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1. Tell us more about your role & your responsibilities at your college.
I have always been a very inquisitive girl who loves trying new things. This has led me to try my hand at various activities and societies in college. I am in the core team of India’s first student-run Production House and am instrumental in its content creation and marketing. I was a regional finalist in RedBull’s global competition surrounding adventure sports, filmmaking, and marketing, called ‘Can You Make It?’. I was also in the global top 20 for one of the most prestigious case competitions organized by Copenhagen Business School.
On a collegiate level, I have been associated with Enactus, SSCBS. I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur and Enactus gave me the wonderful opportunity of exploring the field better. My drive for entrepreneurship also made me join Delhi University’s chapter of Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organisation. As a part of The Debating Society of our college I have strived towards honing my critical and logical thinking skills. I am also a correspondent in CBS Post, our college’s official newsletter.
Apart from learning essential skills and gaining hands-on experience, being a part of such different and prestigious organizations has helped me strengthen and diversify my network.
2. What is it like to juggle between a leadership role and a normal college life?
For me leadership roles and college life have never been two separate things.
In SSCBS, I feel inspired by looking at how beautifully our seniors manage their time and efforts between rigid attendance criteria and impossible to meet societal deadlines. When you are surrounded by equally driven people who work tirelessly to excel not just in academics but a plethora of extracurriculars as well, you can’t help feeling inspired.We have sort of acclimatized to living with both academic and societal pressure. However even then, if sometimes things get overwhelming, the most effective balm is a call to your loved ones. Whenever I feel strained, I simply call my best friends or my father and later journal my thoughts. There is nothing that emotional support and an honest journal with a warm cup of chai can’t solve.
As far as influence is concerned, I have never tried influencing others per se, I try instead to concentrate my efforts in being the best version of myself. And in the process if I am able to inspire someone else to do the same, that is the icing on the cake.
3. How did you rise up to your position and how can a student aspire the same approach it?
I personally believe more than one’s static positions and status, it is the dynamic journey that should be striven for. In order to create a meaningful journey, just use your brain to effectively follow your heart.
In college we are bound to feel demotivated by seeing so many people do so many things so well. Try not to compare your journeys with others, I know it is easier said than done but the comparison is something we should consciously avoid. There is a hairline difference between feeling motivated through healthy competition and developing inferiority complex through comparison. Focus on yourself and never feel intimidated by or inferior to anyone. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Just believe in yourself and always give everything you do your hundred percent effort. Leave no room for insecurities and regrets.
READ and LEARN, INTERACT, and PARTICIPATE (RIP) as much as you can, you will be unstoppable.
4. What have been some of your biggest challenges? How did you overcome it and what have you learned from it?
The biggest challenges we face are our internal ones without any doubt.
I personally have had a really tumultuous journey with everyone questioning my decisions, feeling left out, and depressed. There have been times when I have questioned my own abilities and talents.
It is not those times that matter, what matters is overcoming them. In the worst of times when even you cannot believe in yourself and feel like giving up, always think about your parents and your crazily driven younger self who would never give up on you.
All the challenges I have faced have taught me the importance of emotional strength and support. The only thing that keeps me going through the worst of times is imagining how happy and proud my parents and inner self will be once I overcome this challenge.
As long as you are rooted to your values and upbringing, and your internal guard of strong will and self-belief is well-built, no one and nothing can bring you down, gravity being the only exception :p
5. What are your career goals and how is what you are doing going to help you with that?
Even before I knew of the term ‘entrepreneur’, I have wanted to be one. Ever since I was an 8-year-old girl I have been trying my hand (un)successfully at numerous entrepreneurial ventures. In fact I am currently working on a social entrepreneurship project which will be launching soon.
The college and societies I am in have helped enormously. The exposure, the guidance, the skill sets you acquire, the people, the atmosphere, all of it has been instrumental. The key to achieving career goals is surrounding yourself with the right people and LEARNING. I cannot emphasize enough on the importance of reading and learning new skills. We live in an extremely dynamic and digitized world and hence it is imperative we keep reading and learning new things to prevent ourselves from turning ancient and forgettable.
6. What is your message to encourage students to do internships and attend conferences?
‘College time is the best time of your life’, this saying is contingent on your efforts. The number of opportunities you have right now won’t ever come knocking your doors again. Now is the time for you to learn and grasp as much as you can. Do internships, attend conferences, participate in competitions, trust me you will see massive growth in yourself. Do not let go of the only chances of exponential growth you will ever get. Make the most of it, you will thank yourself later.
- Tvisha Tuli from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies
- Interviewed by Agatha Coutinho
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