Here on Episode 02 of Super Saturday, The Manoj Joshi Show we have invited Jessica’s and she is going to share his experience and knowledge with us.
Inspiring Journey of Jessica’s – Interview on Super Saturday The Manoj Joshi Show
We have this feeling of grudge that why brain drain is happening in India. Why the talented are moving to the United States of America. To break this chain and feeling, I have a beautiful self-made lady who has Migrated from “The United States of America” to our Country India. She is Jessica Kumar.
You speak Hindi, I would want you to give us little introduction about yourself, your journey to our country, India?
15 years back I came to India, I stayed in Haridwar for my internship. I am Digital Marketing, I got placed for my internship at Haridwar a small town. I got the opportunity to learn Hindi. I did a tuition course in Hindi. This was the time when I actually fell in love with Indian culture. I returned back to US, And started working In the advertising field. It is her I met Abhishek, my husband now who is from Bihar. He was studying in US.
We the blessings of our parents we got married after 1.5 years of courtship. A few years later, in 2016 we decided we will come back to India. And Noe we are in Bihar. My heart wanted to come to India and work over here.
Change is difficult, How did you manage the cultural change when you came to India?
It wasn’t very difficult as I had seen the culture, participated in it when I came here as a spinster (Kuwnari). I very well knew what I was getting into.
I had seen what a women’s life is before and after marriage. Her life as a professional, as a mother. In fact, Abhishek and me, we had a very good understanding between each other and I knew he would be a good partner who would help me in re-adjusting in my life when the need arose.
Most of the youngsters are not willing to play with their career, did you not feel that you are taking a risk with your career by shifting from a developed country to a developing country?
No, the reason because my father is into international business, And I have seen how it works.
The question is not about shifting from US to any other country, It is about the working environment. I shifted from a corporate to working in an NGO. For this shift, we definitely took a pay cut. role
Abhishek and myself knew about the difference in the payout, however, we had so many other benefits. Most important was doing a fulfilling job. It was doing a job of contentment. And being home would reduce the expenses. Besides we would be with our parents. It was definitely going to be a win-win for us, our family, and our children.
Abhishek too had a dream of coming and serving his people. He said ‘there are 1000’s waiting to pick my job, but there is no one to go back to Bihar and start an NGO’. He knows that there is a risk but also confident that we will be successful.
Worst cum, if things do not work, we can always go back.
With God’s Blessing, we are doing real good. It is a fulfilling job and we are loving it.
I understand, in India, you have the family pressure to earn money, making your parents feel proud but always remember Money is not everything. You need to do work which is satisfying, makes you happy and when you do service to society, bringing about change in the lives of others, that too will make them proud.
In total agreement with you, when you start to give back to society, it’s a blissful feeling. Besides, the people whom you connect, their love and blessing is a gif.
I would want you tell us more in detail about your NGO and what is Invisible India. What kind of work you do?
The NGO work and the Invisible- The podcast are both different entities. They are not connected with each other at all.
One is my Job and the other is my Hobby.
We are doing developing work. Into the arena of education. It is historically relief work. Lot of campaigns have been in relief work. I play the key role in Marketing in my NGO- fundraising, communication part.
Invisible India Podcast- A lot of Abhishek’s and my friends were very keen to know about our lifestyle, how we are staying there, adjustment with the family, raising up your 2 children and many other questions.
I felt instead of answering questions, let’s start recording it.
I was more interested in sharing the stories of other Indians who are doing great work for the upliftment of the society-Unheard heroes. This how the name Invisible India came into existence.
It was showcasing the Unseen SEEN. I wanted to bring their work forward.
A lot of people do not know about podcast,would you like to tell them what is a podcast?
Podcast is an online radio show. There isn’t too much of music. There are more talk shows, comedies, Storytelling, business podcast and many others.
For people’s understanding, it is an Online Radio.
To adapt something new we need to learn new things. One of the things which you had to learn was the Hindi language. How did you learn it?
A: I am flattered that people are impressed by my Hindi language and feel good when they say,” you speak good Hindi.” But what I observed the Indians are much better as they learn to speak so many different languages.
People get astonished when they hear my children speak in Hindi and English fluently. So, my answer to them is my children are no different than yours. Your children too can speak English and Hindi.
I am just doing the reverse, Indians go to different foreign countries to learn and speak the native language of that country.
But people give more focus on me because I am an American lady. I think this should change. I appreciate they like me but they should also appreciate their people who speak five-six languages.
How I learned Hindi, my main objective always has been to know people better, to understand them. Get into a friendship. People helped me as they knew I really wanted to know them, understand them. I learnt by interacting with people.
In fact, That is the best way to learn any language, by immersing oneself.
It is the basic thing, that if you want to learn anything, you need to know the Outcome of learning it.
You mentioned you were into Digital Marketing. Now that you are staying in Buhar, How does Digital marketing help you?
I have two separate channels. The NGO and The podcast.
So my first part is the NGO. Promoting the NGO, promoting its projects we are doing in different parts of Bihar, creating awareness, breaking stereotypes about Bihar. I do a lot of it meetings through Social media, networking. It is also attached to my previous work- Microfinance in non-profit in the US. So it is a continuation of my career.
