May Your Actions Match Your Ambition by Mrinal Deshmukh

A conversation on grabbing the right opportunities with the right attitude – our very own Mrinal Dehmukh from Customer Success talks about her favorite mantra in life.

Schooling and Engineering

I was born in a small town called Dhule. Since my father’s profession demanded frequent changes in location, we had to relocate from place to place every 3–4 years, though this gave me and my sister the opportunity to be more adaptive, learn on the move and be less afraid of change – our parents thought it would be best if we do our schooling from the same city. Therefore, we stayed in Nagpur and completed our schooling in Nagpur. From my childhood I had a keen interest in drawing, painting, craft and trying out new art forms. As I became older, I decided to weigh out my career options – and chose engineering as a path for my future, (I was excellent and in love with Math, btw).

An engineer by choice, I began working in an IT company in Mumbai as an Application Support and Maintenance engineer. Having done my Engineering in Electronics and Telecommunication, it was challenging to adapt to a software engineer’s role. As my first job, it was definitely filled with many learnings and experiences that I cherish to this date. However, the more I delved deeper into the role, I realized this is not my calling. The ecosystem was hierarchical, and reaching out to seniors was difficult, which made it further challenging. As time passed, I got more clarity.

My sister, being the brave heart of the family, gave me the courage and the necessary push to chase something I was so passionate about. The answer to “What would she do?” is usually the answer that gets me through some of the toughest situations. She has always been an inspiration for me, and she keeps giving me the courage to move forward. This is when I started exploring other career alternatives that would be in line with my passion, and connect to the learnings I have had in the previous work experiences. 

MBA – The Way Forward

As a creative individual, I engage in both the realm of creative thinking and express my artistic inclinations through painting; reflecting my passion for both processes. I soon came to the realization that Marketing was my calling and though the term appears to be relatively small, the layers and aspects behind it are huge. I began searching for MBA colleges since I thought about pursuing marketing as a specialization. While I was studying for CAT, I was also simultaneously working my 9-hour role. Any free time that I would find between my working hours would go into solving a Logical Reasoning question or some other business case. I then came across this institute called MICA (MICA as an MBA college which promoted themselves as “The School of Ideas”), and cleared my interview there. After clearing CAT and an entrance exam organized by MICA, I was selected for the GD-PI (Ground Discussion – Personal Interview) round. MICA had a unique selection criteria where instead of a traditional GD, they conducted a Group Activity with the applicants, giving them a chance to combine their marketing thoughts and creativity together. MICA won me simply with their selection process, and I was fortunate enough to crack the exam in my first attempt. After receiving the college admit, I submitted my resignation – by this time, COVID had already started making an impact around the world. Being the school of ideas, MICA compensated and managed the online classes very well, though I missed having the on-campus experience. I was eventually able to experience this in my second year of MBA. I loved looking at all brands and studying the story behind their advertisements. It excited me! Just the study behind the thought process awakened my creative senses. We got campus interviews online, and I chose my company cautiously this time.

My CleverTap Journey

CleverTap was one of the first companies that came to MICA for campus placement. I was fascinated with the job description and got selected for the company. After graduation, I was very excited to join the company and explore the place where I could finally execute my learnings. Fifteen of us joined together at CleverTap and our seniors at CleverTap had arranged for the learning to be fun. I loved the transparency, everyone was approachable and from there onwards, it has been a complete joy working here. I feel privileged to have landed in a company where I am learning, I can speak to peers from different teams and learn a lot from them, voice my challenges and put forward my opinions.

My current role, as a Customer Success Manager, allows me to explore my love for logic and creativity, the ideal combination that I was seeking. I deal with customers, and just working on finding the best solutions keeps me going. I love what I am doing and intend to continue putting in my efforts.

Furthermore, I always feel if you have the right attitude, opportunities are available everywhere. You need to seek them and give it your best shot. I would like to sum it with this quote, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”