowing her to connect theory with practice. Each experience—academic, professional, and independent—has contributed to a cohesive skill set rooted in technical fluency, strategic thinking, and thoughtful communication.
As she approaches graduation in spring 2026, Kulkarni is preparing for full-time product management roles where she can continue leading teams, shaping products from concept to launch, and building technology that makes a difference. Her journey illustrates how Northeastern’s experiential learning model equips students not just to learn about their future careers, but to step into them long before they enter the field.