Google Meet innovator reflects on growing up multilingual and how tech can bridge cultural gaps

Google Meet is gaining fresh attention after its head, Awaneesh Verma, opened up about how his multilingual upbringing inspired his mission to bridge communication gaps through technology. 

Verma, who now oversees Google Meet, Google Voice and other real-time communication tools, manages a suite that connects 3 billion users worldwide and says his earliest experiences shaped everything he builds.

Growing up in Sheffield as the child of Indian immigrants, Verma said he often felt like “the only Indian kid in the room,” an experience that pushed him to imagine what the wider world looked like. 

That early curiosity eventually led him to engineering studies at Carnegie Mellon, where a talk about Google Translate sparked his belief that technology could erase cultural barriers. 

His path later took him through Duolingo and Uber before he returned to Google to lead Google Meet.

Today, Verma noted he is constantly testing Google Meet internally, ensuring the platform stays reliable for the millions of companies that depend on it. 

He also highlighted how its deep integration with Google Workspace, where conversations, notes and files seamlessly connect, makes communication across cultures simpler and more accessible.

As Verma puts it, Google Meet is ultimately about helping people “truly understand each other,” a goal shaped by a lifetime of multilingual experiences.