About
Rashmi Airan is a keynote speaker, leadership expert, and transformation strategist who helps leaders and organizations navigate adversity and high-pressure moments with courage, clarity, and accountability.
A first-generation Indian American, Columbia Law School graduate, and former Wall Street dealmaker, she draws on her own journey through failure, federal prison, and reinvention to help audiences rise stronger and lead wiser. Her story has been featured by ABC, PBS, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. She joined the 2026 featured panel.
Elsewhere on this story
- Rashmi Airan's full interview on Nightmare Success Nightmare Success episode: Rashmi Airan, Federal Prison to 450 Keynotes
At the White Collar Conference
Rashmi Airan described her path from UNC, Morgan Stanley and Columbia Law School to her own real estate practice and, years later, a federal case. Because the court barred her from being paid during supervised release, she gave about 300 speeches at no fee before building a keynote speaking career. She said being truthful about a record is the best route at work, and she told people facing a new case to allow themselves to feel the pain and lean on the people who love them.
“It was like, I got eulogized before I died.”
Watch at 19:16
“So I always think that being truthful is the best way to go.”
Watch at 27:06
“Allow yourself the grace to feel the pain.”
Watch at 33:39
Chapters
- 0:00 Panel opening and format
- 1:07 Drew on his startup failure and owning it
- 3:55 Rashmi's path from honors student to prison
- 10:33 Desmond at the railroad tracks
- 16:52 Who first said yes after the conviction
- 19:43 Desmond on humanizing language
- 24:58 Rashmi on disclosing your past at work
- 28:21 Desmond on Clean Slate and record clearing
- 30:55 Advice for someone newly indicted
- 34:59 Desmond on embracing pain and passing it on
- 38:34 How to reach the panelists
With Desmond Meade and Drew Chapin (moderator)
Join us in fall 2027.
The fourth annual White Collar Conference is planned for fall 2027, virtual on Zoom and open to all.