The secrets to lasting marketing career: self-learning, adaptability, value alignment | Pranjalee Lahri (Marketing Consultant, prev. Darwinbox, Invince)

This transcript has been lightly edited for brevity. 

Mita Mandawker (00:03):


Hello and welcome to CTRL + ALT + Marketing. I am your host, Mita Mandawker. Today I am excited to introduce Pranjalee Lahri, a SaaS marketing leader with over 15 years of experience in B2B. Now a marketing consultant for startups, she has led marketing in HR tech, e-learning, and more. I have been following her no-nonsense insights on LinkedIn for a while now and when I saw that she moved into a consulting role last year, I was very curious about her decision. So we dove deep into all of that and more in our conversation which very quickly turned into a two-hour marathon full of great career advice. This episode kicks off a two-part series on her career journey. Without further ado, let's meet Pranjalee. 

Mita Mandawker
(00:49):

First and foremost, I would love to hear about your early life and where you're from and how your entire journey started. You have a very interesting background. Let's talk about it first. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(00:59):

I'm excited about this. It's the first time that I will be talking about more from a career standpoint than just marketing. So I'm excited to be sharing some bits of my career on how I went about and what I'm still doing as a part of it, coming to my early life and really how got me to the place I'm at. In a nutshell, really. I'm a girl from Thane, Thanekar is my maiden name. And you'll see that on LinkedIn as well. Born and brought up in Thane and then came to Pune for engineering, fell in love with the city. So that's really how I converted from being a Thanekar to a Punekar. And on more of the academic and the professional side. I came here, as I said, for my engineering. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(01:40):

Went on to do my MBA again in the same city, Pune, and had my entire marketing career now 15 years completely built in this city. 

Mita Mandawker (01:49):


I remember you calling out very specifically that you had a deal with your mother about doing engineering. And to me, it was such an interesting story to listen to. Can you tell us a little more about it? 

Pranjalee Lahri (02:01):


So I always joke that the engineering colleges have given us some of the best marketers out there. And I don't know if it's the four grueling years that, build the discipline, the rigor, and just the understanding of complex concepts out there or it's just the sheer number of engineering graduates every year that outnumber the job positions. I don't know which way it is, but I'll tell you about me and my foray into this field. So honestly, in complete transparency, it was the outcome of a pact that I had with my parents. If I did what they wanted me to do, which is engineering, I could have it my way. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(02:39):

I honestly did not know what that would be, but just that engineering wasn't going to be my way forward in the world of work as I saw it. And with the benefit of hindsight, I now see that the mix of technical that I got from engineering with the mix of business that I got from MBA really served as a great foundation for me to build off a career, which was, you know, starting at a position like a junior copywriter, and we'll get into it very soon. And now being an independent consultant and just traversing 15 years in between, it's so interesting. 

Mita Mandawker (03:13):

Indian parents always have this thing that, you always get a degree or have your education in a field which is going to get you that job security. So I found that very interesting that, you know, having that sort of a pact and also that your parents were very cool, that they were also fine with you going ahead and pursuing what you wanted to do. I think I recall from our earlier conversation the one thing that you always knew is you enjoyed writing, which was where your interest in marketing really sparked off. So how did you go about it, like, from engineering to, like, your first copywriting job? So did you, how did you go about exploring the options? Because the route is very different. 

Mita Mandawker (03:56):


Did you go about having internships or did you speak with someone who was already doing that sort of a role? How did that happen? 

Pranjalee Lahri (04:05):


Yeah, you know, you bring up a very valid point, which is engineering was, I believe, still is, but to a last, large extent, was, back in the day, considered a very safe career choice. And I have a family of engineers on my mom's side. 

