As part of our relentless efforts to identify and share some of the meaningful stories from India and around the world, this week we invited yet another passionate women entrepreneur and coach Archana Dahiya Prashar for an interview with BrilliantRead Media. Archana is a Mentor, Coach, Image Consultant, Child Psychologist and Founder of Balance – Be Your Own Brand. Let’s read more about her inspiring journey, her background and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Archana:
Talk us through your background and your journey so far, please.
With an experience of over 20 years in the field of Human Resource (HR), I am a firm believer in multi-facet development. Being an avid traveller, gave me the instinct to learn to balance.
Brought up in an army household, transit and transfers was a constant feature of my advancing years, teaching me to adapt and stabilize.”
I have done my Bachelors in Economics and Sales and Advertising and possess a Post Graduate Diploma in Management, Human Resource from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune. I am a certified Soft Skills Trainer and an Image Consultant. I am a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Coach, a certified Counselor, and a child psychologist.
I believe in “Give the world the best you have, and the best will come back to you.”
Tell us more about yourself and your passion project, your contribution to the world.
I am a Personal Branding Expert with vast experience in enabling men and women in leadership positions to become accomplished communicators, acquire etiquette and build a positive image of themselves so that they get empowered with tools that maximize their image and brand for personal and professional success.
I do this by empowering them with their appearance, conduct & behaviour.”
I attribute myself as an authentic, reliable, ethical and an emulous woman. The principle that I live by is “Happiness is Homemade” which transitions to my workspace as an Image Consultant.
My passion project “Balance – Be your Own Brand”, is a go to place that helps individuals explore their potential. My happiness solutions use positivity and self-belief to create an impactful story.”
“Balance”, focuses on sustainable growth year after year by empowering every individual and organization for bringing about a positive behavioural change for better Nation Building. A confident and happy citizen would be the key to a powerful nation.
What made you passionate about beginning a career as an “Image and Lifestyle Coach”?
We all have unique gifts. Some are natural athletes, musicians, mathematicians, leaders etc.
For me, I realised my unique gift when I connected with my inner wisdom, strength and intuition.”
I realised that I had this unique gift of connecting with people and what was most important was while working with people and guiding them to become better versions of themselves – gave me a sense of satisfaction.
Being from the Army background, I have had a lifelong learning opportunity of various social skills, public speaking skills and etiquette as a way of life and sharing my skill sets with the world being a Coach was the best thing I could think of!
That is when I realised that this is my calling and I took this ahead by wearing the hat of an Image and Lifestyle Coach.
What makes you different from the other Image & Lifestyle Coaches/Consultants?
I am no different from the others. All of us have something in us that is better than the other.
However, what makes me unique is:
> My personality and positive attitude towards everything I do.
> I am stubborn, I never give up!
> My infectious smile.
> I am empathetic.
> My ability to set goals and meet them.
What are the benefits you are enjoying being your own boss?
Being my own boss, I make the rules, command myself and all the instructions are followed as I am the 1 man army! So whatever, I delegate to myself is taken care of and I don’t need to follow up with different people as I’m taking care of most of my jobs.
I have extreme freedom and my schedules are planned. I plan my timings, manage my work in a way that I have personal life as well as professional. I feel the sense of freedom that comes with being your own boss is something you can’t achieve while you’re working with somebody as you always have to make adjustments to your personal requirements as well.”
Nevertheless, I am not saying in any way that working with somebody is undermining working under somebody. But the freedom that comes with being your own boss and working independently has its pros.
‘Happiness is Homemade’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving.
I am a love addict and a staunch optimist. Mother to a 14-year-old girl, “HAPPINESS IS HOMEMADE” is my mantra. I believe in myself, and my loved ones are the greatest source of joy, the only doorway to substantive and lasting happiness.
Being a people’s person and a Humanitarian by nature, I firmly believe that each one of us possess the power and ability to create, upload and uplift a Happy ME.
Being a believer of “Happiness is Homemade” my mission is to inspire and educate youth, parents, women, couples to set personal and professional objectives through guidance and awareness towards creating Self Happiness. We ourselves are responsible for making our own happiness rather than depending on others to make us happy.
“Happiness comes from within”. The mission of Happiness is Homemade:
1) To make and accept change by educating and inspiring and to help one create and spread one’s own happiness.
2) Aspire to inspire each one to love and live a meaningful life by adding value to others – that is authentic happiness.
3) Help people move forward and set personal and professional goals by training and through guidance.
You are the focus of your life. So, aim at Homemade:
(a) Homemade food
(b) Homemade friends
(c) Homemade workouts
(d) Homemade meditation
(e) Homemade gratitude
(f) Homemade respect for self
(g) Homemade love
(i) Homemade thoughts
(j) Homemade satisfaction
How does your passion project “Balance-be your own Brand” help individuals/organizations?
Balance is like a one-stop shop that brings out the best for you. From soft skills to human resource management and image building, we aim at the development of both – individuals and industries. Balance believes in positive and fruitful nation-building. Balance assists you to enhance and chisel your ideas.
