Listening, learning and reflecting together

Born into a large Indian family, I grew up in New Jersey and I am a first-generation immigrant. As a child, I fell in love with sports. Ever since I could dribble a ball, the basketball court has always been a saving grace. Playing team sports made it easy for me to get along with my peers – enabling interpersonal skills, instilling a sense of comradery, as well as a winning spirit.

Driving initiatives for positive change

It was when I started as an undergrad at a small business school near Boston that I first realised there was some element of social code; I saw a whole new landscape of who you are and where you come from, and I felt different.

A substantial amount of my peers had come from private schools, or their parents had worked similar professions – above all their families had generational graduate and post-graduate educational backgrounds. For me this was not the case. I then identified that peers with a similar background to myself may have also felt a similar way, so I decided to help flip the script – we had equity in building out our voice and introducing our more privileged peers in learning about our cultures, backgrounds, aspirations, etc. I partnered with classmates and university staff to help drive campus initiatives, particularly to positively impact those with a similar background to myself. This included helping fund campus events, having a physical presence in interviewing prospective university administrators, playing instrumental roles in renovations to our community spaces on campus, helping our students find on-campus employment opportunities, etc.

I continued with this mindset in the workforce, getting involved with some incredible non-profit organisations that focus on informing and educating urban low-income students on the values of personal finance and college readiness. Learning about the students’ journeys inspired me to found a scholarship within my own local community, enabling foreign-born and first generation high performing scholars to be seen and heard, in a neighbourhood that is not very diverse.

Embracing my tenacity, and points of view

I joined Baringa just over a year ago and I genuinely feel that I can be my authentic self when I come to work. I’m very appreciative of my colleagues in their embracing of my tenacity, my competitive spirit and my points of view. Our colleagues are bright, have a competitive work ethic, are genuinely good people, and are extremely supportive. That’s what I really appreciate about the culture that we have here at Baringa. By listening, learning and reflecting together, you can feel the authenticity of your colleagues and can understand each other that much better.

Focus on self-care and work-life balance

Historically, in my own community, mental health was not a subject that was well received or spoken about, the solution to any problem was working your way out of it. I felt a strong desire to turn this around. I now volunteer for the national suicide and crisis phoneline and, reflecting with others in this way, has actually proved to be a backbone to my own mental and physical health. Focusing on my own self-care before and after my shifts, also enables a consistent approach to my hectic schedule, resulting in a healthy work-life balance. I believe our individual commitment to service for those seeking counsel is a gift we all have, beyond words and I have been thankful for the experience and training.

More engagement with the UK

From my point of view, one aspect to the business that could potentially be enhanced is to align some of the cultural differences that exist between our London UK-based office and our developing US market.  I am keen to play my part in rewriting the code as we continue evolving into a global office relationship. I am looking forward to having more engagement with our colleagues in the UK to better understand what it is that they see, feel and hear from their clients. I think that level of authenticity - that we aspire to build globally - will be one of the biggest factors that will uphold the Baringa brand going forward.

Being your authentic self

Throughout my journeys I have learned that being our authentic self supports in achieving what we truly want and aspire to be. For the first few years of my career, I really sat on my thoughts because I was worried about being misinterpreted or people thinking about me differently.  But, as a colleague here at Baringa, I truly feel that I can be my authentic self and this is so important as it allows me to further advance the brand and culture of the business.  Through an aligned resolve, collaborative expression as well as empathy and candor, I believe we all play a critical role in rewriting the code.