Pranjalee Lahri (04:20):


And that kind of just aided the decision that maybe this is going to be the safest career path for me. And so that was that. If I have to think of early influences and my love for writing obviously was there, but just from an early influence standpoint, I fleetingly remember my best friend at school one time, she just mentioned media, and honestly, I did not know what media is, but to my 13 year old curious and very rebellious mind, it sounded very exciting. And so what happened is thereafter it was really identifying if writing is going to be the path for me. One another kind of anecdotal piece I can remember. And a part of the memory that I have very fresh, is I was at an MBA coaching institute, preparing for my MBA exam. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(05:06): 

And it was here that one of the teachers recognized my writing skills. And she even said that maybe I should consider journalism as a part of my career options. Again, an option which was not on my mind, never a part of my thinking set, but something that was, in a way, validated by an authority like a teacher. And I thought maybe it's something I could entertain. Not that I should, but I could entertain. So that is really how I was able to, you know, just put two and two together and think that if writing is something I enjoy, maybe there's a validation that I'm getting from an authority figure like a teacher. This could be one of the paths that I could take in considering entire career in this field. But honestly, I did not know what career it could be. 

Pranjalee Lahri (05:46):


And really, if it would really translate into something in marketing or just journalism or, I don't know, anything, really. 

Mita Mandawker
(05:54): 

I'm glad that journalism lost a star and marketing gained one. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(06:00): 

No, no. I mean, I could have been on a different path altogether if it was journalism, but. Well, I'm happy with the path that I'm on now. 

Mita Mandawker
(06:07):

Yeah, both careers involve significant use of storytelling, so I think in that way, you’re just doing the work in a slightly different fashion towards slightly different goals. But the base of storytelling, I think, remains the same. 

Pranjalee Lahri (06:23):


I agree. 

Mita Mandawker (06:24):


Yeah. So that's really great to know, but, so how did you get in? How did you get your first, like, copywriting job? How did that happen? Because I think it was right after engineering. 

Pranjalee Lahri (06:36):


Correct. So maybe for this, I'll take you back to the year 2006. I had freshly graduated as an electronics and telecommunications engineer. Honestly, I was at crossroads thinking if I should pursue a post-graduation degree in mass communication or I should do something like an MBA? And I chose the latter purely because I thought it gave me a broader canvas to play on. And that sounded better to me compared to niching myself down into Mass comms. And because MBA exams are tough and I wanted to really be prepared for it, I decided to take one year break. And in this one-year period, I enrolled in an MBA coaching institute. And it was here that the teacher that I alluded to earlier, she was the one who really recognized my talent. And I was like, you know, maybe this is something I should consider. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(07:21):

The next piece of the story really can best be described, I would say, as serendipity, because in a couple of days from there, I stumbled upon this small advert in a print newspaper for a junior copywriter role at a boutique ad agency here in Pune. And honestly, I had a zero qualifications to be there, let alone make the cut. But nonetheless, I went for the interview and one short assignment later, they recruited me. So I don't know. I mean, I can best describe this as what I was seeking, was seeking me. And hence the copywriting job really was something that, kind of came into my universe, in a way, and I decided to pursue it. 

Mita Mandawker (08:03):


I think the point that you mentioned about, choosing a bigger canvas, really struck with me. I think even when we initially chatted, I mentioned that you know, it's always about choosing the option which gives you the largest surface area of luck. I think that's what you did with Mass comms PG versus an MBA. So I think that's great. And I think the whole idea around using that gap year to also find how the real world, around a copywriting job actually was, that's a great idea because there is a picture that we always have about how a role would be or how that work would be. And as 21-year-olds, it's a very dreamy view to have. So I think just going and getting those real world skills are super helpful. 

Mita Mandawker (08:57):


And I'm so glad that you had a teacher who actually, you know, gave you that encouragement, which opened more doors for you. 

Pranjalee Lahri (09:05):

I agree. But I will say this, okay, because I don't want to lead with a false kind of notion that I knew it. I went into this job not because I thought I wanted a real world experience. Very honestly. This coaching class was just a couple of hours in the day, and I had a huge chunk of time by myself. And as a personality and as the person that I am, I like to do things right. I like to see myself just contributing to something. And that was really that Pranjalee in me that wouldn't allow me to just while my time away. And I was like, maybe this is something I could try on the side. Not even that I want to do. I just wanted to try on the side. 

