Friday, July 8, 2016

The journey of Saudamini Joshi from a not-so-clear young girl to a confident young lady who knows where she has to go!




In a long-distance tête-à-tête, this young girl, my student back then, shares her journey with us – from a not-so-sure-about-which-stream to-take-kinda-girl to showing off her convo cap for earning a Master’s in Management from New York University, she has come a long way! Do read. You will know what it takes to dream and make that dream, real! 



Why did you decide to study management after mass communication?
I always planned to go for an MBA at some point in my life. I appeared for entrance exams for B-schools in India. I got through in Welingkar and KJ Somaiyya. When it was time to decide which one to choose, a little voice in my head said you should go for your Masters abroad. So I decided to give it a try. I scored really well on my GMAT. With my essays and good recommendation letters I got into NYU for the Integrated Marketing program. One semester into it I realized that the Management course would open more avenues for me so I transferred to that course in Spring 2015.
Don’t tell me, Sau. You were confused even there? Wow! J

Was it difficult to decide about studying abroad?
I wouldn't say it was difficult. I had my idols: my cousins who are doing extremely well in their careers here in the US. With the never ending support from my parents, it was an easy decision.
Was it difficult preparing for NYU? How did you prepare?
The GMAT part was moderately easy for me since I always had a quantitative aptitude and a flair for the English language. Very honestly, I prepared for GMAT in two weeks since my schedule at my then workplace was quite hectic. I treated the official GMAT guide as my bible. I solved it once and was good to go. TOEFL didn't need any prep at all.
What gave you the confidence?
I would say my parents' belief in me, and honest and focused efforts.

How did you fit in? At NYU? What overwhelmed you? How did you manage?
One thing about NYU and New York in general is that anybody would fit right in. They say that this city celebrates the different side of you. The first couple of weeks challenged all of the newbies like me as we were unaware of the subway system. We ended up taking the wrong trains and missing our stops a couple of times. But once I got a hang of it, I could comfortably leave my apartment with just my phone, metrocard, and debit card. At NYU, my first semester was very interesting because my peers came from various countries and cultures. When I transferred to the school of engineering in the second semester, the diversity in the classroom was way less as the class was mostly comprised of Indian and Chinese students since these are the countries that most engineers here come from. The system of studying, completing assignments, and grading here are way different than how they are back home. Also, here we needed to take responsibility of everything right from cooking to household chores - something that we didn't need to worry about before. I think it helped all of us grow up a little and appreciate every tiny thing that our parents did for us.

What do you plan to do now?
I am looking for a job in business intelligence and analytics

What did you graduate in before mass communication?
I did my Bachelors in Engineering.
Wow! You really are educated in all streams, Sau!

What is your personal philosophy?
Always think about 'what could be' rather than 'what could have been',

What is your professional philosophy?
Never stop learning and exploring. Getting too comfortable at doing what you're doing is a sign to look for the next challenge.

Who is your role model?
My first boss - Ms. Radhika Akolkar. She is the perfect combination of a leader and a team player. Assertive, yet polite, she has a personality that commands respect. I have seen her balance work and personal life in an impeccable way. I aspire to be like her one day.
If there was anything you could change about yourself before you took this course, what would it be?
Get more comfortable with concepts of statistics and practice coding. If I had done that I would've needed less time to get used to it and definitely have been even more productive.

Did I not tell you, that this young lady here has a pretty and sorted head sitting on her young shoulders? For those who don’t know, during her Mass Comm, where I taught her, she also was contemplating doing copywriting; even then I remember I had advised her to take up ‘brand/account planning’. She has made the right choice today and what a choice! 

Congratulations, my dear young lady. May you go on to create success and happiness wherever you go. And a few broken glass ceilings too, if I may add!


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