At BrilliantRead Media, it is our constant endeavour to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this, we invited Pamela Ray Pawar for an exclusive interview with us. She is an Entrepreneur, Leader, Coach, Mentor, and Influencer. She is the Founder of The LearnEd Academy.
Pamela works closely with her coachees right from 14-year-old college students to working professionals. She also helps women who want to return to corporates after a career break. Let’s learn more about her incredible journey, her background and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Pamela:
Could you please talk us through your background and your journey?
My growing years were in the beautiful city of Pune where I had my schooling and further education in Engineering and Business Administration in Marketing (Marketing major) from Pune University.
I worked in the branding and marketing space with multiple consumer brands for a period of 15 years in various capacities from heading the marketing team to playing consultant. Some of the companies I worked with are Borosil, Hallmark, HUL and some other big consumer brands. I also had my entrepreneurial setup in the marketing and communication space.
Since 2012 I decided to get into the coaching space and help younger people find their spark in their careers.”
I up-skilled myself in certifications in areas of Career Counselling (global), coaching ( ICF accredited coach), effective communication.
I’ve now worked with over 17000 students globally. I support them on a retrospective level and work on them to chalk out their career paths and options in keeping with their aptitude, interest, attitude, skill and personality.
How did you discover your passion as a ‘Coach’?
As I was working with my teams on various projects, I did experience personal growth and positive changes in my life. This did give me ideas like, ‘Is there a way in which I could make similar transformations for others and maybe when they are younger?’. This could help them achieve fulfilling careers and achieve their goals faster, which meant high self-awareness.
On doing further research and talking to practicing coaches (in various fields) I could see a synergy in the career requirement and my personal attributes.”
Things like active listening, connecting to people on an authentic and heart level, helping others, hunger to be a lifelong learner and interacting with a large variety of people were the natural things I always gravitated towards and I saw that a Coach needs these very skills as a basic requirement. The decision then wasn’t tough and I had the support of my family too, to make this transition.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
The happy clients, their testimonials and seeing them comfortable in their skin post my sessions. Which means the impact and clarity that my sessions would have helped them get, is one of my biggest driving forces.
I have been a curious kind of person. So I need to keep working on my overall knowledge base as I work with people (students and professionals) from various fields of work. To a large extent also working in the problem-solving space is a big motivator.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
> The feeling of personal fulfilment
> Coaches and students finding their happy spaces to progress in the careers
> Keeping myself updated with the latest concepts and technology. Most of the work is with Gen Z, Alpha, centennials and the likes. So my approaches have to be more relevant to today’s ways. Helps me maintain a realistic yet positive energy.
> The opportunities I get to upskill and grow personally. In areas like the core coaching space, as an entrepreneur, networking.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
– Continuous Learning, I recently was a part of a faculty development program ( a govt. initiative) to help bring about the concept of innovation and entrepreneurship. So that it becomes a natural path for the youth of today who have ideas but don’t know the way to proceed.
– The coachee knows the best about what works for him or her. I as a coach need to be the catalyst and supporter to get the best out of him/her.
– The urge to be a lifelong learner.
– Maintain empathy but sharpen it further with every coachee. Be attached to the objectives of the clients yet detached on an emotional level.
– I allow every client to help boost my confidence and help identify lacunae and try and work on it.
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
(1) I like to keep clarity in objectives and not dilute the purpose with which the coachee and I connected.
(2) Cliched as it may sound, the growth mindset I try my best to imbibe.
(3) Make the sessions a safe place for the coachee with no judgement. For a successful session, this according to me is a great parameter for effectiveness. Keep a happy and light mood, so that the process is enjoyed.
(4) All are unique and finding ways and means of improvising my communication skills with every case helps me connect better. Hence working on my personal skills too.
(5) Silence, unsaid words, addressing specific tones and being mindful of the coachee’s emotions are things that help me navigate effectively through the session.
What advice would you give to our readers?
Work on your self-discovery. It helps organically work on your green flags. We as people are a combination of choices we make, so being open to new ideas helps us stay motivated and relevant. If we struggle with that, seek guidance. This is the best time when there are professionals who can support you in bringing change in your process.
If you are too intuitive about your own spark, look up to successful people in multiple areas. Try and note what worked for them and if it could work for you. Total emulation is not recommended. Then it’s a factory.
Work on your differentiators. That makes you unique and easily distinguishable from the crowd.
You must work on knowing how much social media needs to be a part of your life.
Today’s times require interdisciplinary interests and talents. So say goodbye to Blinkered approaches and skills. You become more “ attractive “ as a person at work and on a personal level.
Last but not least, what about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
Helps me maintain a comfortable work and life balance and I know how to differentiate between the two.
As a fairly introverted child in school, meaningful interactions with multiple kinds of people from different parts of the world have helped me evolve into a confident person to showcase my perspectives and opinions.
Making an impact in personal lives and hence eventually society at large.
These are the main things I find most satisfying about my work as a Career Coach.
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.
