Ladyspeak: Saundarya Rajesh is the Chief Executive of Avtar Career Creators, Chennai.

AFTER completing my graduation in Literature I applied for my MBA as my father advised recognising my potential. It took me a bit of time to adjust to the world of numbers and statistics and move away from the dreamy world of English language. I met my husband during my MBA program, he was my classmate and along with a group of friends we used to go for inter-collegiate competitions all over India. This gave me a lot of exposure to the outside world and helped me network with professionals from around the country.

I was with Citibank for three years and was made responsible for taking care of the customer satisfaction and dealership management and it involved a lot of soft selling and follow up work. By the end of this three-year period my first daughter was born and I was very clear that as a mother I wouldn't be able to put in the number of hours as before.

At the same time I didn't want to be completely cut off from the corporate world so I started taking up freelance projects of different kinds and completed with the help of my husband. During this I also completed my MA and also got my teaching certificate from UGC. It so happened that at that time a local college was looking for lecturers for their MBA department. I made it very clear to them that I would be able to come only for part time to which they agreed as they were mainly looking for practising managers to interact with the students about the industry scenario.

I was encouraged by the department head to innovate my own teaching methods and this is one job where the development of the student greatly motivates you to work harder. Meanwhile I was contacted by a local personnel consulting agency whose ow ners were abroad and they wanted me to take it over and if possible turn it around. They gave me complete control and also warned that I won't be getting any assistance from them since they will be placed out of India. One thing that I made very clear to them is that I should have flexible timings since I had two children to look after.

In this job I learnt the art of networking and introduced the corporates to the academic segment where they interacted with the colleges which was a reservoir of talent and potential.

Some time last year I came down with a severe voice problem and I was unable to talk for some time and the doctors warned me that there was a threat of losing my voice. This illness put everything in perspective and I started thinking whether I should continue working or take a break. And by this time the agency had seen exponential growth in their billings and had become a very strong player in the market. So I left the organisation and with a bit of rest and recuperation I gotcured.

After sometime my team at my previous place of employment felt that we could all start something together since we had such a good rapport and enthusiasm. It was actually my husband's suggestion that we start an agency that not only just deals with recruitment but also offers dynamic career solutions and training and development programs for colleges.

So we set up Avtar career creators which is the placement agency and Triple Eye is the training division.

Through my journey from being an employee, to a teacher to an entrepreneur I have learnt that if you have the drive and vision to accomplish something then you succeed in life. It is also imperative that one has the backing of the family because without their support things would be impossible to accomplish.

In fact for my venture even my mother-in-law has given me part of the investment capital. My husband has always supported me throughout my career. He is a very enabling person he encourages me to realise my potential and forge ahead in my career.

MALINI SURYANARAYANAN

maalini.mds@cxknetworks.com