Pranjalee Lahri (09:42):


So, yes, the realization that the reflection that this could eventually help me in the long run and give me the foundation for what a real world kind of career would look like came much later. But at that point in time, it was just as naive as I could be just going into it and saying, let me see if this could be something I could consider. 

Mita Mandawker (09:59):

I think it's very interesting to know that. I mean, regardless of whatever you have education in, and I think right now, folks are a lot more open towards doing very different things compared to what they have studied in or spent like three, four years in. That sunken cost fallacy is gone. But at least earlier it used to be that, okay, I've spent so much time doing this in engineering. I've spent so much money, and for me to go ahead and do something completely different, it's a huge risk. I'm not making use of my education. I want to pivot a little bit right now, Pranjalee. And let's talk about MBA. I know, like right now, MBA is not crucial to getting a start in marketing. And that's like the best change ever to have happened over the last few years. 

Mita Mandawker
(10:50): 

Like startups have leveled the playing ground to a huge extent. But at least, you know, when you started off with your career, you mentioned that your reason for doing an MBA was to have a broader canvas. Do you think having that sort of a broader canvas really impacted your career? 

Pranjalee Lahri
(11:08): 

Oh, great question. And I'm just going to give my honest opinion here again. Okay, so by the time I did my MBA after the gap year, I'd already had two stints at ad agencies. One, I already spoke about the junior copywriter, and I also then had been a client servicing representative in another boutique agency. So by the time I got into MBA, I had some work experience and I was really enjoying doing what I was doing because I could see everything that I was contributing manifesting to outcomes. And I found that much more fulfilling than honestly, sitting in a class waiting for the lecture to end, the exam to come for you to fill in your sheets and wait for the results. I just found that to be too drab now.  

Pranjalee Lahri
(11:52): 

Coming to MBA and if I found that to be useful, here's what happened. Because I was working. And by the way, even after the first common year of MBA, I got another opportunity at another agency. I don't know, maybe it was just the universe sending such opportunities my way or me seeking them whichever way, but I was really just taking them up and I was lapping them up happily. So really, because of the on-ground knowledge, and the learning that was happening so rapidly, I found it very easy to assimilate just theoretical textbook knowledge that you typically get limited to in an MBA or any kind of B-school. 

Pranjalee Lahri (12:29):

And I found it very easy to do it. So much so that I actually topped my MBA institute and even received an award at the hands of the late Vilas Rao Deshmukh erstwhile chief minister of Maharashtra. I don't attribute my career success so much to an MBA. And I know this is my own worldview and this could just be my limited view of what happened for me. But I feel like going to the right tier institute. Going to the right institute perhaps is far more important than just having one MBA checked off and having a postgraduate degree in your name. I don't think that really matters. Definitely, coming from a good institute opens doors to multiple marquee brands. You can unlock the power of networks which we all know of are so crucial, especially in today's day and age. So that's my view. I would rather attribute my success. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(13:16): 

And again, I'm talking about now, 15 years back, ten years back to my initial learnings and everything that I did as a part of my career than today. However, I will say this right, because the world of work, the startup culture, and everything that we know from a work standpoint has evolved so much over the last couple of years. It's no longer about your educational qualification, it's more about what are you able to bring to the table. And if that knowledge comes from a work experience or something that you've been able to do in your own garage, so to speak, that's great, because that is what the world really wants. It's no longer a set of certificates that you can, you know, put somewhere on paper or your wall. And that doesn't really just make the cut in my opinion. 

Mita Mandawker (14:01):

I think the fact that you mentioned that, MBA would make a huge difference if you've done it from some, from a different type of an institute. I think, yes, it does open doors, at least at a time when it was important. You know, I remember having those JDs or reading those job descriptions where, you know, it was a requirement that you have to have like an MBA to actually apply to that job. Or maybe I was very naive enough to think that, okay, if I don't have one, I won't be able to apply. But yeah, it was very crucial at that point of time. 

