MY STORY
My Story
From a childhood spent moving from one city to another every couple of years as the child of a doctor in the Indian Army, to spending my youth living across 3 countries in 3 continents, to now being happily settled in the Maximum City of Mumbai, my journey has been filled with joy, success, self-doubt, struggle and triumph.
Born in the picturesque small city of Dehradun in the foothills of Himalayas, I did my schooling across many small and big cities of North India. After graduating from the prestigious University of Delhi, the urge to see a different part of the country led me to choose to do my Masters in Business Administration from the educational hub of West India – Pune. I spent 2 wonderful years in Pune learning management concepts, making friends, living independently for the 1st time in my life. And then Fortune smiled and decided I needed to return to north India and lo and behold, I got placed from campus and started my 1st job being back in the city of New Delhi. I loved being in the hospitality industry and learnt tremendously during my stint in the Corporate HR function of the Oberoi Group of Hotels.
From Delhi I moved to the megapolis of Mumbai, and professionally in this role, I headed the HR function for the Mumbai operations of a UK based, IT strategy consulting company. I got an opportunity to work at our Head Office in London for a couple of months and that was my 1st real exposure to working with a multinational workforce and that’s also when the travel bug bit. So, my husband and I moved to Dubai, UAE. Here, I performed a dual role in my work – being responsible for the Talent & Performance Management processes at the Head Office as well as being the HR Business partner for the Retail division of UAE’s leading retailer for technology products, Jumbo Electronics.
From Delhi I moved to the megapolis of Mumbai, and professionally in this role, I headed the HR function for the Mumbai operations of a UK based, IT strategy consulting company. I got an opportunity to work at our Head Office in London for a couple of months and that was my 1st real exposure to working with a multinational workforce and that’s also when the travel bug bit. So, my husband and I moved to Dubai, UAE. Here, I performed a dual role in my work – being responsible for the Talent & Performance Management processes at the Head Office as well as being the HR Business partner for the Retail division of UAE’s leading retailer for technology products, Jumbo Electronics.
The desire to explore and learn about new cultures continued to drive us and as a family we then relocated to the beautiful beach city of Mombasa, the 2nd largest city in the magnificent country of Kenya. I learnt lessons in facing obstacles with grit and grace from the resilient ebullient individuals I encountered in this slice of paradise. Being in a new country, with a new-born baby, I opted to enjoy motherhood and cherished every moment of seeing my child grow.
From Kenya, we then looked westwards and an absolutely different cultural experience awaited us as we then moved to the USA. Living along the Hudson river in New Jersey, gazing at the picture-perfect Manhattan skyline from my living room window was a dream come true. Strolling down Times Square listening to a veritable explosion of multiple languages, seeing people from different nationalities co-exist peacefully made me think how the world can be a beautiful place if we can learn to appreciate and enjoy what makes us all different.
Keen to now return to our homeland, we shifted to Mumbai. Being back in familiar surroundings and with my child more grown up, I started experiencing a desire to get back to the corporate workspace. At the same time, I felt a sense of apprehension - ‘will I be able to successfully cope up with all the things that might have changed professionally’? The period that followed this questioning of myself was an uncomfortable one. On one hand, I wanted to return and be the high performing individual I used to be and I knew I still could be. On the other hand, I was plagued with self-doubt – will I be accepted, is my knowledge outdated, what if I make a mistake’. These and similar concerns kept me in a state of inertia for a while.
To shake off this feeling, I decided to look objectively on why I believed I could be successful. I reached out to ex-colleagues, bosses, friends and took feedback from them on what they perceived as my strengths and what they thought I could focus on improving. The resultant feedback took me by surprise. I discovered many hidden strengths as well as improvement opportunities. I chose to remind myself of the former to buttress my self-belief and took steps to redress the latter.
And, as the popular quote by Paulo Coelho goes “when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”, around the same time, the Tata Group launched, possibly the 1st of its kind, return-to-work programme for women returners, called the Second Career Internship Programme, SCIP. I was fortunate to be selected in the 1st few batches of SCIP, where co-incidentally and interestingly the project I was offered, was an assignment in the sector I had started my career in initially, hospitality sector.
