Meet Our Talent Leadership

Every company needs a set of guiding principles that shape a company's culture, behavior, and decision-making. At Coupa, we call these our core values, which are driven in part by our seven Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and people in the Coupa Village. ABLE stands for Achieve Beyond Limitations and Expectations. This ERG’s mission is to foster an environment where everyone feels valued, supported, and empowered to thrive regardless of ability. We do this through advocacy, education, and collaboration to promote awareness, break down barriers, and celebrate the unique strengths and perspectives of people with disabilities and their allies. Recently, we held a presentation on ADHD + Success in the Workplace that was well attended and sparked great conversations and feedback. For me, it was truly an inspiring and touching moment. We covered an array of topics that included: Understanding ADHD in the workplace Simple tips for success Communication and collaboration best practices Asking for support ADHD Superpowers My fellow Coupanians and ABLE members, Nora B. Clark, Recruitment Marketing Specialist at Coupa, and Ashwini Manerikar, Lead Software Engineer, presented alongside me, sharing examples from their current and previous work experiences, helping to bring to life one of our key values — Cultivate Belonging — for our participants. Nora had this to share: “I’ve often been told I’m ‘too out-of-the-box’, quirky when it comes to many of the ideas I’ve shared in my career. While it can be frustrating to hear, my unique style has ultimately helped carve out my career success. Bringing your authentic self to work is still very much a privilege in today's society, so being able to share my experiences and journey with those who are still trying to figure out who they are and what they want in their personal and work life is really important to me. I continue to learn every day, and I’m so proud that ABLE continues to inspire through presentations like this, and I look forward to more in the future.” Ashwini had this to add to her experience. “I used to feel like my mind was constantly full of ideas, and I wasn't sure how to channel that energy. Having inattentive ADHD, I often found myself drifting between thoughts, struggling with a hard-to-explain inconsistency in motivation. It brought real challenges: self-doubt, difficulty focusing, and a constant sense of being everywhere. But over time, I began to recognize the strengths within the chaos — an intuitive way of thinking, the ability to spot patterns and connect the dots quickly, and a creative mindset to thrive outside the box. Learning to work with my brain instead of against it has been empowering. With awareness and understanding of my ADHD, I’ve been able to lean into those strengths and explore ways to manage the challenges in a way that works for me. What helped most was hearing from others with similar experiences, beyond the clinical lens. I’m grateful for initiatives like these from Coupa ABLE and hope they encourage others to embrace their unique wiring to feel supported.” As Coupa employees, we benefit from inclusive best practices, and Coupa ABLE helps connect and empower others to drive success in many ways. ERGs like ABLE provide resources, presentations, and events that continue to help our culture thrive and drive our innovation and global impact. We also help Coupa Villagers with ADHD to understand how ADHD can be a superpower due to the creativity, curiosity, and out-of-the-box thinking that comes along with ADHD. Through this event, we aimed to help Coupa Villagers and their supporting managers learn tips to be more successful, but we found an entire community with whom this message deeply resonated. After the event, I heard from Villagers across the organization who shared how happy they were to know they are not alone. We have a community of neurodivergent Villagers here at Coupa, and Coupa ABLE is here to support #AllOfUs! Check out some of the tips we shared during our presentation, as well as other helpful resources How to help with time management and organization Use project management tools that include visual and audible reminders Prioritize and organize a brain dump session How to create a supportive work environment Investigate noise-cancelling headphones Show compassion Research fidget tools Propose walking meetings if it's suitable How to help create effective communication strategies Practice active listening and communicating clearly Don’t judge when being asked for clarification Leverage strengths Resources: CHADD Succeeding in the Workplace Understood.org ADDitudemag.com NeurodiversityHub.org ADHDfoundation.org TextHelp.com Creativity in ADHD: Goal-Directed Motivation and Domain Specificity