Shreshtha has been an insights, strategy and consumer behaviour professional for all the 14+ years of her career. She is passionate about unearthing, decoding consumer asks and making meaningful sense of it which can aid business decisions.
She specializes in all kinds of researches and has had the opportunity to work across multiple industry verticals. She loves to work at the intersection of behavioral science, design thinking and technology. She is currently working with Google as part of their APAC Consumer & Market Insights team with a key focus on YouTube insights for India. Prior to Google, Shreshtha was working at DBS Bank as the Vice President & Head- Insights & Digital User Experience.
Linkedin: https://in.linkedin.com/in/shreshtha-bhardwaj-015b731b
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM to this role?
A. Full of excitement and satisfaction. IIFM opened the doors to this profession of insights & strategy for me and I feel forever grateful for it.
After joining Kantar (erstwhile IMRB International) in campus placement, I spent considerable amount of time (9.5 years) dabbling across multiple divisions- learning, executing, showcasing and mentoring teams across different researches straddling different industry verticals. Kantar gave me ample opportunities to grow and taught me how to help and lead people to grow. I completed my CFA as well while I was with Kantar.
I moved to DBS Bank post that, where I had the privilege of leading and working on various business problems, design thinking, strategy and customer journey projects that helped shape products, propositions and communications.
Currently, I’m working with Google.
Although this field is pretty much unrelated to the sectors IIFM is associated with normally, I feel the rigour and holistic pedagogy, work ethics that I observed and learned from my peers, seniors and faculty at IIFM sorts of prepares you to take on any unknown challenges.
Q.What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A. Its imperative that we keep on reinventing ourselves through continuous learning. My time at IIFM has played a big role in helping me become the person that I am today both personally and professionally.
Having had the opportunity to represent my previous organizations on internal and external forums and winning accolades has been truly gratifying. There have been many internal awards and recognitions too, but more than these awards and milestones, I treasure making lifelong friends who started as colleagues. These are the jewels I treasure the most.
Q.What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
A. Opportunity to work on projects which are transformational! Google provides you with the platform where you can make a meaningful impact on a large part of the society.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. Of course! The experience you get at IIFM prepares you to take on the challenges of the corporate world. The field trips, the organizational trainings, the groups projects, time spent with the batchmates, faculties at IIFM have been of immense help in gaining confidence, learning to deal and engage with variety of stakeholders, be a team player, to be able to disagree without being disagreeable- all of these have helped me grow into a professional.
Q. Who (or what) are the biggest influences or drivers in your careers? What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles.
A. Much credit goes to my father for always being there for me and supporting my decisions (no matter how weird they sound!) and also to my mother for putting in just right amount of fear into me that ‘success is not an option’. My sister is my role model. She is the wind beneath my wings. To use a cliché (cause I don’t think I could describe her more aptly than this), she is my friend, philosopher and guide . She has demonstrated to me the values and virtues of integrity, sincerity, accountability and tenacity and how it can shape up any professional’s career in any field. And today, my husband, Abhijit, is the loudest voice on my board of advisors- a source to reach out to when I start to feel the slight pangs of life’s challenges!
I would recommend IIFM juniors to keep their learning spree on ‘always eager and ready’ mode- learn new set of skill or knowledge area to keep yourself relevant and in demand. Things across sectors change very quickly. Nothing can be taken for granted !!
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. Far too many! To list a few- marathon study nights right before the exams- most of the times, it also involved arranging and borrowing books from fellow batchmates, singing songs with my roomie (Shweta, you know which ones!), long walks within the campus, sunset point, dance during Kalpataru,- ohh, this is making me so nostalgic!
Q.In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, alumni.. Anything else!!) or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. Friends and faculty both ……….they showed me the world which was not known to me and I am ever indebted and thankful to them.
The faculty is unmatched and a treasure trove in itself. The interactions with senior and junior batches, the time spent with my peers has been wonderful and has taught me many a things. We were a small yet diverse set of group at IIFM with every individual bringing in a different perspective and that made the experience at IIFM truly enriching!
Q.As an alumni, what’s your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get best out of the 2 years there?
A. I would suggest to take your time and explore yourself, your interest areas and enjoy this journey. Learn new things, make friends, reach out to faculty and the alumni if you feel you are stuck- this is the best time of your life . Don’t think only about grades and courses, be open and receptive!
Q. What is your typical day at the office? (We want to know what your day job looks like) .
A. Lines between office and home have been blurred by technology . Am a morning person and I like to check my mails and meeting schedules in the morning and plan my day . My reporting manager is 2.5 hrs ahead of India time zone and hence I like to start my day early. A typical day at the office starts with a sumptuous and healthy breakfast followed by work and more work and more more work followed by digging into a lunch spread fit to be offered to a king . Jokes apart, I have been lucky to work on the projects which are very diverse and interesting in nature and all of them have a potential huge impact on common people like us . The challenge to finish then well and finish them right makes my job meaningful and satisfying. I try to reach back by 5 -5:30 so I can spend some quality time with my son. I again plan some meetings / take calls with stakeholders in western markets, wrap up remaining work late evenings.
Q.And how about weekends, Hobbies, Family and anything else you want to add
A. Weekends are all about spending more time with my son , taking care of my other children aka my plant babies and baking a cake or two . We have relocated to Hyderabad recently so some part of weekend also is spent in setting up our new abode.
Q.Favorite Books, movies, authors
A. My current favorite is “No Rules Rules” which talks about how Netflix grew to be what it is today. The other interesting book that I just finished is called “Nudge” and I would strongly recommend it to everyone. It has taught me how to use thoughtful choice architecture to help us make better decisions for ourselves, our families, and our society .
Am not a great fan of movies but I can watch runs & reruns of MasterChef Australia. Somehow my remote just take me there every single time I switch on the telly.
Avanti Mehta is my new favorite Author. She write for children and the way she communicates right and tough messages to them in simple words and stories is marvelous . I have fallen in love with her stories.
Q.IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students?
A. Happy to help in anyway possible. I’m forever grateful to the life and professional learnings I’ve had at IIFM and would be happy to give back in whichever form I can.
Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there? What do you think is a positive change and what is not?
A. To be honest, I’m not fully aware of the academic changes that have happened. However, the few interactions I’ve had with some of the recent graduates has made me feel that they have much more clarity and are more confident in what they want and the path they want to carve out for themselves.
Q.Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. Tanmay Chetan from the 1995-97 batch and Rajen Tanwar from the 1996-98 batch- both of theirs journeys have been truly amazing and inspiring!