Anisha Ahuja dwells from a humble background of professionals and school principals who have inculcated qualities of hard work and humbleness in her, which is evident when you meet her. She is my college senior and one of the star performers of her batch. I have been fortunate enough to know her and learn from this extrovert all-rounder who has quality achievements at multiple platforms.
She has represented my college, IMT Ghaziabad at various national case study competitions. She has been the national runner-up at the reputed Deloitte Mavericks case study competition and national finalist in SABMiller India ‘Brew-a-Career’ case study competition
Her summer internship at Britannia Industries has been a source of inspiration for all the juniors like me. Her work was appreciated by Mr. Varun Berry, CEO- Britannia Industries which went on further to be adopted as a best practice by the company. She also has been offered a PPO for the post of Management Trainee, which she has accepted with grace.
She has also excelled in academics at IMT Ghaziabad and has a CGPA of 7.5 which is a feat in itself. In addition to this, she has endeavoured to succeed in fields like sports, where she has been a part of the winning basketball and volleyball college team.
She was an active part of the NGO ‘WATT A Village’ that has the endeavour to light up the lives of people in small villages with electricity and make them self-sufficient. Her desire is to remain associated with this NGO and contribute even more with the knowledge and experience she has gained in the last two years of MBA.
The laurels she has brought to our college does not end here, she has represented our college at the global level where she was selected for the student exchange programme in France and her project in wine marketing was highly appreciated.
This dynamic personality also works as the PR head of the PR and Media Committee of IMT Ghaziabad ensuring that our college gets even more recognition across industry and media platforms.
What was high school like for you? How did it contribute to your personality/ the person you are right now?
High School brings mixed emotions in my mind. There are many happy memories of me exploring myself as a human being and making some of the best of friends for life but it also reminds me of some bad decisions I made. Especially about choosing the wrong subjects and not getting the required support from the school to understand where my true interests and strengths lied. Hence high school taught me that it is very important to stand for yourself in this world. The only secret of contentment and happiness is first being true to yourself about who you really are and what you truly desire.
If money was no object, what would you do all day?
If money was no object I would still do the same as I want to do today, work hard every minute to improve my skills and get better at whatever I want to achieve. Achievements come for me on an everyday basis; be it work, studies or relationships. I endeavour to get better at them each day.
What advice would you give to a 5-year-younger you?
My advice to a five year younger me would be to fear less of the world around me, take even more risks and not feel shy of listening to your heart in exploring more opportunities, especially when it comes to taking the right decisions in my relationships or career.
How do you think women are better equipped to deal with problems as compared to men?
I believe that men and women are equally adept to handle problems and comparison is not the right way of looking at it. Both men and women given the same set of resources and circumstances can handle the same type of problems effectively, however, their approach can definitely be different.
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?
Though I do not totally support women getting extra points by IIMs or other business schools because somewhere this promotes the concept that women are not equal to men hence need those extra points. However, I also believe that in a country like India, till date the cultural setup does not provide women with equal or enough opportunities and hence reaching to a stage of pursuing a post graduate course becomes a distant dream. Hence, if by giving extra points they get even a little push to the top then it’s a push in the right direction. This is an effort with the right intention and can be adopted till women are able to exist in the world with equal opportunities in hand like men.
Name one incident that you encountered where someone told you, you couldn’t do something because you’re a woman.
It is a simple incident but one of those that shows the mentality of the general public. While I was doing my summer internship in sales with an FMCG company many people told me including girls that it is going to be very tough to go on market visits or ride on bikes. Questions on whether I would enjoy the job scenario because 'I am girl' were raised. However, it was the best stint of my life where I proved all these people wrong by riding on bikes, travelling in tempos in the toughest markets and bringing out great market and sales insights required for effective ground level functioning.
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?
Yes, when I am on a date I always insist to pay for myself and till now I have been fortunate that the men I have gone on dates with have understood my desire to pay because of me being an equal counterpart.
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About the Author:
Archit Kacker is a student of Marketing, of the two-year full-time AICTE approved and AACSB accredited residential PGDM programme at Insititute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad. He is the coordinator of the Public Relations, Information and Social Media (IMTeam PRISM) committee at IMT Ghaziabad.
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archit.kacker06@gmail.com