At BrilliantRead Media, it is our constant endeavour to identify and share some of the unique and compelling stories from the startup ecosystem. As part of this, we invited Vindya Ayyar for an interview with BrilliantRead Media. She is an Author, Life Coach, Industrial Psychologist, Career Counsellor and Influencer. Let’s learn more about her background, inspiring journey so far and advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Vindya:
Could you please talk us through your background and your journey?
I am a graduate in a corporate secretaryship from the University of Madras, and I was married to an Indian Navy officer soon after my graduation. We shifted to many places due to his transfers.
I am glad that I lived in a lot of places in our country and got to enjoy the nuances of our culture. Every woman feels a vacuum at some point of time in life. It happened to me too after my children started going to school.
I decided to work however I was not fitting into the industry requirements, because the gap was long. Although I felt miserable but I decided to change my field and started my journey as a KG teacher.
I acquired the qualification and worked in the Naval KG School, Mumbai for a couple of years. My mind was restless because the urge in me troubled me a lot to get into the corporate environment. I quit the teaching job and moved to work as an assistant secretary in a production company.
I realized that I am better at training people rather than in secretarial and admin duties. My life took a complete change after that. I pursued the necessary certificate courses and an MBA in HR thereafter. I took every transfer in my stride and never stopped working but at the same time studied to add more weightage in my resume.
Today I feel so happy that I have gained two decades of experience in training, mentoring and counselling people.
How did you discover your passion ‘Coach’?
It is an interesting thing to share, I spent time, money and energy to upgrade myself in the training field. I got interested in psychology and counselling.
When I worked as a Personality Development Trainer at Gitam University, Visakhapatnam students from various departments used to contact me for suggestions/counselling on their personal and professional issues. This helped me to understand that I was able to do justice to their fears, hesitations and doubts.
The journey continued for almost a decade, I invested more time in counselling. Once I was causally talking to a mentor in a training session when I told him about my work, he told me jokingly that my qualifications sound like a departmental store, and asked me to give it a big umbrella.
This actually triggered me to become a “Life Coach”. My passion started long ago however I didn’t know the concrete ways to take things up seriously. I trust the right interventions, and when I realized that I must do a structure to my passion, I did a certificate program in Life coaching.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
Military life is full of uncertainties, I have seen the deaths of close people and also the best time in this highly spirited environment.
My interest is to meet people and try to understand them. In this journey, I have met so many people. “Anything new is intriguing” I believe in this. Every person is different and their life is diverse.
This is my biggest motivation because people trust me and share their inner thoughts whether it is conflict or confusion or even conviction with me openly. I started writing poems, write-ups and stories since 2010.
The critical people helped me write better and the supporting friends made me feel confident. I get my motivation from people also I am a self-motivated woman.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My paternal grandmother, who became a widow at the age of thirty, but brought up her five children all alone. She imbibed a lot of strength in me and taught me life lessons with great examples.
I miss her deeply and remember her words whenever I feel low in my life. I believe in woman’s power and women’s empowerment. I truly admire her till date and my motivation is mainly derived from her words.
Please share with us your Achievements so far;
– Star performer from Indian counselling services in 2022
– Interviewed by Rainbow FM Radio Mumbai on the books in 2019
– Interviewed by Rainbow FM Vizag on Career Counselling in 2013
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
There are a few:
> Being humble
> Having the right attitude
> Assertive to put our thoughts without hurting others
> Creativity
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
(a) Having self-awareness
(b) Unlearn things and practices when needed
(c) Never fear to voice our thoughts
(d) Resourcefulness
(e) Curiosity
(f) Being creative
(g) Teamwork
What advice would you give to our readers?
I don’t believe in giving advice because everyone’s journey is different and life experiences are unique. But one thing I would like to share is, “Look for results, enjoy the process and never regret”
Last but not least, what about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
My passion towards creative writing led to the publishing of two books, the debut one by Partridge Publishers ( sister concern of Penguin Publishers) “Dews on the Cheek” in 2016 and “Many Hearts One Beat” in 2019.
– Contributed to the Naval community as an Editor in chief for the woman magazine from 2014 – 2020
– Group Coordinator for the special school Sankalp from 2016 – 2019.
– Also, participated in Jagriti yatra 2014 to promote young entrepreneurs.
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.
