In our list of India's Best 50 - the 50 Most Employable Students from the Class of 2021-23, we feature MBA students who have walked that extra mile and done that little more to stand out! One of those featured in today's story, Shambhavi Joshi, has shown an incredible amount of passion to achieve her true potential. Read on and find out her story!
The following are Shambhavi Joshi’s set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst MBA graduates to determine the top 50 Most Employable MBA Graduates of the Class of 2023. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated, Shambhavi's story and profile stood out. Here's her story in her own words.
Name an instance where you wanted something and went out of your comfort zone to achieve it OR Tell us the biggest risk you have taken so far in your life.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference. -Robert Frost
My life has been a series of anomalies of defying the norm to pursue the path I envisage, or rather carve out myself. I was born into a family of doctors and engineers and a 96% in boards commanded an unquestioning allegiance to one of these professions. It didnt come as a surprise when my parents enrolled me in NEET coaching. It took 2 years of grueling hard work, sleepless nights, tons of demotivation in the form of mock scores, and finally, a good national merit rank to realize that this is something I did not wish to pursue in the long term. My happiness lay in pursuing my passion my passion for dance, teaching, and debating, along with my love for learning biology. It was an unconventional path and laying by its side was the perfectly explored choice of becoming a doctor. Securing a position on the national merit list seemed like an irrevocable commitment to the profession and the pressure to conform was tremendous. It took a lot of courage for a planner like me to walk away from the known and explore. I decided to turn the other way, convey my decision to my parents and walk down the unconventional path that I had laid down for myself probably the biggest risk I took at the time. Looking back, I believe it was the perfect decision a decision to pursue Microbiology, Bharatanatyam, and teaching together!
When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act?
During my undergrad, I worked as a volunteer teacher in the local municipality school for two years. I was a mentor to over thirty students from underprivileged backgrounds and I developed a bond with them. Some of my students informed me about the financial difficulties their families were going through due to covid and expressed a desire to contribute in order to alleviate this pain instead of relying on charity. Their determination motivated me to search for avenues through which I could help my students help their families while focusing on their studies and building a career. The Government of Maharashtra conducted a scholarship exam every year which honored meritorious candidates with prize money. This was a perfect opportunity for my students and their school to be recognized by the authorities. Despite my busy schedule, I took up the responsibility of coaching my students who had studied in a vernacular medium school and were completely new to the exam pattern which was primarily in English. There were numerous instances when I had a lot on my plate but I continued to dedicate my time to teaching as it enabled me to serve a larger purpose. 7 months of hard work and diligent efforts resulted in 5 of the students winning the scholarship. Although the number wasnt significantly high, it inspired the next batch to appear for competitive exams.
Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?
This summer, I interned at BCG, a strategy consulting firm in Mumbai. At BCG, we used external partner agencies for data entry, market research, and associated tasks. Although we billed the client for the work done on their project, we were answerable to the team if the cost exceeded the pre-approved limits. We had proposals from 2 agencies lets call them Y & Z. My team preferred Y as they were an established player in the market with a rich history of collaborations with BCG. I, on the other hand, wanted to give Z a chance as I believed that they would be more open to negotiating on prices, duration, and quality of work as they wanted to establish their brand in the market unlike Y whose prices and associated output quality was set in stone for years. Being an intern on the case, I wasnt sure if I would be permitted to make such choices but I went ahead and expressed my honest opinion in front of the Partners. Impressed by my confidence in a new agency, they handed me the responsibility of managing the entire process to me. It wasnt an easy job as I, an intern with no workex was negotiating terms with the head of a newly established agency. I met with their team and explained our requirements in detail, made a schedule, ensured the deadlines were adhered to, managed to follow up on the work in progress, and verified it at regular intervals to produce a perfect result at the end of 12 weeks. My willingness to express contradicting ideas and following through on them helped my team gain confidence in me and also provided the agency with the much-needed breakthrough into the consulting world.
What is the one thing you can claim to have some level of expertise or depth of knowledge in - it could be anything - a subject, a sport, a hobby, a venture, an initiative that has led you to do deep work in that field?
"A true passion that burns within your soul is the one that can never be put out" ~ Zach Toelke. My passion lies in practicing and performing Bharatanatyam. It started out as a weekly extracurricular activity with classes twice a day and beautifully blossomed into my passion which I diligently pursued every day. My handwork and dedication helped me develop my art form. I bagged a Gold Medal in my Visharad Poorna exam (Final exam after 8 years of practice) and went on to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Bharatanatyam. A lot of important values and lessons which helped me succeed in life got ingrained by my 14-year journey of practicing and performing a classical dance form.
If 10 Million Dollars (approximately INR 75 Crores) is given to you to use it any way you deem fit what would you do with this corpus?
If I was given 10 million dollars, I would invest 30% of it in the development of a school to promote the 8 classical dance styles of India. Being a Bharatanatyam dancer, I was always pained by the deterioration that classical art forms have faced in their home country while being awed by the affection showered on them by foreigners. I wish to start a culture center that will help students from all over the globe learn Indian dance forms from the best Gurus, learn about their history, their significance, and preserve our rich cultural heritage. I would love to dedicate 35% of the amount towards establishing a venture fund to invest in start-ups working in the field of biology and help bring about a positive change in the lives of millions. Many innovations in the field of biology happening today are either environmentally sustainable alternatives to conventional products (such as HYALINE, a bio-film for electronic applications) or simple inventions designed to solve the biggest societal problems. But there exists a financial gap between such cutting-edge bio innovations and the market. I would like to donate 10% to organizations working towards saving our planet and restoring wildlife habitats. Out of the remaining 25%, I would invest 15% in medium-risk mutual funds and 10 % in riskier options so that I have a backup cash reserve.
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As per government tax payers' data and our assessment, only about 6,00,000 Indian taxpayers earn an annual 'salaried' income of INR 30 lacs or above. And only 11,00,000 Indian taxpayers earn a 'total' income of INR 30 lacs or more.
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