The Hindu Business Line : Different and successful

A high-profile executive in a multinational corporate house, a renowned doctor or a globetrotting software consultant - these would have been the most obvious career choices of any youngster a couple of years ago. However, with changing times, there are a host of unconventional success stories. Today, one needn't necessarily have an MBA or an MBBS degree to make it to the top. Canvas profiles a few such people who have made a career by pursuing their hobbies and their passionate interests in life.

Michael Foley, Head, Design Studio, Titan Industries Ltd

His passion for designing watches began with his graduation project at the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad on watch designing. "My project was on the Vista collection of watches created by the then Titan-Timex group of companies, in which I was asked to create a design concept for each watch. It was a challenging task to integrate styling with technology and by the end of the project I had made up my mind to become a watch designer," says Foley. Ever since, this product design graduate from NID has been with Titan and has been instrumental in designing a number of popular Titan collections. Heading a team of seven watch designers in Titan (all with a degree from a design school), the designer says that designing a watch demands an understanding of consumer perception, fashion trends, aesthetics, costs and most importantly, the technology of watch production.

Foley says that watch designing as a career does have a bright future, with a number of international watch companies willing to patronise design students specialising in watch designing. Though watch designers can make a career by freelancing, he feels that it is essential to work in a watch company so that the designer gets to know the intricacies of the watch production technology also.

Radha Krishnaswamy

Radha Krishnaswamy, Reebok University Master Aerobics Trainer

A national athletics champion and a passionate lover of sports, Radha continued to do her workouts regularly even after retiring from active sports. However, her first encounter with aerobics was way back in 1984, in Korea (where her husband was posted), when she decided to join an aerobics class close to her home. "I attended aerobics classes more out of curiosity, but soon began to enjoy myself. After coming back to Chennai, I conducted classes in my own living room and thereafter joined Arogya, one of the oldest fitness institute in Chennai, as a fitness instructor."

She enrolled in the Reebok Fitness Course in 1995 , and later went to Singapore to do a course on fitness at the American College of Sports Medicine in Singapore. Two years ago she was sent to the US by Reebok International, from where she graduated as a Reebok Master Trainer. "This degree has qualified me to train Reebok instructors," she says. "As a Reebok Master trainer, we teach aerobics instructors how to take an aerobics exercise class, talk about body conditioning, scientific principles of exercise, human anatomy and also tell them how to avoid injuries," she adds.

Tavleen Singh hosting a talk show

Tavleen Singh, TV anchor

After carving a niche for herself as a successful print journalist, Tavleen has also been able to establish herself as an equally efficient TV anchor. She has anchored shows such as Ek Din Ek Jeevan on Star Plus, India Today's election specials, and is currently anchoring a programme produced by Karan Thapar, called Dateline India on BBC.

Though she enjoys every bit of it, the veteran journalist says that TV anchoring is much more taxing than reporting, in the print or electronic media. "Anchoring is harder than TV reporting because you have less chances of fumbling and changing what you want to say."

One of the biggest problems that she often encounters is when the panellists get into an argument amongst themselves. "There have been moments when I have found myself in the middle of a storm that tosses me around instead of me controlling its movements." Anchoring for a show "involves writing the questions for the show about a day in advance, visualising what people will say and being prepared in advance for a new turn that might suddenly occur, and which was not envisaged."

Tavleen feels that there is an increasing need for professional TV anchors in India, and says that a career as a TV anchor or a TV reporter is definitely more lucrative compared to print journalism. Though training in a mass communication school does help to become a good anchor, in the long run it is practice that makes a person perfect.

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