Previous Occupation: Manager, Marketing – Bharti Airtel Limited
Present Occupation: Strategic Planner, Marketing, Studios – Disney UTV
Sector: Media & Entertainment
Work Experience: Five and a half years
Interests – Professional/ Personal:

Professional: My interests pan across the diverse sectors that I’ve worked in - M&E, Telecom and Technology.
Personal: Travelling, food, dance, writing, films and theatre.

Can you tell us a little about your family background/ history?
During my childhood, I moved across cities and studied at multiple schools, by virtue of the opportunities my father pursued in the power, steel and automotive sectors. My mother’s a primary school teacher. My sister and her husband are currently at ISB with their two children, as my brother-in-law is pursuing a second MBA. My husband is an ad filmmaker and we currently live in Mumbai.

Briefly describe your personal and professional achievements (including recent awards/ special projects).
I was a gold medallist in the engineering department at university (VTU). Pre-ISB, I also worked as a radio jockey with Worldspace satellite radio for nearly four and a half years while studying and working.

Tell us about your profile pre-ISB,  and recap your professional life after ISB, including your career progression.
Post-engineering and pre-ISB, I worked in a sales and business development role at National Instruments (NI), a technology company. I started there as a technical consultant and was promoted to manage the customer education and services business for NI, India.

Post-ISB, I joined the Young Leader Programme (YLP) at Bharti Airtel Limited and spent time across different lines of businesses, roles and cities. After an intensive sales stint, my last role was managing the U&R (usage and retention) piece of marketing for postpaid customers in the Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa circles. One of my most memorable stints was one where I worked with a school run by the Bharti Foundation at a small village in Punjab to help increase enrollments and improve retention of students and teachers as well as the overall operations of the school.

I moved to Disney UTV a little over a year ago as part of the domestic marketing team for the Studios business and it has been quite a journey. I work on strategy for marketing of all the films on the slate. A recent addition has been marketing products from the gaming and interactive business of the company.

Describe your fondest memory of ISB.
It’s difficult to single out one among all the memorable times spent in the classroom and outside - making friends, idling (and the occasional intense discussion) over Goel breakfast, endless cups of chai with quaddies overlooking the mini golf course and the peacocks, radio club midnight recordings - the list goes on. An event I fondly recall is being the moderator for the panel discussion at the Media Conclave – the experience was both nerve-wracking and exhilarating.

In your personal life, how have you changed post-ISB? Do you see yourself doing something differently because you went to ISB? What has left a lasting impression?
ISB transforms you in more ways than you imagine. The nature of the course itself is an endurance test, and the one year really toughened me so much so that what may have intimidated me earlier, I am now so much more confident of attempting. I learnt that learning never stops, and I now constantly seek ways to do so. I don’t think I will ever have another opportunity to meet 570 such diverse individuals.

How do you think ISB has contributed to your career growth?
In a more tangible way, I switched industries and job functions. I also landed my second job post-ISB through a batchmate. This, I believe, is a continual process, and for me, it is more about how ISB will continue to contribute to my career growth in obvious and not-so-obvious ways.

If you have to sum up ISB in one word:
Exceptional. 

What was the main highlight of your programme at the ISB?
The overall quality of education. The professors who taught me are truly world-class!

Word of advice for the current class?
Relax, breathe, wonder, make friends, learn new things, try soaking in as much as you can and remember to enjoy your time at ISB. And all that’s possible only if one’s not constantly worrying about “the job.” That will come, irrespective; only the effort may vary.

What was your favourite course/ class at ISB and why?
Competitive Strategy by Professor Prashant Kale. His energy in class is quite unmatched and he really has a way of keeping everyone in the class on their toes!

What are the areas in which you can contribute to ISB?
I would love to contribute in any way I can, be it alumni mentoring, the admissions process, or alumni chapters.

What do you enjoy most about your current career position?
Working with Disney is like a dream come true. I love that there’s never a dull moment in film marketing and one can quickly move from one project to another. I work on strategy for every department within the marketing team, and in the process, I’ve been learning the ropes of every function. 

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