It broadens your horizons in the field of soft skills, human resource management, image building and much more. Balance cultivates the idea of ‘happiness is homemade.’
You being the present and the future, and someone to whom the future generation will look up to – we help you build an empire of examples by sculpting your life that makes an impactful story.
You are a child psychologist, how has it been advantageous to blend this qualification with image and soft skills training?
Children are the most truthful humans you can ever come across. With adults you can gauge what’s going to come next – you can probably understand appearance, body language – what the other person is trying to do or not do and you can guide them accordingly.
With a child, you can’t gauge anything. It’s spontaneous. It is something you cannot plan fully, so when guiding a young adult you have to come up with an open mind and learn to accept their different thoughts.
With children, you learn to accept things in a different way – in a very imaginative way, which adults forget to do along the line.”
So how does my work blend in?
So children give me the fulfilment of making a better future for humans as they are the future of us.
In the end, I’m already helping adults build their personal branding through image management consultations and besides that I’m creating mini-adults who are going to be in that space later on.
What drives you to keep going?
I believe the most significant aspect of life is in the “Relationships” we build – be it personally or professionally. I come from a place of unconditional positive regard for human potential.
My belief is, that every person is deserving of living an authentic life, capable of discovering one’s true purpose and aligning it with a passion to maximize his/her potential.
As a woman, I believe that every woman is Unique- like a finger point with infinite potential to do what she wants. Within her lies the unlimited capacity not just to love, nourish, birth, nurture and give, but to achieve and win.
Being a dynamic, competent, confident and a grounded person, I believe that one needs to constantly explore new possibilities and learn and feel enriched all through life.
So, a constant dose of learning new skills drives me to move forward every single day.
What’s your vision and where do you see yourself in the next 5 years from now?
It would be too cliche for me to say that I want myself to be successful, doing so many things etc etc
Yes, all of those and apart from all of those things, I would like to be a person who adds value to people’s lives. I want to be a person who changes people’s lives for a better future for them and a better present. I would like to be a person who gives people a vision which is positive, which is evolving and which helps them become better human beings.
So, I just don’t want people who I work with or guide, only become better financially but also become better, positive and optimistic humans.
So whatever I do, my endeavour would be to turn out every person I interact with to be a positive and an evolved human being.
What are you in pursuit of and how will you accomplish the same?
I aspire to inspire the potential to flourish and thrive to be their best version by empowering them with their appearance, conduct & behaviour.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
(i) Having a winner’s mindset
(ii) Ability to set goals and meet them
(iii) Positive attitude
(iv) Ability to love who I am and be 100 per cent confident about my abilities.
(v) Taking life at my own clock
(vi) Focus on doing one thing at a time
(vii) Taking accountability
(viii)Learning from my mistakes
(ix) Prioritize
(x) Celebrating my achievements
(xi) Updating my skill sets
(xii) Maintain a Journal
What is your definition of success?
My definition of success is when my consciousness agrees with the time, effort, money and emotions spent on achieving the goal till the end of it and allows me to sleep peacefully at night.
Being such a successful Coach and being a mother, how did this idea come up to participate in Mrs India?
Firstly, age is just a number for me!
Going forward, I believe, sometimes in life, you reach a stage where you have accomplished a certain stage. So, for me, life is all about taking chances and making changes. Hence, this was merely a chance to make a change.
Also, any transition is easier if you believe in yourself and your talent.
So, I take life at my own clock and celebrate my uniqueness.
Do you have a hidden talent?
I can be on my own for days together.
I love my own company and as very rightly said by Mr Modi, I am “Atma Nirbhar.”
How do you turn negatives into positives?
I follow a simple recipe of 3 C’s to turn my Negative thoughts into Positive❗️
3 C’s are:
~ Catch the thought
~ Check the thought
~ Change the thought
Tell us more about your hobbies and interests?
When keeping my work mode at rest, I indulge myself in an array of activities. I am a closet painter, traveller, fitness enthusiast, avid reader, dancer and an absolute beach lover. But most of all I love to spend quality time being a wife and a mother to a young adult, my daughter, Naisha.
How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Unafraid, Rare and Happyologist
What has been your greatest accomplishment?
My ability to be happy about nothing in particular.
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
1 – Discipline
2 – Authenticity
3 – Reliability
4 – Consistency
5 – Confidence
6 – Determination
7 – Passion
8 – Open-mindedness
9 – Commitment
If you could get one message out to the world, what would it be?
“Loving yourself is the Greatest Revolution.”
What is the motto of your ‘Life Skills’ and ‘Coaching’?
Life is a one-time offer; use it well by creating a lasting first impression.
Empowering people with tools to move from Transition to Transformation is the motto of my life skills and coaching.
As a life coach, I believe in making an individual more relevant, effective and impactful, both at personal and professional levels.
I help people in building their credibility.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