Mita Mandawker (14:38):

And yes, the whole network effect, the whole alumni network, I think that's something that you get to leverage when you do it from a very good institute, apart from the education that you get there. But yes, nothing beats work experience. Nothing does. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(14:54): 

Well, I'm proponent of that. I believe I'm a product of that and hence that's the only way I know and I know people on both sides of this. I know people that have come from good-tier institutes and I've seen them really reach different levels. But I've also seen people that have just kind of done it through their hard work, rigor and determination and get there. I don't really have research to back one or the other, but I can only speak from my experience and say that I've always been a proponent of that over maybe just getting a degree and having that kind of just elevate you to another level. 

Mita Mandawker
(15:25): 

I think the time when you started your career, MBA was, it was very important to have like a post-graduation degree, and especially to have one in business was a huge advantage to have because it did open a few doors at that point of time, at least. I think that the job market was such then it's changed, it's evolved, and it's evolved for better. But yeah, I think that also made a bit of a difference back then. 

Pranjalee Lahri (15:55):


I agree. Here's what I do think. Back in those times, probably we did not have avenues like LinkedIn, and I'm just giving a very generic example. But you did not have anything that could speak to your credibility, and you really relied on professional certifications and things like that. Hence it had much more information and much more weightage than it has today. Today there are just so many avenues for you to prove what you're capable of that maybe that has just diluted in its prioritization for any HR or any talent acquisition manager. 

Mita Mandawker
(16:29):

I see so many young folks who are just fresh out of college, you know, going ahead and trying out different things on LinkedIn, and they share about their journey. I think I recently spoke with a message with someone who is a lawyer, and now she's building a career in marketing and she's like a content marketing freelancer. And it was so interesting. And they're building in public. They're going ahead and they have that avenue to actually go ahead and share what they want to do, what they like to do, and also showcase their skills. I think, yes, that was definitely missing at that point of time. There were very few job boards, there were very few social media networks, which gave us that opportunity to have like a very broader stage. 

Mita Mandawker
(17:18):

I mean, it was very difficult to probably converse with someone who was working at the other end of the world and understand their experiences. And unless you found a way to connect with them through a mutual contact or maybe like a cold email. So one thing I realized was, like, you have started off your career in, like, an ad agency, and then you moved on into a proper B2B in-house kind of a setup. What was the rationale behind that kind of decision? And how has your experience been ad agencies versus an in-house setup? 

Pranjalee Lahri
(18:00):

So when I was with an ad agency, I tried out different roles. I did copywriting, I did client side. So I was the client representative manager. And somewhere in my mind, I just thought that I wanted to lead a Marcom department. And Marcom was like, maybe it was in my head that I thought because I was good at writing, that's an area I could go deeper into. And that could be the eventual, like, the cusp of my career, could be leading the entire Marcom department. So in 2010, I actually moved into my first corporate role in a B2B e-learning company a complete 360-degree departure from the world I came from. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(18:40): 

Because ad agencies are now like a B2B e-learning company. Everything was different. From the channels that we use, the target audience that we had, just the geographies that were working in. And I felt like a fish out of water, to be very honest. But one common thread that I will probably call out from my entire career journey has been just learning and adapting. And I don't know about you or anyone else, but I believe it comes because I have a chip on my shoulder. I always have. So I was never the bright kid. I was the kid with distinction or, you know, 80%. And I've been in that range. And when you're in that area of the spectrum, you kind of try extra hard to show people that you deserve to be there. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(19:23):

So that has been my thing, really. So even at this company, while I did not know so much about even digital, because I came from a more traditional marketing background into digital, I just learned. I was just learning so rapidly and adapting so much that was going on that I realized that was my strength, and I really used it to my advantage. So much so that then I started getting promoted in the same company, and I ended up spending eight years of my life, giving eight years of my life to this company, where it gave me back even more terms of the learnings, in terms of the exposure, in just terms of understanding the marketing landscape. So it was like this mutual, synergetic, symbiotic relationship that I shared with this company for eight long years, which I think was very helpful. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(20:07):

So from agencies to coming to a more corporate, I think it became easier when I realized how I could do this, and I started relying more on myself and what I could do, rather than waiting for, something to come out and say that, hey, this is a training we have written for you. Go ahead, take it. I just took it upon myself. I was like, maybe if we have to be on LinkedIn as a part of this company's marketing mix, let me go and figure it out. If I have to do this, let me go and figure it out. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(20:33):

And I'll tell you what. It's been great because self-learning is a great journey, but also it takes maybe a larger amount of time to do it because you are, you have your own trials and tribulations. You're probably falling, picking yourself up, learning, and then just, you know, going along the way. But nonetheless, that is really how it took me entirely through the eight years. 

