Avidha Mitra – The little girl from Indira School of Communication is now fast rising
to be an accolade-winning copywriter in the Mecca of Advertising in India,
Mumbai. I remember the Avidha of 8 years back, a simple girl, mischievous, fun girl,
yet one who loved what she was studying – Mass Communication. She had told me once - She
wanted to become an ideator. I had told her in no uncertain terms that our
industry has no such 'ear marked' role of an ideator. I had said that you could
either be a copywriter or an art person, who could also ideate. Art required a
specific degree in art, which she did not have and for copywriting, it required
different skill sets. She took the feedback on her chin but kept marching ahead
in search of her dream. Next is I know that she has joined an agency in Mumbai
as a Copywriter. Wow!
Our little bundle of fun would now leave no
stone unturned to fulfill her dreams, now that she had got a foot in the door,
I thought. And she did. She ideated very well, as she always did, wrote well
and kept moving ahead conquering one milestone after another.
Here’s a little chat I had with her a few days
ago, reproduced below with #nofilter
“Frankly, I never knew my
passion lay in writing. Though as a kid I was fascinated about ideating things
and probably had a passion for writing, but again, never knew it. When I was
standing on the threshold of my career, lost and confused, there was one
friend-philosopher-guide who helped me take my decision – Sonali Ma’am.
I worked as a junior copywriter
in a Mumbai-based advertising agency, The Code. I used to write for print advertisements and radio jingles. It wasn’t easy
getting in though. Absolutely not. The industry was tough and to make an entry
I made myself work hard, very hard. Right now, I am working at Shreyansh
Innovation as a Sr. Copywriter and Creative Supervisor.
I got my first accolade at Engage
Digital Summit 2016. I participated in a social campaign #TheFagEnd,
which was ran by CK Birla Hospital. Among thousands of entries my entry got
selected and also the campaign bagged the award of Best Practices Use of Social
Media, 2016.
My dream role is to be a
Creative Director in a renowned advertising firm like JWT or Ogilvy &
Mather. My mantra is ‘Think out of the box, not out of the frame’. I would like
to tell the current students to be proactive and spontaneous, as much as you
can. Also, that they should look for good mentors. Mentors should ideally be spontaneous,
less strict, friendlier and someone who allow the student to think as they like
to. Along the journey, I had many good mentors. Like Sonali Brahma Ma’am, who guided
me on the right path, and most importantly at the right time. She’s the first
and only one who believed in me. I am grateful to her and will always be.”
Avidha, my best wishes are always with you!
