At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring some of the meaningful and powerful stories from around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. This week we invited yet another Passionate Entrepreneur and Leader Yukti Kapoor Mehandiratta to know more about her interesting entrepreneurial journey and the way forward. Yukti is the Founder and CEO of SBY Academy. She is a Leadership and Etiquette Coach, Startup Mentor, Award-Winning Entrepreneur, Keynote Speaker, Business Consultant and also an advisor & honorary member of the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan under the Min of Youth Affairs and Sports, GoI, that works towards the social development of youth. Let’s learn more about her inspiring entrepreneurial journey, way forward and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with her;
Tell us a little bit about yourself (background) and your journey as a women entrepreneur/coach, please;
Well, my story is a story of discovering the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Being born to a simple middle-class family with strong bonding between us 5 felt like how an ordinary family is supposed to be until I realised the extraordinary values and unshakable trust we have on each other. Credit goes to my working parents who managed to build such strong roots for us all to stay connected in real sense.
As the eldest to two younger sisters, I grew up a lil before time. Managing their responsibility when I could barely feel responsible for myself didn’t come in as a choice. My parents were working so hard to hold the house keys all day to get back in and warm up our lunch (standing on a stool, I remember) and then looking forward to making chai to welcome my tired parents back home. Though it might look like a struggle to a few, it was more of partnership with complete consent…each one playing their role with love, for love.
Career start was quite a cliche – Didn’t have much guidance from anyone so basis my limited maturity and Dad’s support I took the safest step forward – Graduated in Mathematics, MBA in Marketing and then a job with a Bank. Bingo!”
Didn’t spend much time to figure out what my passion was causing succeeding at work and climbing up the ladder took all my attention. It was important for me cause rest everything was unknown and largely not encouraged. For example – early offers for modelling and ramp shows were instantly shot down by my conservative parents who had their plate full with three grown daughters and a full-time job. So had to let that go. Can’t say that I wasn’t disturbed but was surely not worth taking sleep away from my parents.
I did fairly well in my corporate stint, winning awards and promotions every second year and taking initiatives that sometimes grew beyond my own imagination. Managing teams came naturally to be though would’ve wished for better bosses (wink)
The real face of the corporate world was exposed to me much later in my career and in fact, catalysed my plunged into entrepreneurship.”
When I won the runner up Gladrags Mrs India crown, I was still with Citi and had no intentions to quit and pursue modelling now. Guess, I’d started enjoying numbers and portfolios more than camera & lights. Except for a few fan moments at work, nothing else changed really.
The change happened after I became a parent. Being blessed with my twins is the biggest blessing of my life. The joy of holding them together for the first time is still unmatched. Being a first-time parent, and then for two, makes your plat full no matter what size you choose. Maternity leave ended in 3 months and it was time to get back to work. We had no choice but to find a daycare for my infants so my raging mother in law could get her space. Leaving my few-month-old babies to daycare was the toughest thing I’ve done in my entire life. I remember sitting & crying on the stairs outside the daycare after dropping them, feeling like the worst mother on earth.
Rushing back at 6.30 pm to pick my kids from daycare was not just my desperation to see them again but also a timing constraint at daycare (of 7 pm). This is when being the only woman in the team got worse for me. My boss started taunting me for leaving ‘early’ (or shall I say on time) and not coming on weekends which was never a working day anyway. In fact, after I resumed work from maternity I was asked to manage a new business altogether earning cooperation and respect from the entrains who was suppose to look up to me in this role when I knew nothing about that business. Basically I was set up to fail.
During my appraisal discussion, I was told that for bell curve sake they’ll have to avoid the 12-14 hours of work I had put in during my maternity while working from home, cause others were working from an office. And also they come on the weekend which I refused to do.
Long story short, it didn’t feel like a battle worth fighting. So I decided to channelise my energy to create my own space.”
Entrepreneurship has also been a role coaster given am the first entrepreneur in my family of bankers. But a ride I still cherish with its many challenges.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
I think as a person, I’ve performed best when I was given my own space. I’ve always gone beyond my job description and that has helped me to learn more and grow faster in my career.
It is the lack of space and rigid expectations that started taking shape post my delivery that I couldn’t stand after 2 years of dealing with it. All that frustration turned out to be a blessing in disguise for me and the final nail too. The unfair environment, limited roles and lack of real leadership pushed me to create my own world, and I did.
How do you find the industry/niche that you’re in?
I feel lucky and proud to say that I’ve found my calling in leadership coaching. And my understanding of ‘calling’ is when you feel the flow of life…when you have the motivation to work tirelessly and the only thing that can stop you is physical fatigue. When the outcome doesn’t matter as much as the process. When success is not limited to achieving a milestone but feels in every minute of the journey. When all you want to do is add value and your work becomes the platform to do just that.
I was always the go-to person for my friends and their agony aunt too. Nothing gave me more joy than being able to make a sad face smile again.”
