Campaign speaks about alternative careers

Ankita P. Doshi, INN/Chennai, @Infodeaofficial

There are alternatives available to all of us and this is especially true when the talk is about careers. Campaign undertaken by Media Management Department of MOP Vaishnav College For Women aimed at generating awareness among the students on that point.

Idea behind the campaign was to just expose students to all those unconventional career paths they can take to after completing studies, says a release. It all began with a discussion. Various topics were considered for the PR campaign.

Safety of women, importance of parenting, role of influencers and off-beat careers were among the the issues considered for the campaign. The final call was taken and issue chosen was ‘alternative careers for today’s generation.’

Approval was obtained from the head of the department. Work began soon after that. Various teams were formed with help of 26 students, says the release. Each of them were alloted a task related to the campaign. One of the team took care of promotion, other team took care of creativity.

There were teams who looked into hospitality, documentation, sponsorship, media relations, crowd management, stage management and photography part of the campaign. From designing the logo to forming the agenda to fixing up the speakers, the teams began their work.

The campaign became ready for execution in less than a month’s time. Campaign began soon after inauguration by Tamil actor Ashok Selvan on 17 December. Consider every career option and chose the best one, was the word of advise given by Ashok.

He encouraged the students to consider carving their career in cinematography, direction and script-writing.’cinema has always been considered a taboo irrespective of gender.’ Of course, there are challenges, negativity and struggles like any industry, he said.

‘I believe if more women come into this field then there will be better stories,’ he said while addressing the audience.’ The speakers for the first day were Rohini Rau (Hospital Clown), Subhiksha Venkat and Priyadarshini Vijay (social media influencers), Badhri Seshadhri, founder of Motta Maadi Music and Hema Subramanian (Entrepreneur at home cooking show).

Rohini addressed topics like hospital clowning, sailing and arts. ‘Stage has been a huge platform in my career. I don’t have a set of plans. I believe that when opportunities come your way then you must be in a position to grab them.’

The second day of the campaign began with an element of humour involving budding stand-up comedian Gurumurthy Rathnam. He spoke about the
importance of understanding the core of every career before stepping into it.

His session was followed by a panel discussion comprising of experts from different off-beat arenas like RJ Toshila, RJ Syed, Cinemapayyan Abhishek Raja, Durgesh, Vaidhya M. Sundar and Divya Rajkumar of Madras Meter, Mridul Sahuwala of IlluminArty and food blogger Ekta Kothari.

The panellists delved into the intricacies of unconventional careers. They spoke about the different challenges prevailing in the media industry, importance of social media and collaborations in today’s world and how to build organic followers.

RJ Toshila said one has to be true to oneself. ‘You shouldn’t compromise on things you feel strongly about.’ The panelists emphasized that the ideal way is to have a stable job while pursuing passion as a freelancer.