as assistant secretary for south and central asian affairs at the us department of state from 2013 to 2017 nisha biswal was one of the most visible indian american faces in the administration of then us president barack obama now as president of the highprofile usindia business council and senior vice president for south asia at the united states chamber of commerce her role is to provide strategic guidance on several key areas including global security sustainability and climate biswal who has had experience across sectors including as senior adviser at the albright stonebridge group assistant administrator for asia at the us agency for international development usaid and staff member at the capitol hill and the us house of representatives spoke to timesofindiacom on a range of topics from the growing number of indian americans in the biden administration to trade as the next frontier for indous ties edited excerpts from the interviewthere are a large number of indian americans in the biden administration what are the challenges that they face especially the women of indian origin who are in senior positionswe have certainly seen a very strong presence of indian americans in both the obama administration and now in the biden administration there was a good representation of indian americans in the trump administration as well this is because there has been a tremendous focus on bringing in a diversity of perspectives experiences and backgrounds to the us government to reflect us population and its composition for indian american women and all women of colour the challenge is from our institutional systems and biases which tend to perhaps become a disadvantage but i would also say that in our governmental institution women are making great strides and perhaps stronger advances in government than other institutions however sometimes women of colour coming into government dont have the experience or the networks that can help them get things done i was very lucky that i came with over a decade and a half of experience on capitol hill and i had very deep relationships in congress that really helped me when i was in government both in being able to build congressional support for the issues that i was working on and being able to tap into my network the experience that i had got in working across the political spectrum also helped build coalitions and negotiating outcomes are important skills and i think that sometimes when they are coming in from academia for example practical experience and networks are some things that women of colour dont have we have to find ways to strengthen and support themhow has your experience at the us congress and the house of representatives helped you in your future assignmentsi have had what can be described as somewhat of motley work history in that ive moved around in many different fields and had different experiences my dad at one point said you know nisha you changed jobs like people change hairstyles for me whether i