Mita Mandawker
(20:51):

It's very enlightening. I think the one part that I really liked, and I would actually want to dig in a little bit more, is the self-learning part. I think the one thing that you mentioned was, that's your superpower that you actually go ahead if you don't have context. You developed it because for you, it was a complete 360 degrees in terms of industry, in terms of channel, in terms of everything. And you ended up working there for such a long period of time, you’ve worked through each and every evolution of the company as well. So when you talk about self-learning, and especially, I think you were still in your early stages of the career, what were some things that really helped to develop that kind of mindset? I know it comes intrinsically, but say..

Mita Mandawker
(21:35):

You have to share this advice with someone way younger who's just starting that journey, what would you share, actually go ahead and do that? 

Pranjalee Lahri
(21:44
):

Maybe I'll tell a story and I'll come to this point very quickly. And this is actually even before the e-learning company, before my actual corporate gig, this was as a copywriter. So when I went in as a copywriter, as you know, with no prior qualification, no academic education, that set me up for this. Maybe it was five or ten minutes on the first day of my job, I realized maybe I cannot, or maybe I'm not a good copywriter, or, heck, I'm not even a good writer at all. And I had grossly underestimated the skills needed for just, you know, understanding the target audience, writing creatively, writing succinctly, and all of the things that it takes to really become a good copywriter. But here's what I did, and by the way, another fun fact. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(22:27):

So I used to report directly to the founder of the company. And he was the first reviewer at the last reviewer of my work. It was a very small team. So all of the key accounts I got assigned to, many of these key accounts, like some of the key accounts, not many. So as soon as I understood I had to learn all of those pieces, I started going deeper into this. And some of the things I did back then, and this is still. Let's appreciate the time I was in. This was still pre-internet in a way. Of course, there is the internet, but the proliferation is not so much. So I started talking to my peers who were in the same space as me. I started talking to my colleagues as they were writing their ad copies. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(23:07):

I even started working closely with my founder because he was the one who had the subject matter expertise in this entire area. But that was really baptism by fire, I feel, because I needed to prove myself, and it was to be done that day. So some of the tips that I could give is identify what is that one skill you need to learn for yourself. And it could be as small as just writing in my case, but for you, it could be maybe, how do I run a campaign? What are the tactical to-dos for it? Today it's just so much easier to find answers to everything that you need to do. It could just mean to do one Google search or maybe just be a part of the right community, and you could have a support system unlike any. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(23:46):

Again, going to the steps, I would say one, identify what are the one skill or the two skills that you need to do. Start small. You don't want to overwhelm yourself so much that you feel like this is too big a battle to take on and then really keep developing those. You want to have some internal metrics to understand if you're getting better at it, and if you want to take support of any certification programs. I feel that's a good to have, not a must-have. There is just so much you can do by yourself and really just put one step in front of the other. I wish there was a better way for me to explain, but this is really what I did, that figuring out that one piece. And once I kind of understood that understanding, the next became much more easier. 

Mita Mandawker
(24:25):

And I think that's very helpful. I think simply firstly figuring out. What is it that you need to get better at? That's the beginning. Once you know, you can always build a plan based on that. So that's a great way to start off. I think one thing that I would really like to unpack right now is so all the places that you worked at, you spent a good amount of time, and that's quite a departure from the way a lot of careers happen right now. People will spend like two or three years even that seems like a lot, but, eight years, six years, it happens a little rarely right now. 

