I come from a family of limited means.

The societal outlook was largely patriarchal and when I would attend weddings/social functions, as a well-mannered kid, I often heard that one day I would make an excellent homemaker.

I often wondered what if I wanted to be someone else? Someone other than a homemaker? But I kept to such thoughts to myself because at the time, I was told such thoughts are ‘bad’.

Burying my head into books at school was a pleasant realisation. After all, there were no issues if a girl scored higher than a boy at Mathematics! It also opened my eyes to the wider possibilities beyond being a homemaker.

I remember discussing with my family, into the wee hours of morning that instead of getting married, I would like to focus on building my career, be strong, be financially independent and make a change. It took a few more nights, about 15 I think, before I managed to convince them and started my first role at Deloitte.

I immediately took a fancy to financial services through the advisory projects that I worked on and managed for leading players in the banking and capital markets. My work wasn’t unnoticed and one of the Partners gave me the opportunity to travel to New York and manage a challenging, complex and rewarding engagement.

It was here I developed strong fundamentals on change delivery, working through ambiguity and being a trusted advisor for my clients.

With a view to acquiring global exposure, I prepared for GMAT alongside my gruelling-but-enjoyable 16-hour workdays and significant personal issues. A score of 700+ allowed me to realise my dream of purusing an MBA from London Business School, a top tier global B-school.

I started the programme in 2016 and immediately fell in love with the diverse fabric of London. I vowed to further my career here and pay it forward to the diverse community.

After completing my MBA as a Dean’s List candidate, I started my career in London in 2018 at Refinitiv – a leading content and technology provider to banking and capital market clients. I joined Refinitiv on its highly selective and coveted Management Associate Programme as a Management Graduate. I had previously been an intern in 2017 in the Summer Associate program at Refinitiv where I successfully executed and delivered very critical and high visibility projects to become one of the four interns to be offered a place as a management graduate.

I had the opportunity to work on some very interesting and challenging projects, including launching a novel service for delivery of market data to banking and capital market clients and their customers while reducing infrastructure and compliance costs for the clients’ customers. I drove results through a relentless focus on execution which helped me get promoted as the Proposition Manager responsible for the $30mn funds content business of Refinitiv, which is my current role.

The highlight of my current role has been me, along with my larger team, turning around the funds content business, especially in EMEA and Asia, after having been underinvested and underperforming for almost a decade. I drive the creation and execution of strategy for the business with the goal of carving a place for Refinitiv as the #1 provider of funds content to the financial services industry.

For fun, I love having a casual walk around London and trying different cuisines – Lucky Cat is my new favourite! I have also been working on my Golf swing and up for a BBQ in any season!