How did you enter the world of personality development and soft skills training?
I got an opportunity to substitute for a lecturer of the house-keeping department in a hotel management college. After a few days, when the principal considered that I have many years of corporate industry exposure, he asked if I could tip the students on how to face interviews since I must have faced many.
It has been more than 16 years now, since that opportunity came to me. During these years I developed a programme which is popular and much in-demand today.
An international publishing house, Pearson, has commissioned and published my book based on this programme which sold-out within four months of release India-wide. I am so glad I chose to step into the new door that opened for me.
Is your business a work-from-home platform? What is your business structure?
My work is multi-platform. I run the programme in colleges, I go to schools to counsel senior school students, I have corporate training programmes in offices on business English, and business etiquettes, etc. I conduct staff training for customer service, and handling personnel. I also have my own private classes and counselling programmes where students, working professionals, children, parents, housewives etc. come for learning and training and/or English language enhancement. The end aim is to have a polished personality.
All this needs planning and time-management considering the fact that I have a family including two minor children. But the good point is that my timings are fluid and I can take on only as much as I want to do on any given day, unless of course my trainees are going through a critical time like maybe a campus recruitment drive.
Why are soft skills and personality development training important in today’s time?
Earlier not many people went in for higher or technical or professional education. But now everyone is a graduate or a post graduate, and this increases the competition for jobs. To cultivate that winning personality that grabs the job, training has become crucial.
What other courses would you like to introduce in the future?
Instead of adding more and newer courses, I wish to expand the issues I cover in my existing ones. There are certain essential life skills that young people lack now-a-days. Because of these competitive and distraction-rich times, they are unable to learn them.
I do hope to soon start with a trainer training programme. To be a trainer is an excellent career option, especially for women, and trainers are always in demand. In fact I have had feedback from a few women, who have become trainers after reading my book, as it is very complete, comprehensive and to the point.
As an author, how do you describe yourself?
My book, ‘I’m Not Afraid of GDPI!’ published by Pearson came about because I was putting my 16 years worth of notes together in one place. So, I didn’t really write that book. I just compiled everything and that itself was enough and acceptable by the merit of the quality of content. But now, I am consciously working on two more books and it is their success that will truly define me as a writer.
Several women like to write. But they find it tough to pen their stories or thoughts. How would you motivate them?
The primary value here is to be true to yourself. Don’t think you are writing for an audience and what would they like to read, how should it be written to impress them, what styles are currently in trend, what genres of books have a market etc. Write what you want to write, how you want to write it. If you are not true to your own creation you can’t expect anyone else to see beauty in it.
