Shreya Krishnan - MD - India | AnitaB.org

My Journey While Moving Ahead In My Career: 

I had started my corporate career as a journalist for Hindu back in 2006. My job was indeed very different from any usual run-on-the-mill corporate setup but that in an way helped me land into writing, as a freelancer. From there I joined an MNC, managing their corporate communications and marketing functions.

Not long from there I started to head the assignment. Although I was the youngest in the block yet I had this strong believe in how a role is a role and is never going to be confined to ones age or gender or anything else for that matter. An early exposure to management indeed taught me a lot of things and later gave me an entire world of industries and work challenges to play with. I explored various opportunities and tracks to gain more experience.

Challenges Faced: 

I’d say that the biggest challenge I faced during my career escalation was the fact that I felt like I was not being taken as seriously as I would like to have, simply because my age was a factor. Gender also plays a big role when you want to scale up the ladder or you talk about management- as a woman who is assertive, opinionated, who chooses to speak her mind, you often come across people who are intimidated or just not comfortable.

Then again it’s only fair for a strong women to be able to deal with it, to make it work and to move ahead so that everybody else can follow smooth with the benefits of having a strong senior woman leader nurturing these organizations.

The Turning Point in Life:

I think the turning point in my career has more to do with my personal life then my professional life. I think becoming a mother is one turning point for most people in their journeys of life. This stage changes most of what you do, who you are and how things go about based on this one new person in your life who you are responsible for.

For me, my child crafted the fate of my career in some form. I want her to see independent, free thinking, honest women actually going out there and getting what they want and yet finding the strength and the courage to fight back against odds. So I think this was the turning point of my life.

Words Of Wisdom To Restart Your Career: 

I would talk about Equity. You need 50-50 equity at home, at the workplace and you need to be able to stand up and be that voice that can be heard. So it’s important for women to take that into their own hands-Just do it like you own it and love it.

No journey is joyous from the start to end. And if it is- you will never really understand the value of joy when it comes to you. Life indeed throws a lot of challenges and we do not have a control over this- but what we can certainly control is how we react to those challenges. So it is wise for us to take moments to reflect on ourselves, self assess and figure out what we really want or ought to do.