My Journey to becoming a Social Entrepreneur

By: Rupa Parthasarathy

Ihad just shared with her that I had enrolled to do further studies and transition into a new career as Professional Counsellor. It was 2014, and my daughters were in primary school (8 and 12 years). I had a full-time job in a large financial institution, and it was a decade since we made Australia home. I was thirty-seven back then.

During my childhood, I never envisaged myself as an aspirational person. Though an above-average student with a natural penchant for health sciences and helping people, I had a carefree attitude when making career/life choices. This carelessness led me to give up an opportunity to study medicine and choose marriage over higher studies when I was presented with the option to marry or further studies. The naïve twenty-one-year-old me didn’t know then that this single decision would come back to challenge my life course a decade and a half later and set me on a path I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams.

I have always considered Australia my heartland, a home away from home, a land of opportunities, where anything was possible. Our journey of making Australia home was reasonably uncomplicated, and within a few years, our status changed from skilled migrants to citizens. While my husband’s career journey had initial hiccups, as every migrant faces, his single career choice meant, eventually, he was successful in securing a role in the same profession. Though I was the first to secure employment, when we initially migrated, my lack of aspiration and limited work experience led to taking any roles my way. For every new migrant, job security becomes a primary focus, especially when there is no family support.

So, making those choices seemed like the only choice I had. I took roles more for the financial security it gave our family than being my career choice. During my second child’s maternity leave, I secretly harbored this desire to explore a career that would align my skillset and capabilities. Growing up, I was always a creative person, so wanting to explore my creative skill set became my first choice. Having an innate need to do things differently, I invested my time skilling myself to become a certified international henna artist. The first time I shared with my friends, I studied to understand the cultural nuance of applying henna and got myself certified; some mocked me. “Henna lagane ke liye, kya international certificate?”. Some praised me, “Woah! There is an international certificate, and I passed it?, Kudos”. I then learnt my first life lesson: no feedback is bad feedback. One must learn to take people’s comments with a pinch of salt. Though short-lived, becoming a freelance Henna artist was my first taste in becoming an entrepreneur. It allowed me to work with and meet many big corporates, organisations, and individuals as a cultural artist and ambassador.

Exploring this creative urge, I also took my certificate courses in designing and pottery and completed a diploma in interior design. I even managed to get a job as a kitchen designer for a multinational household goods showroom. However, managing two young kids, with varying shift times, working around my husband’s extended corporate hours and having no family support made me return to finding a part-time job during school hours. Though financial security returned, I felt I was back at square one, doing a job that did not make my heart sing. And thus, a resolve to find my career path began. I decided to explore my love for helping people, and a conversation with a career counsellor led me to choose Counselling as my new career path.

This time, I urged things will be different. I decided not to quit my corporate role but pursue studying part-time by taking evening classes to complete a graduate diploma in counselling. During this time, there were many practical challenges I had to face. Like managing the schedules of my growing children and my work /study commitments. Throughout this period, my husband, a few close friends, my mother, and my motherin-law became my moral support. At the beginning of the journey, while Amma was concerned for me, my Appa was very proud and supportive of my decision. Unfortunately, he could never witness me, graduate, as he passed away in the interim of my studies.

Completing the graduate diploma helped me realise that I had the discipline to complete whatever I committed to. Parallel to my education career, I also moved along with my professional roles and became a lead workplace trainer. Thus, I learnt another life lesson: when you stop blaming yourself for your past failures and focus on the here and now, great opportunities align for you.

However, I still needed to solve the last piece of the puzzle, combining my love for creativity and arts with my penchant for working with people. It was then that I discovered the postgraduate course Master of Art Therapy offered at Western Sydney. With renewed confidence and the backing of my family, I enrolled for the course at the age of forty. But this time, I decided to go full steam, study, and work full-time.

During this time, I noticed that within South Asian society, there is a sense of shame regarding mature-age students, especially against women. I encountered many mixed reactions when sharing within the social circles I was completing my post-graduation. There were many raised eyebrows, smirking lips, and comments like, ‘Baachoon ke padai pe dyan do, Khud khyun padaiye Kar rahe ho?”, but there were also a few who remarked, “Good on you for making yourself a priority”. And the life lesson I took away from this experience is that it is to achieve a goal, it is crucial to surround yourself with positive people and move away from the naysayers.

In 2018, at age forty-two, I completed my post-graduate studies, and in 2019 graduated with high distinction. The day I graduated was one of the happiest days of my life. Witnessing my husband and daughters cheering for me when I walked up to the podium to get my graduation certificate was a proud moment that will be etched in my memory forever. Following my graduation in 2020, I took another leap of faith and became the founder of Mindkshetra, a creative wellness studio. A unique space, Mindkshetra is like a gym for mental fitness. As a social enterprise, we offer creative solutions to nurture inner well-being. As a COVID baby, though, establishing the business has not been an easy ride, and I have had many challenges along the way; the life lessons I learnt along my journey so far gave me the strength and tenacity to keep going. And our hard work also garnered many accolades, like being featured as a Top 2021 Small Business Leader and a finalist for Western Sydney Awards in performing arts.

If someone had told me twenty years before I would end up here, I would have been the first to disregard it and chuckle at their vivid imagination. But twenty years on, these are some crucial insights I would share with my young self:

4You have a choice when perceiving ‘your age in number’. You can wear it as ‘your ankle trap’ and hold you back or as ‘your badge of honour’ and keep moving.

4You have a choice when it comes to writing your own story. You can blame your shortcomings as a ‘Fail’ and view it as the end of the chapter or redefine it as further attempts at learning and start writing a new chapter.