“I had two core fears inside me which were blocking me from coming forward”
Upon completing her 10th anniversary, this October, at Moolya, Manju shares with us the personal hurdles she had crossed to become the fascinating leader she is, today.
“ Firstly, I often assumed that my spoken English is not up to the mark and people might mock me for that. I used to feel very inferior”
Having studied in a regional Malayalam medium school till her 6th standard Manju was introduced to the English language at a later stage in her school life. Her initial fear stemmed from that.
“My confidence level has increased since I’ve joined Moolya. Now I am a people person who loves to interact with people, meeting them, greeting them, and learning from them”
Now no one will even believe that she had difficulties in communicating with people. Being a Test Manager handling high-profile projects like Flipkart, Phone Pe, Food panda, Myntra, Grofers, Mooofarm, and many others Manju regularly interacts with people from different regions and countries. She is not just well-versed in English and Hindi but, apart from her mother-tongue Malayalam, she also speaks pretty good Tamil and Kannada and is currently trying her hand in Korean too.
But our humble, super-friendly Manju had to learn another hard lesson in life.
“ Secondly, I never felt good saying ‘no’ to anyone. But it was Pradeep (tag) who helped me understand the importance of saying ‘no’, when required, and explained how it impacts not just me but also my team. Understanding the situation and then taking a call is really important”
Manju had joined Moolya as an intern, 10 years ago. Over the past one decade Manju had grown with Moolya or we should rather say that Moolya grew along with her. Moolya is lucky to be a part of Manju’s journey of achieving personal triumph and her journey serves as an inspiration for many young engineering students who face the same fear of communication.
“Over the years, I have realised that spoon-feeding someone is not the solution. It weakens them in the long run and makes them dependent on others. Instead, I facilitate them with the required information which enables them to solve their own problems. This is my greatest takeaway from working in Moolya. Here I have learnt to take ownership of my own tasks and develop myself as a professional”
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