Silhouette took the shape of a structure/entity a bit after I had already started taking small workshops. In fact, it is then that a few of my friends and participants encouraged me to conduct the sessions under my own brand. While driving back home from that session I thought of calling my brand as SILHOUETTE – the darkness within which we live and how we can brighten that silhouette with knowledge and wisdom through our workshops, online courses and executive one-on-one coaching sessions.
And then, there was no looking back. I decided to further master my craft by doing all 4 levels of Coaching being offered by Erickson International (affiliated with the International Coaching Federation).
For me, learning will never stop so might see me pick up another thing to keep learning so I can add even more value to my clients.”
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
I am a firm believer in following your heart. As I often say, when you follow your heart, the rest follows. It’s true for all and not just limited to feminine intuitive instincts. What’s needed, however, is the courage to listen to your heart and then trust.
I also believe that the world around you is a manifestation of your mental state. The more you keep yourself positive and constructive, the more support you attract from the world outside.
Nothing comes easy and ease should not even be the criteria to decide anything. Be ready for all that it takes when you take a plunge. And for that, it’s important to have the right reasons to take that plunge in the first place.
Had I plunged in with the intention to prove myself right or someone wrong, I doubt if I would’ve met with much success. My intent was to make the journey of career growth easier for others than it was for me and contribute to elevating the business environment with better leaders. That’s all. And that is what drives us to do anything we do at SBY Academy.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
Oh, quite a few. I don’t consider myself to be a feminist but cannot deny the challenges I faced just for being a woman.
Being called a GLAM DOLL in the bank by a super senior as his way to appreciate my good work still hasn’t settled well with me.
As an entrepreneur, it’s a treat for people to see you wriggle out of unnecessary roadblocks they create, especially when you refuse to take their help. Have personally experienced someone trying to stop one of my events mid-way to satisfy his vengeance of being denied partnership. There are many such stories I can share.
But most importantly, It is the attitude of people to not take you seriously as a businesswoman and jump into a mentoring role or to challenge your wits that’s such a waste of time if you allow yourself to indulge.
Even at home, the challenges are many. As women we feel compelled to excel in every role – as a mother, wife, daughter-in-law, daughter, sister, friend…and then fill ourselves with guilt if we fall short anywhere. I think we need to get more real and play on the levered field as just how a man would, in his role as a father, husband, son-in-law, son, brother, friend …and an entrepreneur.
Can you tell us briefly about the activities that you undertake?
SBY (Silhouette by Yukti) Academy is designed to boost the quality of your leadership skills, whether in business or personal, and enhance your performance levels.
Our world-class online courses, intensive workshops and personal coaching sessions reach out to a variety of audiences that include Corporate CXOs, middle-management, women returning to work, start-ups that need pitching, entrepreneurs getting their game right and even students prepping up to hit the road running.
By using techniques like case studies, role plays, interactive games, self-internalisation, meditations and discussions to connect with each participant, we aim to make deep and distinctive improvements to their leadership skills, in business and life. Our courses and workshops are customised and designed to be engaging, energetic, creative and impactful.
We assist you to excel in your leadership journey using the various delivery format:
3) Team coaching (small core groups to be aligned to common goals/purpose)
4) Group training (larger groups to be trained on concepts)
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
Is that even a question! Money is only a form of energy – an indication of the value people perceive in your offering – nothing more and nothing less. When you make money more important than it is, it becomes a distraction more than motivation. It compels you to do things you otherwise wouldn’t and hence gets you off-track from your life’s purpose.
Having said that, I want to create a lot of wealth but just as a resource to stay comfortably and extend that comfort to the world around me.
Emotions are what makes us human. It’s our strength for as long as we train ourselves to manage emotions. My endeavour to help my clients master this skill of managing emotions so they can lead more effectively. It’s been quite a journey of self-reflection and exploration for me to elevate myself from getting sucked into my emotions to using them as my power. Now that I’ve overcome that challenge, I want to show the way to others who are willing to walk this road less travelled.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
Let’s first get one thing straight – Stress is a friend and not an enemy. It’s how you deal with stress that decides what it does for you.
Stress can help you to be at your best and can also take away your shine if you let it. When I see an obstacle/resistance, I just breathe through it. Denial or struggle never work for anyone. The earlier you understand that the farther you go in life, using stress as the fuel to your fire and not burnout in it.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person/startup?
Well, it’s just one single thing that has helped me grow, and that is, continuous self-improvement through learning. I am a lifelong learner and will always be until the last day of my life.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
Phew….I’ve seen multiple versions of the answer to this question and decided to go ahead with none of them.
Here is my version –
Success is not a destination you arrive at but an experience in your journey towards a purpose. When you are driven by your purpose, you feel successful in every firm step you take towards it.
So I urge you to stop finding success in balance sheets and paychecks. And start enjoying success in everything you do every day, from rolling out an initiative to attending a meeting, from cooking a meal to making your lil angels sleep in a bed – success is when you feel eternal joy in whatever you do for its purpose and your deep sense of gratitude to have found that purpose.
What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring women entrepreneur?
Drop the guilt, love yourself and Be YOU, fearlessly. When you stand up for yourself, the world will stand behind you.
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.
