"I have always followed the principle"- Monalisha Thakur, Tummoc

Tummoc, is building the TRANSIT for India to make public transport accessible to every doorstep. Tummoc is the indigenous Hybrid Transit system amalgamating Public and Private Transport for the daily and alternate commute. Monalisha Thakur, Co-founder & CMO, Tummoc talked about herself in the Women Power column in DQ Channels. 

The challenges of being a woman executive in a top role.

Of course, being a senior women executive came with its challenges. I believe my internships and my training experiences have helped me a lot. I worked with HCL in a high-pressure sales environment, I learned everything from scratch. Being in sales, I never owned any personal vehicle. I still don't have one. I literally have covered all the tech parks in Bangalore by walking with my backpack. My bosses always placed their trust in me and they were patient with me as it takes time to learn the ropes.

My seniors always made sure that as a woman I was given equal opportunities as my fellow male co-workers. All these things have helped me grow. I have learnt a lot from all of them. So yes, challenges are part of everyone’s life. I really do not need to point out each of them separately, every woman executive faces different challenges at different organizations. Those challenges have only led me where I am today.

Educational Background

In school, I was a PCMB student. I tried venturing into medicine first because so many members of my family are in medicine. But, then I changed my mind and decided to opt for Engineering. I’ve completed my B Tech in Food Technology, followed by my MBA from Al with Marketing as my major, and Operations as my minor.

Family Background

My family is full of doctors, engineers and lawyers. Now, I also have family in the media background.

My father was in fisheries before, but he’s retired from that now due to health ailments. He used to handle projects in freshwater fisheries management for Bihar, Jharkhand and neighbouring states. He’s currently serving the Government of India for the enhancement of vocational courses inland fisheries and PC culture for rural areas. My mother was a teacher, she was well-educated and had a PhD.

I have a younger sister who is six years younger than me and has also done her engineering. She’s currently exploring a career in government services.

Working in the Male-dominated field of IT.  Does a Glass ceiling exist?

Working in the male-dominated field of IT was not at all easy, I had to work 10 times more than my male counterparts to assure everyone that by hook and crook I was the best. I had to prove myself at every stage of my professional career. At times it was tiring but all that hard work has driven me as an individual to always keep hustling and keep doing new things.

To answer the second part of the question, “Does the glass ceiling exist “? So this is how I see it. It all depends on how we perceive it. For me personally, I went on as if there was no ceiling. I don't allow anyone else to put any ceiling on me. I decide it for myself so it all depends on how you take things into account.

I give 100% to everything I do.

Hobbies

• Poetry
• Singing - (Was Semi Classical singer at Vibhit Bharti)
• Coloring Mandala
• Reading

Future plans:

Short term, To make Tummoc reach billions of public transport commuters across India and then globally! Long term, frankly, I don't have any idea! :D

I have always followed the principle of knowing what I do not want to do so that I can explore the rest all my life!!! Why should we keep on doing only one thing all our lives, when we can certainly be and do so many things all our life!!! There is so much we can make out of it!!

In this whole process of understanding and doing the unknown, the only thing that remains here is my intent, hard work and the fact that my work and actions are able to add value to society in a good way. That is what matters to me in the end!

High-Five: 

1. Your Fitness Mantra

I am a morning person who gets up by 6 am. I like to exercise. My favourite form of exercise is long walks, a mix and match for HIIT. I like to eat my dahi-chawal, mostly homemade meals. I like to sleep on time.

2. Your De-stressing Mantra

Meditation is the key to de-stressing. And to add to it I like to listen to spiritual music — it also helps me stay grounded.

3. Where do you like to shop?

It is damn weird but I love to shop at airports as that is the only time I get for myself when I can shop since I have a very busy schedule on a day to day basis.  I arrive 3 hours early at the airport when I am travelling to other cities.

4. Your favourite holiday destination

South Goa

5. Five things you cannot live without

• My Family
• Music
• Work aspirations
• Friends
• My kind of food (homemade)

Workday:

Morning activities: I wake up at 6 am, make my daughter ready for school, and meditate. Have my precious morning tea, get ready for the office and have breakfast.

1st half in office: Sometimes my meetings are in the first half so I finish all of it and I like to discuss fresh marketing ideas with my team as that is the time everyone is quite productive and active.

Post Lunch: Post lunch goes into executing, implementing all the plans and the most important thing which I do post-lunch is analysis and self-reflecting. As in, everything that we do on a day to day basis and if the team is working on any new campaign how much of it worked out and what didn't. And if something didn't work out, how can we bring improvement the next time? Also, where did we fall behind?

How you spend your evenings: My evenings are spent spending time with my daughter if I get free early from work. I love to read, paint mandalas during the evening. Sometimes I sing to myself and enjoy my evenings.

"Following my heart has been the most important thing to me. I’ve been lucky to have amazing people who support me right through. My favourite part of being an Entrepreneur is knowing that all our work will directly impact society. Of course, it comes with a lot of responsibility too which I never let go of in my mind or heart even for a moment and I am grateful for that.”

Read Rapid Fire Interviews HERE

Read more from Ankit Parashar here