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 Tanvi Jajoria for an exclusive interview with us. She is an Entrepreneur, Leader, Counselling Psychologist, Trainer and Co-Founder & Director of MentAmigo. Let’s learn more about her incredible journey, her background, and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Tanvi:
Could you please talk us through your background and your journey?
My professional journey has been quite interesting and surprising for me since the beginning. I started as an enthusiastic psychology student who wanted to do things beyond the books.
As much as I loved learning about the subject, I learned a lot more and enjoyed the practical exposure to real-life experiences. I was always inclined towards community building and raising awareness about mental health and that led me to take various initiatives during my graduation on department, college and even district levels.
During the final year of my Master’s in Clinical Psychology from TISS, when the world was hit with the COVID-19 Pandemic, I decided to start CO-WeCare and build a team to provide pro-bono counselling services along with my peers under supervision, to people who were suffering and needed support at the time.
Alongside, I was running my own mental health awareness platform, The Artsy Cure, where we did a lot of online campaigns and projects to promote mental health and have as many fruitful conversations with a practical and realistic approach.
I have been working as a Counseling Psychologist for the past 3 years now and currently, I am the Co-founder and Director at MentAmigo – a mental health services platform where we provide online counselling and therapy services that are affordable, easily accessible and most importantly driven by a team of qualified and ethically grounded mental health professionals.
I am also a Guest Behavioral Trainer at the Department of Personnel and Training, Govt. of India where I along with my team provide training to ASOs in various soft skills such as Leadership, Problem-solving, Creative thinking etc. as a part of their Foundational Training Program.
During this journey, I also received the BusinessWorld 30under30 Young Wellbeing Professional Award 2023 recognising my work and contribution to the field as an upcoming professional.
How did you discover your passion?
As I was pursuing my graduation in Microbiology, I was also studying Psychology as an additional subject. And over the course of that one year I realised what intrigued me more out of the two fields. Even though till then I had had very limited exposure to the field of Psychology, I had the instinct that this could be a better career choice for me.
With the help of some career counselling and my family’s support, I decided to take the plunge to make a complete shift and start all over again. And I am glad I took that decision at that time.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
There are times when I also feel down and demotivated and even unsure about a lot of things professionally. Having a bit of impostor syndrome is something that comes along with being a therapist package for most professionals.
But what keeps me driving is the reason why I made the whole switch in the first place, I love working with people! So I would say sometimes it’s my clients who become my driving force when I see them grow in their life and achieve their goals, I get to grow with them. And sometimes it’s my friends, family and even colleagues who keep pushing and motivating me to keep at it.
Along with that when I reflect on my own personal and professional development from when I started, how being a mental health professional and now a business person has made me come out of my comfort zone multiple times, no matter how challenging it is, eventually it just gives me the reason to stay put and that’s what I end up doing.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My biggest source of motivation are my parents, my brother Siddharth and my partner Parth, to name a few. I don’t think I would have been able to achieve any of this without their consistent support and belief in me, sometimes more than I could ever believe in myself.
The way they take up their work and family responsibilities, face their own challenges and still be there for each other is what helps me keep going. Like I said, I love working with people, well, these people are my inspiration too and I am grateful to have them.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
– Self-reflection of my behaviour, thoughts and emotions
– Having an open mind to change, feedback, constructive criticism and appreciation too
– Setting healthy boundaries with people and communicating well
– Undergoing therapy myself and not neglecting my emotional growth
– Being comfortable with my own company
– Pushing out of my comfort zone as a professional and learning new things as I move forward
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
There is no one key that can surely open the doors for you to success. Achieving success is an ever-changing process and the meaning may keep changing for you as you grow.
So one thing that can definitely help people find their way is defining what success looks like to them and why. Having that clarity of thought can at least help you find where the next step lies for you.
What advice would you give to our readers?
Nobody has it all figured out and everybody needs help at some point in their life. Both of which are okay and completely normal. Don’t hesitate to ask for help or guidance, speak when you need to, find resources that suit your needs the best and try to make an informed decision for every time you feel stuck rather than being impulsive. You don’t need to be sure of where you are going to reach, but you can definitely figure out where you are moving ahead eventually.
Last but not least, what about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
My journey feels satisfying because of the nature of my work and the impact that I get to see on people’s lives directly and indirectly. I am reminded of this time and again by my clients and peers and that just makes all the challenges worthwhile.
Running my own mental health organisation adds a lot more excitement as I feel I am in the driving seat now and I can do the kind of work that I always wanted to. The combination of being a mental health professional and a business person comes with a lot of hardships, especially in a country like India where people are still largely unaware about mental health, but that’s what makes it more exciting and gives us the purpose to begin with.
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.