Since then, I have not looked back. It was during my tenure with the Taj Group of Hotels that I did another self-assessment and realized that the area of human resources where I had most enjoyed working and had had maximum impact was in the space of organisation and leadership development, and that’s the area that I decided to specialise in my 2nd innings.
From Kenya, we then looked westwards and an absolutely different cultural experience awaited us as we then moved to the USA. Living along the Hudson river in New Jersey, gazing at the picture-perfect Manhattan skyline from my living room window was a dream come true. Strolling down Times Square listening to a veritable explosion of multiple languages, seeing people from different nationalities co-exist peacefully made me think how the world can be a beautiful place if we can learn to appreciate and enjoy what makes us all different.
Keen to now return to our homeland, we shifted to Mumbai. Being back in familiar surroundings and with my child more grown up, I started experiencing a desire to get back to the corporate workspace. At the same time, I felt a sense of apprehension - ‘will I be able to successfully cope up with all the things that might have changed professionally’? The period that followed this questioning of myself was an uncomfortable one. On one hand, I wanted to return and be the high performing individual I used to be and I knew I still could be. On the other hand, I was plagued with self-doubt – will I be accepted, is my knowledge outdated, what if I make a mistake’. These and similar concerns kept me in a state of inertia for a while.
To shake off this feeling, I decided to look objectively on why I believed I could be successful. I reached out to ex-colleagues, bosses, friends and took feedback from them on what they perceived as my strengths and what they thought I could focus on improving. The resultant feedback took me by surprise. I discovered many hidden strengths as well as improvement opportunities. I chose to remind myself of the former to buttress my self-belief and took steps to redress the latter.
And, as the popular quote by Paulo Coelho goes “when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”, around the same time, the Tata Group launched, possibly the 1st of its kind, return-to-work programme for women returners, called the Second Career Internship Programme, SCIP. I was fortunate to be selected in the 1st few batches of SCIP, where co-incidentally and interestingly the project I was offered, was an assignment in the sector I had started my career in initially, hospitality sector.
Since then, I have not looked back. It was during my tenure with the Taj Group of Hotels that I did another self-assessment and realized that the area of human resources where I had most enjoyed working and had had maximum impact was in the space of organisation and leadership development, and that’s the area that I decided to specialise in my 2nd innings.
Today, I am an unlocker of potential, both individual and organisational and an enhancer of performance and fulfilment.
A leadership development professional who combines expertise, experience and a passion for enabling others to be their own best versions. A strong believer in the power of self-belief, determination and optimism, I partner with my clients; to act as a catalyst for positive change.
My vision is to play a role in creating a world where people can thrive and utilize their abilities for the greater good and at the same time find joy and fulfilment whilst remaining true to who they are.
I have 19 years of in-depth multi-cultural experience in various facets of talent management and leadership development across different sectors.
I work with a diverse client base in globally leading MNC’s spanning IT, ITES, FMCG, Hospitality, Retail, Banking and Financial Services sectors – engaging with leaders at senior and middle management levels.
My client experience spans multiple geographies – India, Far East, Middle East and Europe.
A leadership development professional who combines expertise, experience and a passion for enabling others to be their own best versions. A strong believer in the power of self-belief, determination and optimism, I partner with my clients; to act as a catalyst for positive change.
My vision is to play a role in creating a world where people can thrive and utilize their abilities for the greater good and at the same time find joy and fulfilment whilst remaining true to who they are.
I have 19 years of in-depth multi-cultural experience in various facets of talent management and leadership development across different sectors.
I work with a diverse client base in globally leading MNC’s spanning IT, ITES, FMCG, Hospitality, Retail, Banking and Financial Services sectors – engaging with leaders at senior and middle management levels.
My client experience spans multiple geographies – India, Far East, Middle East and Europe.
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