Anjali Das is working as an Assistant Marketing Manager at Educational Initiatives. She completed PGDM in Communications from MICA, Ahmedabad. An artist by nature and a dreamer at heart, she is a hardcore Animal lover and crazy about dogs. She loves travelling and photography - clicking people and capturing their smiles is what she loves the most. She also loves children and teaching and has volunteered with Make A Difference.She is a people person and loves interacting with people.
What was high school like for you? How did it contribute to your personality/ the person you are right now?
High school made me the strong and independent individual that I am now. It was really difficult then because since I was confident and outspoken, I always came across as a very headstrong and bossy person. People always built these preconceived notions about me and judged me without even having spoken to me. So it was a little rough initially but probably that's how I learnt to become a fighter and not give up easily. I always interacted really well with my batch mates and slowly people started changing their opinion of me.
If money was no object, what would you do all day?
I would travel. And meet new people and have wonderful conversations.
What advice would you give to a 5-year-younger you?
I would tell myself that it's okay to make mistakes but what is not okay is not learn from them. I would tell myself to invest more time in doing what I love. write and read. because that's wat is gonna stay with me life long.
How do you think women are better equipped to deal with problems as compared to men?
I think women are really strong emotionally. If they fix their minds at something and that's really important to them, even the biggest of the tornados can't pull them down. In fact, any sort of demotivation and discouragement will only make them strive harder towards their goal and accomplish it.
Many IIMs and other b-schools award extra points for being a woman. What is your take on that? Do you propagate the concept OR Have you faced any backlash for the same?
I think it's not necessary. Ṭo bring about gender equality in our country it's important that you treat women like equals. We don't see male quotas anywhere, do we? Women are capable of achieving without having to bank on their gender for extra points.
Name one incident that you encountered where someone told you, you couldn’t do something because you’re a woman.
One my cousins once challenged me that I wouldn't be able to ride a bike because it was too heavy for a woman and it wasn't a woman thing. I proved him wrong in an hour's time.
If you are out on a date, do you prefer to pay yourself? If you insisted that you want to pay for yourself, how did the other person react?
I definitely prefer paying myself. I think these days people are more open to the idea of women paying or rather we have broken free from the thought that it's a man's job to pay. So I don't get any surprised glances when I insist.