I was born and brought up in Delhi. I went to a convent school, and then to Delhi University where I studied economics, and earned my PhD in management. I had a lovely childhood and was raised in a typical, conservative Gupta family where girls are protected, but had more freedom than most, given that we were in the national capital.
We were growing up at a time when India had started opening up to new things, and in the bargain, we started understanding that India was a part of the world, a bigger picture. We saw the change from black-and-white television to colour TV; we saw new things coming into the country. Growing up was fun and different. We had a community-living lifestyle with lots of friends. We enjoyed all festivals, and safety and security was not as much of an issue then. Besides, there was no pressure of studying--no expectation from us.
I followed my heart and did things the way I wanted.
Our family hails from Bijnor, a small town in Uttar Pradesh. It was a village once, and we were the only ones who came to Delhi. So all our relatives visited us often. We had an open house; there was never the concept of “my room”. We were always open to sharing, and learnt to interact with a lot of people.
This made me learn how to take care of people. It made me more responsible, confident and eventualy helped make me a good team leader. My family was progressive enough to understand that education is important; but I pursued this not with the aim of doing a 9-to-5 job. My idea was to do something different.
After marriage, I moved to Ghaziabad, and for a girl moving from a bigger city to a smaller one, getting bored was natural. At a chance meeting, the director of a management institute suggested that I apply to teach. I discovered the term .management education'. This was a new space at the time. That meeting changed things.
My first teaching experience
I went for the first seminar to try things out, and dicovered that the ‘real’ teachers hadn’t turned up. There were 100 students waiting and I was about to conduct a seminar for the first time, alone. I did it, I don’t know how, but it clicked. The students almost gave me a standing ovation, and I have never looked back.
I joined the institute as a trainee faculty, at what was offered--Rs 4000 per month. When my father heard about it, he said, “Will you work so hard for so little?” However, my husband and father-in-law said, “Go for it, no point sitting at home.” Today, my father is proud I have done my PhD, and he looks at me differently.
It was a good start, or maybe it was destined. I worked at IMS, Noida and ABES IT Group of Institutions among others. I loved what I was doing, and I continued. Over time, from being a faculty member, I became an administrator. Whatever position I hold, I will always love to teach, meet faculty, staff, the academic board and other stakeholders.
A part of my day is spent in analysing social platforms, staying informed and relevant. I am also a regular contributor on Quora. I think I am one of the most-read facultes who answers questions on MBA in Marketing!
The Sunstone Story
I am currently working as Director (Academics), Sunstone Eduversity. At Sunstone, one of our challenges is getting corporates to interact with students. The other common challenge is attracting good talent. We try to seek out corporates, so they can come talk to the students, but most of them don’t prioritise this. Convincing them that taking time away from work to do this is a great idea, is a big thing. Continuing their participation is a challenge.
We don’t charge any fees at the beginning of the session.
The students pay later, wherever and whenever they are placed. Only a nominal registration amount is taken--it is an anchor amount, and no fee is charged till after two years. That said, we aren't a charity. We have developed a revenue model. Students pay back 10 times their monthly package once they start earning. If we can’t place them, we don’t charge. It is a challenge to convince students that this is not a scam!
The real transformation is when we see socially or economically poor parents, who are drivers, or farmers, etc, wanting see their child grow into an educated young professional. Students ask different questions everyday; this is what makes my passion grow. I feel young when I am among them.
Where there is a will there is a way - my message to everyone.
There will be moments when your family will need you, and you will question yourself as to why you are working so hard. You will be tempted to stop working. I took a two-year career break, and put family first, but I just knew I could never look away from my career.
Solve problems one-by-one, every day.
I say nothing is impossible; if you keep putting in ‘hard work’ and ‘heart work’, opportunities will automatically come to you. Women who are at home should just reach out. A few of my friends who have done MBA along with me, but chose to be with the family as opposed to a full-time career at that point; they had demoted themselves. I try to give them options, but there is a loss of confidence. I feel for them. I suggest SHEROES.in to so many of my friends--there are opportunities galore. Women have skills, they have done an MBA, but for many of them, the initiative got lost along the way.
Everyone must do something, even if it is small; add to your confidence slowly. There are so many opportunities--you just need to come out of your shell.