WE “Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong.
It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.” —G.D. Anderson
Women Empowered a new feature
Empowered Women of Florida
Meet Reema Bhatia
2019 Technology Woman of the Year
By Jen Wead
R
Reema Bhatia epitomizes the
word boss. She owns three major
companies, one that has companies
within it, and has been making a
name for herself in the Technology
for the 2018 Distinguished Entrepreneur
Award from the Florida
Small Business Development Center
(SBDC). Reema earned a spot
in The Business Observer 40 Under
40, Class of 2018. This prestigious
Reema Bhatia
award recognizes the region’s top
young entrepreneurs and professionals from Tampa Bay to
Naples who are committed to business growth, professional
excellence and community service. She is a member of
the Forbes Technology Council. Her businesses win awards.
Most recently, Reema earned The 2019 Technology Woman of
the Year Award from the South West FL Regional Technology
Partnership.
You have to expect that a woman that has achieved all
of this in a predominately male dominated industry would
be tough, maybe even cold. You might even imagine that she
found when I had the honor of chatting with Reema, was a
warm, deep woman who is incredibly humble. At 37, she has
a sensitive intelligence that is far beyond her years. She is
curious and courageous, which extends well into her love of
Petra 2018 - Reema says, “What mankind can dream up and
accomplish is astounding.”
travel. Reema has traveled to 50 countries and isn’t slowing
down.
math, so it was a natural progression that lead her toward engineering
and technology. She graduated with a Bachelors in
Architectural Engineering and a Masters in Digital Imaging
in 2007. I was really nervous to interview the 2019 Technology
Woman of the Year. I doubted that I would have the ability
to connect with someone of that caliber in the STEM world,
or even understand her when she explained what she did. I
started by asking her if she always knew that she wanted to
be an entrepreneur.
“No. Not at all. That was my husband. That was Stickboy!”
Reema explained, “He was the one. We were dating at
the time.” She paused thoughtfully, “It’s something I consider
my personal love story. He was the one that was encouraging
me to go out on my own. I had never really thought
about it. Nobody in my family was in business, so I hadn’t
really seen that. He was the one that was pushing me to do
it and when I was thinking about what to name the company,
I was literally lying in bed and I looked over... because
we had been trying to think of a name for a while and you
know naming a company is not that easy and it HAS to have
meaning... a personal meaning. I looked over and he had a
tattoo that was Stickboy. He used to be on the golf course as
a kid and his dad’s friends used to call him Stickboy because
he is tall and skinny. So, one Spring Break he got it tattooed
on his arm. Many years later, when I met him, he still had the
Amsterdam countryside 2019 - Reema loves the countryside,
and this is one of her favorites. Connued on next page
FLORIDA WOMEN MAGAZINE 813.682.9364 JULY 2019 • 7