Secondly, with my Podcast, it is a totally new thing. I had done webinars for my company, but Podcast is totally different production. I had to learn everything- Hosting, setting up the stage for the interview, the website, interviewing style, all of this I had to learn from scratch.
This is a skill I am trying to develop and I can see you too are doing a wonderful job. I want to explore more because this kind of long-form of conversation is very important. I know today we have the tik Tok, reels a 15 to 30 secs content. But these long forms have a lot to say.
Along with the work, taking care of the family, the society, and handling your professional work, what were the difficulties you faced and how did you handle them?
Definitely, the Indian System and the American system is very different. I had to adjust a lot. This adjustment is not of 1year, 2 years, 5 years but lifelong adjustment. The responsibilities are totally different. I am struggling a lot in managing my life.
But I think I have come to a good place. My in-laws, my husband are very supportive. One thing in Bihar is that they do not support working mothers. Especially in schools, like yesterday my daughter had her interview and I was asked,”Do you work”? I said” Yes, I do” Immediate response was “ who will teach your child. I am there, My husband is there, but they are so disorganized. Anytime they will give you any work. Especially in this time of the pandemic, they will call you and give you work. They keep the classes as per their convenience, sometimes at 9 am, 10 am, or even at 11 am. We have to adjust. Honestly speaking, I find it very irritating.
The tough thing for me is to enter into this system. I find that to be a challenge with the school and the government offices. They want you to come and meet and talk, which is time-consuming. Going, coming, then talking is the biggest challenge for me. The system is built like this and I only have complaints.
Being a foreigner, I can’t do anything. I am staying here and I am not an Indian, I have to adjust to it.
You are staying in Patna, you are following your passion and your hobbies, handling it through Digital marketing. While working, you may have noticed the literacy rate is pretty high there, so how do you think the youth can help in bringing about a change?
I once tried to start something, I interviewed 3-4 people for an internship(to work with me) It was very difficult. I couldn’t see the very basic initiative that they should take for the job was totally missing.
I honestly got demotivated. They were not serious. They sent me their CV and other documents I asked for after 5 days which ideally should have been sent the same day. I don’t owe you anything. You want the job, you need to call me and not vice versa.
The fact is, even the youth is interested, but they also need to proactively come forward to grab the opportunity. They need to do all it takes to get it, rather than miss it.
According to you to be a successful entrepreneur, what qualities one should possess?
many Indians already possess very good qualitie. In fact I learnt a lot from the people her. They are very hard working, they know how to make the best of the little resources(Jugaadu). What they need is a mentor who can enhance their skills and get them to be creative and focus towards what they want in life(Goals).
It is not important to earn a lot, the value and you followi g your passion is important.
It is very important to learn first. It is ok, if you are paid less because don’t expect That I mentor you and also pay you a high salary.
It is a private job and not a government job where sit and earn. So I will say, you should behave the quality of
Willingness to learn something new
Willingness to go beyond the boundaries.
Perseverance is very important
Hard work
Creativity And Willingness to think differently
India has an abundance of opportunities, yet people are running after the government jobs only. There is so much to do and go beyond the normal.
Did you be a victim of procrastination?
I have never had to struggle with procrastination as I am a very Hyperactive person. There has to be the motivation that I can do something constructive with my time. I need to rest, but Then I need to work and complete the task at that time.
Prioritize my work, my projects, my tasks. Being from the US, it is beaten into us to be task-oriented, though not a very good thing for mental and emotional health.
Here in India, people are more relationship and family-oriented rather than task-oriented if you want to get things done.
What will be your advice for someone who wants to begin a start-up or an NGO?
To begin with, one should have written and verified a business plan from an expert. We should be ready with our next step- both in case of a success or a failure.
Take a second opinion from an expert of your idea and the execution plan. Along with this, you should know from where you are going to get your finance.
Last but not the least, you should be prepared to overcome the succession of obstacles that will keep coming. Have the “Not giving up” attitude.
Most people use the social media for entertainment. What will be your guidance with respect to using the social media to grow one’s business.
You need to move strategically because all the platforms of social media will not work for you. Depending on your product, your service, you need to select the platform.
I believe you should have really good content and then repurposing the content on Social media. Social media should be a support for what you are doing. Smartly pick the platform that works for your start-up or NGO and focus on it. We had a wonderful talk, I want you to share some messages with our young entrepreneurs. Message for the ReadersContinue to Improve yourself. Be of help to people around you. Do something by which you can serve society. Don’t think too much about what other people are going to think about you. Be authentic, be original. A copy will be thrown into a dustbin. Do work that will be remembered. Some light moments.
You have been in India for quiet sometime. You have enjoyed a variety of food. Which is the food you relish the most?
I love eating spinach with cottage cheese (palak paneer) and stuffed radish wheat bread (mooli paratha).
Your favourite attire you love to wear?
I love to adorn a cotton saree with a mismatch(solid with printed) colored blouse.
Your favourite place you visited?
I enjoyed the city of Udaipur. It was very beautiful and mesmerizing. It was a wonderful talk with you. I liked the questions you asked in the interview and you are doing amazing work. Do support and watch Manoj’s shows. For all who wish to know more about Jessica, you can follow her in the links given below.