In mid 1998 I had joined a vernacular daily based out of Madhya Pradesh, as a resident sales executive in Ahmedabad. Post MBA, this was my first job. As a trainee I was recruited at a salary not worthy of mentioning here. It was my first week in the office, and I was required to pick up my director from the airport and take him to a prominent communications school of Ahmedabad. He was invited by the institute to deliver a lecture on the success story of the newspaper launch in the neighbouring state. 

For a novice and non-entity sharing a dias with my director, I went through mixed emotions. This was a time when power points hadn’t conquered the boardrooms and professionals relied on slide presentations - which were transparencies projected on the screen through a slider. My role was to ensure that the slides were kept in the right order. I had no role in the razzmatazz of the presentation which made me feel small and irrelevant. At the same time, it ignited a fire in me and took my aspirations to new high. Now I wanted to be in the boardrooms of these schools, delivering sessions on my entrepreneurial journey.

Finally, I was invited on 1st October 2019 to be a speaker at #IIMA in The Red Brick Summit, prior to this I had the opportunity to take guest sessions at the #IIMA couple of times and I was also a speaker at their MDP Program. 

But #TRBS experience gave me a new kick as I was on the same platform where many thought leaders and successful entrepreneurs delivered their ideas in the past. And it also made me realise that if you aspire high you achieve new heights. Keep your aspirations high in life and strive hard and you would conquer.