A Google employee’s heartfelt post about meeting CEO Sundar Pichai has struck a chord online. The interaction, shared on LinkedIn and Instagram, quickly gained traction, drawing widespread reactions from social media users.
A Google employee reflected on meeting Sundar Pichai. (Instagram/thetanushigupta )Meeting a long time role model
Taking to LinkedIn, Tanushi Gupta, a Digital Marketing Strategist at Google, shared a video capturing her interaction with Sundar Pichai at the company’s Gurgaon office. Alongside the clip, she reflected on the emotional significance of the moment, describing it as a dream years in the making.
“There are some moments that don’t feel real even while you’re standing inside them. Yesterday, at our Google Gurgaon office, I shook hands with the person whose name I’ve written under ‘Role Model’ since I was a teenager. Sundar Pichai. And for a few seconds, time folded,” she wrote.
Gupta admitted that the encounter left her overwhelmed. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t loose my calm. I wasn’t just a Digital Marketing Strategist at Google. I was the little girl who chose machines over makeup. The student who was endlessly curious about tech. The girl who believed that building things mattered more than buying things.”
She added that her admiration for Pichai had remained constant since her school days, explaining that his journey from India to leading one of the world’s most influential technology companies made success feel attainable.
‘A full circle moment’
In her post, Gupta described the handshake as symbolic of years of effort and inspiration. “Yesterday, when I shook his hand, it wasn’t just a greeting. It was years of silent admiration meeting years of hard work. It was proof that the dreams you quietly protect protect you back. It felt surreal. It felt emotional. It felt like a full circle whisper from the universe saying, ‘Keep going.’”
She concluded by calling the experience unforgettable, writing, “Some moments you post for engagement. Some moments you post because your heart is too full to stay silent. This one is the moment of my life. One handshake came with a lifetimes of bragging rights and I might not be able to shut up about it, ever. Grateful. Inspired. Still processing.”
Check out the post here:
Gupta later shared the same video on Instagram with a shorter caption that read, “Corporate fan girl moment unlocked. When we met our CEO.”
Take a look here at the post:
Social media reacts
The video has garnered more than 259,000 views on Instagram. Many users congratulated her while others shared similar experiences of meeting public figures they admire.
One user commented, “It’s the success of doing Engineering in Life,” while another joked, “Google it? Nah, she met him.” A viewer wrote, “The fact that it took us a while to absorb this moment. Core memory unlocked together,” reflecting the emotional tone of the post.
Some users related their own encounters, with one writing, “I also went to see him in Bharat Mandapam. I came for 3 hours drive, 10,000 steps walking and he just came and go in 5 minutes.”