Jayanthi Sethuraman: A Student for Life

Jayanthi Sethuraman, head, marketing, Fujitsu India,  is a perpetual learner and never stops at her laurels

Currently the head of marketing for Fujitsu India, Jayanthi Sethuraman has come a long way. She describes her career span as a continuous journey and an evolution. "The scenery could change and the people around. The destinations may themselves change to accommodate one's growth and development as an individual. My most memorable and interesting moments during the journey of my career have been moments where I've had to question my assumptions and learn new and different ways to meet challenges. These are the situations that actually help one scale new heights and make the journey worth the efforts." says Jayanthi flashing her confident smile.

Educational background

Jayanthi went to USA and completed an MS degree in advertising from Syracuse University in the US. She also has a qualification in investor relations from the University of Connecticut. Very dynamic, Jayanthi believes in learning something new all the time. While at University, she also pursued classes in art history and screenplay writing. As is that's not all, presently, she is attending a course in spoken Japanese.

Family Background

Jayanthi comes from a family of teachers who remain her inspiration. As a marketer, she believes that one is almost always on the cusp of change and learning to do things differently so this suits her innate keenness for learning and teaching

Working in male-dominated field of IT

"I think it's finally about the impact one makes and how effective one is in one's chosen field," says Jayanthy. According to her, opportunities to grow always exist. It's important to constantly evaluate the landscape and seize new opportunities to grow even if it means getting displaced from one's comfort zone.

Does a glass ceiling exist?

Jayanthi finds it to subjective but knows how to tackle any roadblock. Whenever she has witnessed any roadblock or a dilemma in a professional context, she turns to her mentors and stakeholders for their advice and perspective. This has always helped her tremendously.

Advice to Working Women

"Retain your friendships-they keep you grounded at all times, " says Jayanthi While excellence in one's chosen field is almost a given, as we grow from a career point of view, it's important to identify mentors who can help us evolve and are our sounding boards during key inflection points in one's career, is Jayanthi's sincere advice. She strongly believes in support systems in the form of family and chosen friends who are crucial to one's success and indeed one's happiness overall. Most importantly, never losing faith in oneself is more than half the battle won. Also, Jayanthi has a mantra to retain the sense of humor and the ability to laugh at yourself-this can help you tide difficult moments and bounce back with new energy.

Life Beyond Work

A travel freak, Jayanthi loves to travel specially to places that are close to nature and allow some degree of introspection. Also, she loves to read especially non-fiction, travel and spiritual genres.

Future Plans

"I am fascinated by interesting entrepreneurial enterprises that have a global and inclusive perspective," says Jayanthi, She finds her future plans evolving constantly with new experiences and learning. The learner in her wants to experiment and evolve as each day passes by..

Ekta Saxena

(ektasa@cybermedia.co.in)