When Guild Education’s co-founder Rachel Romer suffered a life-threatening stroke, the company’s future rested in the hands of Bijal Shah — then on maternity leave, recovering from a traumatic birth.
In this intimate and deeply strategic conversation, Guild’s now-CEO shares what it took to step up, scale a mission-driven business, and guide 70,000+ employees toward career mobility. From building slum workforce programs in India to powering skills transformation for giants like Walmart, Chipotle, and Disney—Bijal unpacks what it means to lead through adversity, design with empathy, and operate for long-term resilience.
This episode is for anyone thinking about the future of workforce development, durable marketplaces, or leadership when it matters most.
Timestamps / Key Takeaways
0:00 - Intro
02:11 - From Visa to slum development in India to scaling Guild
03:58 - Joining Guild: The founding vision, team conviction, and social enterprise thesis
07:51 - Evolution of the business model from content creation to a scalable marketplace
09:11 - Customer-led transformation: Meeting both employer and employee skill demands
12:41 - Workforce shifts: Aging population, AI disruption, and the half-life of skills
14:58 - Measuring impact: 70,000 learners, 2.6x retention boost, customized talent solutions
18:03 - Building long-term partnerships over short-term revenue: Walmart, Chipotle, Disney and more major clients
27:40 - Stepping into the CEO role: Permission to lead, guidance from the board, Rachel’s trust
39:45 - Billion Dollar Questions
ABOUT BIJAL SHAH
Bijal Shah is the CEO of Guild, a talent development company partnering with leading employers to help them build the talent needed for today and the resilient workforce of tomorrow. Guild works with organizations like Chipotle, Discover, Target, and Providence Health to provide seamless pathways for talent mobility that enhance the employee experience and activate internal talent to achieve business goals.
Bijal has been named a CNBC Changemaker, and Guild has been recognized as one of TIME’s Most Influential Companies, CNBC’s Disruptor 50, LinkedIn’s Top Startups, and received Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas award.
Prior to Guild, Shah held leadership roles across data analytics at Ibotta and corporate strategy at Visa. She served on the Board of Directors of Girls Inc. and was named one of Denver Business Journal’s 40 Under 40. Shah graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and the MIT Sloan School of Management. She lives in Denver with her husband and children.
FOLLOW BIJAL
LinkedIn | Instagram
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PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://billiondollarmoves.com
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LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/sarahchenglobal
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