Shreya’s life at IIM-L was one that was truly memorable. This included the frequent secret outings as well as the periodic bouts of craziness. She was never too interested in studies; however, she always had a knack for the creative and the crazy. She used to persuade and help her friends whenever they had second thoughts during the late night hostel bunking, or the early morning trek into the hills. After coming out of IIM-L, almost all of her friends took up dream jobs, with great salaries, perks, paid leaves, and guaranteed personal growth.
However, whenever her friends wanted to get out of the mundane routine of their everyday lives, they would go to Shreya for some much-needed respite. However, Shreya did not care much about them, especially when it came to pushing them out of an aeroplane! Oh, do not take that part too seriously. What I meant to say was, even when her friends screamed on top of their lungs, she would carry them to the door of the plane and jump with them into the skies. I’m sorry if I sound too vague, but it might be because of the fact that I have not told you how Shreya became a full-fledged sky-diving instructor after her exit from IIM-L. But, that is a story for another time…
MBA aspirants are usually consumed with the need to have a secure job and a six-digit salary, rather than using their experience for exploration of unknown and unconventional professions. They want more from their career, which is gratifying and satisfying at the same time. These people have the capability to leave their MBA salary and job to venture into uncharted territories and achieve something truly unique. The world has many examples of people who dared to do this.
So let’s look at five ladies who dared to choose an unconventional career after MBA specialization.
Parineeti Chopra
Parineeti Chopra has a triple honours degree in business, finance and economics from Manchester Business School in the UK, with a dream to be an investment banker. However, the 2008-09 recession forced her to return to India. Here she landed an internship at Yashraj Studios as a PR consultant. By spending more time on the sets and learning about filmmaking, she went ahead to become an actress in the Bollywood. Her first movie was Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl, and since then, she has not stopped excelling in her passion.
Rashmi Bansal
Rashmi Bansal is the author of 2 bestselling novels – Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish and Connect the Dots. She is an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. Being a scholar throughout her life, Rashmi is a prolific writer with over 100 articles featured in leading newspapers and magazines. She initially took a job as a brand manager at BCCL but now she is a renowned author and entrepreneur. Most of her books have been on entrepreneurship and successful startups.
Richa Kar
As the founder and CEO of Indian lingerie e-tailer, Zivame, Richa Kar has been a successful entrepreneur. She holds an MBA degree from NMIMS and has worked for companies like Spencers and SAP retail consulting. During her stint in the corporate world, she learnt that there was social discomfort surrounding lingerie shopping in India, which created problems for consumers as well as retailers. This lead to the beginning of her entrepreneurial venture in the form of an online lingerie store, which is now a leader in its domain. The store offers more than 5,000 styles, 50 brands and 100 sizes.
Chhavi Rajwat
Popularly known as the Sarpanch with an MBA, Chhavi made headlines in 2011 for being the youngest Sarpanch in India. She has studied at LSR and completed MBA specialization from Sri Balaji Society, Pune. This got her into a regular MBA jobs at a top corporate. But, she gave up her job to help in the development of Rural India. Now, she is taking the lead in the development of Soda Village in Rajasthan. She has implemented many projects successfully, like rainwater harvesting, toilets facilities and more in her stint as a Sarpanch.
Sona Mohapatra
People know Sona Mohapatra as an Indian singer, music composer and lyricist. She has sung famous songs like “Ambarsariya”, “Jiya lage na”, etc. But not many know that she has an MBA specialization from the Symbiosis Centre for Management & HRD, Pune in Marketing & Systems. Before pursuing a full-time career in the music industry, she has worked on big brands like Marico, Parachute and Medikar. But, passion is greater than big brand names, so now she works on her music and creates wonderful pieces for her dedicated audiences.
Praqtise Fact File:
| Person | First Job |
| Parineeti Chopra | PR Consultant |
| Rashmi Bansal | Brand manager |
| Richa Kar | Retail Consultant |
| Sona Mohapatra | Brand manager |
A Praqtical Look: Getting an MBA specialization does not mean that you have to do only an MBA job. If one has dreams and passions beyond their current state, they should give it a try. Take up a job that gratifies and satisfies you and not the one which is set in stone because of an education degree.
Do you agree, tell us in the comments?
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Image sources:
Parineeti Rashmi Richa Chhavi Sona