At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this endeavour, we invited Lipsa Swain for an exclusive interview with us. Lipsa is a Award Winning Model, Fashion Icon, Leader, Fashion Consultant, Influencer, Content Creator and Mentor. Let’s learn more about her incredible journey, her background and her advice for our growing community.
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Lipsa:
Talk us through your background and your journey, please;
My professional journey so far has helped me gain immense knowledge across a wide variety of industry sectors, including information technology, manufacturing, retail, energy and oil and gas.
After my MBA from ICFAI Business School, Bangalore, I joined a manufacturing company as an HR Generalist. From there I moved to SAP Labs where I got into the SAP HCM system. Since I have also done BTech, I wanted to leverage on my functional as well as technical knowledge to become a Techno-Functional Consultant in SAP SuccessFactors which is a cloud-based HR platform.
Currently, I am working as a Manager in PricewaterhouseCoopers in SAP SuccessFactors implementation providing solutions to US customers.
These opportunities helped me span a wide variety of strategies and transformations in the Human Resource domain.
How did you discover your passion? What attracted you towards modelling?
It was always my dream from childhood to be a model, walk on the ramp, wear the crown and be a queen in real. This had always been my passion, but I gave priority to education, making myself financially independent, growing in my career and taking care of my family.
With all these responsibilities, my passion had taken a back seat however it’s never too late to live your dreams.”
After I achieved success in my professional life, I realised that now it is the right time to pursue my passion.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
Well, I must say that it was quite challenging to manage my work life, my family and simultaneously preparing for the beauty pageant. But I also had the benefit of being a manager. Work was hectic but at the same time, I very well knew how to manage my time between work and my passion.
Many of the learnings such as time management, leadership skills and teamwork helped me a lot throughout my journey. I had an urge for self-development and learning and always enjoyed what I did.”
This kept me going as I believe that many of life’s failure is because people do not realize how close they are to success before they give up and I never give up.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My life changed around when my pillars; my husband Biswaranjan, my son, my parents, my siblings and most importantly my in-laws gave me strong support in every step of my journey.
My husband accepted me and married me even when he knew the intricacies, he chose to be with me when others were hesitant.”
To be honest, people think I am a very stubborn person who wants to achieve everything that I desire by hook or crook.
And because of this nature, I would never listen to anyone but my husband, changed their perception of me being a stubborn person to a determined person who has got the willpower to achieve success in every step of life.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
There are a few:
> Tenacity
> Self-belief and determined
> Perseverance and Diligence
> Well-planned
> Being Compassionate
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
I would say, there are many factors but if you really must have the key elements, then to me these are the ones:
(a) Self-belief and empowerment
(b) Responsibility for my actions
(c) Standing up for myself
(d) Determined
(e) Perseverance and Diligence
(f) Positive Attitude
(g) Keep going attitude
What advice would you give to our readers and those aspiring to do something similar?
Your passion will lead you to success. Always love what you do or do what you love. Be positive, understand your self-worth and keep believing in yourself.
Never give up on your dreams because as I said earlier that many of life’s failure is because people do not realize how close they are to success before they give up.”
Keep trying hard and one day you will overcome all the challenges to achieve success. Sky is the limit so there is no end to learning. Keep learning every day and be more empowered in your professional as well as personal life.
Last but not least, what about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
When I see myself in the mirror, I see a more developed and confident woman who has inspired many other women to pursue their passion and live their dreams. Getting great compliments and recognition from family, friends and my colleagues gives me the satisfaction of winning.
My family is proud of me, and people have started addressing me as a Queen. It’s not just the crown that I have won, I have also won the faith and trust of a less privileged section of society who look up to me and expect me to do something for them. It is time to give back to society.
I was felicitated in my birthplace, Odisha for my victory and for making my state proud. Four big news channels in Odisha covered my inspiring story in an exclusive interview. My story was published on 131 digital platforms.
I am also chosen for the “Model and Influencer” award in the “I am a woman of the year” award show organized by Network Rainbow Media, Delhi and I will be receiving the award in the eve of International Women’s Day.
I have also been nominated for the “Emerging model of the year” award by Odisha Fashion Week. It gives me immense pleasure and happiness when my friends call me a celebrity.
Most importantly, you are also interviewing me to share my story which shows that I have inspired people around me which is a great achievement for me.
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.
