Arati Bam: A Fighter Who Never Gives Up

Arati Bam, marketing head, The Attachmate Group, India is a fighter and living her life like a dream

Versatile and dynamic to the core, Arati Bam believes that her journey so far has been a growing and an enriching experience. In her career of 12 years, both in sales and marketing, she has been lucky to have got some good roles and managers, who have helped her groom as a professional with every role offering a different challenge in this path of growth. Currently heading marketing for The Attachmate Group in India which has 4 business units-Novell, SUSE, NetIQ, and Attachmate. Each is different in terms of target audience, positioning and the marketing requirements Arati has to wear a different hat every time which is challenging but she loves it.

The Educational Background

An MBA from Symbiosis and a computer science graduate from Pune University, Arati's schooling was done across India as her dad was in the Army moving every 2-3 years.

Family Background

Arati's father was in the Army and mother was a homemaker. She has a brother who is also an Army officer. Her husband is a senior business professional with Honeywell and she is blessed with two sons, 9 years and 2.5 years. having grown up in the dynamic army background, she was quite independent while growing up. She feels totally blessed to have a supportive family environment that helps her in giving best on the job.

Working in Male-dominated field of IT

Is IT a male dominated industry? Arati does not completely agree to this as today the landscape is changing and IT is one of the most versatile industries that offer various career options for women be it in R&D, HR, sales, marketing, customer support, etc. Today with the diversity policies and an increase in number of women being hired, an impact is being created in the industry. She says, "Yes, we as women also need to be extremely professional and put in that extra effort to achieve our goals. I am fortunate that my organization helps me in striking the right balance between my professional commitments and personal life. My dream was to be a fighter pilot but women are still not allowed to fly fighter planes so you can call that as a male dominated industry."

Does a Glass ceiling exist?

A glass ceiling is not what bothers Arati. She says, "Today there is no such thing as a glass ceiling, women are increasingly occupying the corner offices and I am glad that things have changed. When I started my career 12 years ago, the perception was that women work just as a hobby but today a woman's career is as important as the man's. Today we have many big names in the industry being headed by women in India like HP, Intel, IBM to name a few." This trend is definitely motivating for women.

Advice to Working Women

Arati believes that it is very important to enjoy what you do every day and hence it is critical to know what it is that makes you happy. she adds, "I would like to say have your individual goals and priorities and make a plan to achieve it. For me being a successful working professional is as important as being a good mother and being there for my family. I take pride in the fact that I have been able to strike a good balance on both and that is my goal in life."

Future plans: Arati totally loves her work. She is quite satisfied with the way her career is shaping up. She would like to continue to grow in this field as there is lot of opportunity and scope to reap more benefits from marketing in the IT industry. However, she has planned it bit differently for later stages in her life. she says with a twinkle in her in eyes, " I would love to go to a beach location and have a small restaurant of my own."

 

Ekta Saxena

(ektasa@cybermedia.co.in)