From an economically weaker section student to the school topper, from an uninspired engineering undergrad to 'Star of Internshala', from an introvert to an EY Consultant, from a depressed and unhealthy person not knowing what to do with her life to a happy and healthy ISB Alumnus- every time she felt situations slipping away from her grip, her dynamic outlook and intense zeal for exploration aided her to take the leap of faith and go all-in for her dreams! Owed to financial constraints, her parents could not send her to a very fancy school. Despite that, they pushed their limits and allowed her to explore all the opportunities out there. Ayushi managed to get a full merit-based scholarship at an international school and passed out with the feathers of 'Head Girl', 'School Topper' and 'Student of the year' attached to her hat. In class X, she was selected through Aakash Institute's National Talent Hunt Exam for a 2-year full scholarship to prepare for engineering entrance exams. That led her to prepare for engineering exams like every other teenager in India, but it took her some time to realise that engineering was not her thing! She was a person of words, expressions and arts.As an engineering student, the conventional path seemed mundane since her true passion was undiscovered. She explored every avenue that appeared interesting through tuitions and internships. This led to the completion of 8 internships and part-time jobs in Content Writing, Digital Marketing, Blogging and UI/UX Development while scoring among the top 5% in class. Juggling several hats at once required acute planning and thinking on the feet, this made her a pro at balancing different things together and helped her realise that management was the way forward for her. This was materialised when she joined Ernst & Young as a consultant.The three years spent at EY were the toughest and the most path-defining for Ayushi. She got her hands over work ethic, stakeholder management and team management. But the travel, intense working hours, mental and physical exertion took a toll on her mental and physical health and was eventually diagnosed with clinical depression! This came as a shocker to her and made her realise that though she was good at consulting, it didn’t fulfil her soul. Her love for the English language in school, college internships and passion for ideating creatively led her to realise that Marketing was the way to go for her. As the prospect of an MBA dawned over her, she did not want to prepare for CAT and figured out GMAT was also an acceptable exam that ISB, her #1 preference, accepted. The path was set - prepare for GMAT, score well, get into ISB. Two months before the ISB Application deadline, she started preparing for GMAT and took the exam with 45 days of prep. She scored 710, which was not a great score but still a good one to apply. She had 14 days to work on her application while managing a critical deadline for work. Her essays got finalised at 11:45 PM with the deadline at midnight!The ISB shortlist gave her hope, and her interview re-affirmed her self-belief. ISB was everything that she had imagined and much more! It was the year of self-discovery for her that polished all her values and talents. Going forward she was finally sure of making marketing her pursuit. The placement process is pivotal to the ISB experience. It teaches one the ability to deal with failure, humiliation, expectation, jealousy, sadness, happiness and empathy all at once. And after all the hardships she finally got placed at Freshworks as a Management Trainee in Product Marketing. Now, she is working with an awesome team at Freshworks to market their world-class products. With the company’s recent IPO and growth, she truly feels that she has arrived! Ayushi aims to achieve all her dreams of becoming a ‘master marketeer’. She says that if one wants to take one thing away from her story, it is this -"As long as you believe in yourself and continue putting in the required efforts, there is nothing in life that you cannot achieve."
-Ayushi Grover