Mita Mandawker (25:03):


I think one thing that I would like to understand is, yes, you had like a great journey there in terms of learning and everything. Do you think having your values, the values that Pranjalee has as a person, matching the organization's values, also helped? So you were able to better identify. It's very important to be in a role, where you also align with your values align. So how does that work and how do you identify that actually in advance when you're looking for something new? 

Pranjalee Lahri
(25:38):

Wow. I mean, I wish this answer was simple. It's not, and I don't really have it completely figured out. I wish I do, and I could just lay a step-by-step process in doing it. But here's what I try to do the best. From my understanding and experience so far, value alignment is super critical. But I did not know value alignment as a critical evaluation metric when I joined, let's say, company number one, company number two, or company number three. Even then, I was literally just trying it out. Trying and testing and see what sticks. Just the way we say in marketing, let's throw something at the wall and see what sticks. Essentially, that is exactly what I was doing. 

Pranjalee Lahri (26:16):

It was much later when I understood that things that are giving me fulfillment were not just my KRAs, were not just the things, very hard things that I could tangibly articulate and say. These were intangibles, largely intangibles, like the people around me, the culture of the company. Did it support me? Did it allow me to put my ideas on the table? Were those ideas entertained? Like, how are my decisions even upheld or not upheld? So I believe it was a series of those smaller intangible things that I later understood were what were actually contributing to my longer stint there, because those were the ones that really were the glue or the super glue. To put this all together, what I understand much better now is it's essential for people to do this value check right at the beginning. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(27:07):

Because you are actually giving a part of your life to a company. And in exchange of that, of course, you're getting the remuneration and all of the things, but you need to be in alignment to the larger picture and the larger culture, the larger goals and values of the company. Otherwise, there have been companies where I've seen the friction, and I know how it kind of, you know, the internal conflicts I have when I'm in a situation like this versus this. So I believe that at an earlier stage in your evaluation journey, if you're able to chat with people in the company, that's a great way to do it. Maybe even going to sites like Glassdoor and Similar where you have more authentic feedbacks and opinions from existing employees is a great way to test it out. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(27:55):

But in essence, I feel like, yes, value is such an important part of a career, and maybe it's the most undervalued or at least underspoken about. There are other aspects, just get spotlighted more. Again, maybe we should talk more about values. 

Mita Mandawker (28:08):


But yeah, you know, Pranjalee , that sounds solid. Values are such an important part of the work that we do that we should definitely not ignore it, especially when we are looking for our new roles. Now, I want to switch gears a little bit, and let's move on to my next section. How does career growth or how does planning your career in one company work like so, for instance, normally people end up moving to other roles or other companies because they want like a more senior role, more money, or whatever it is that they are looking for. But how does one negotiate that sort of a career growth when you're working in one company? I know it happens very organically as well, but how do you go ahead and very proactively take control of it? 

Mita Mandawker
(28:51):

Because I think that's one thing that you've done. You've had very good journeys at each place that you've spent time at. So how have you gone about doing it? Like, how do you advocate for yourself? 

Pranjalee Lahri
(29:07):

Well, at least speaking from my experience, the company I was at, while it looks like it's a long journey or a long career that I've spent at one company - every year was very different. The marketing landscape itself was evolving so rapidly. This company, the portfolio was expanding to a degree that I can't explain. I think my role in itself, also because of the newer challenges and the newer opportunities coming, it just kind of changed year on year, and that kept me in the game, excited, and that is what kept me there. To come to the question that you asked, how do you really take control of this, and how do you ensure that you have your path clearly set out? One, I believe you need to have that vision for yourself. 

Pranjalee Lahri (29:51):

You need to be very clear about what is it that you want to do. And getting that clarity from your manager, your leader, is equally important, because it's one thing to have a vision, to believe that, okay, I want to be here in five years, ten years, whatever timeframe that you have set in your mind. But if that's not in alignment with the company's plans or not in alignment with what the leader has in mind, it could be in direct conflict. So understanding it, which also means having the right rapport and having the right relation with your superiors, with your leaders, is equally important. I believe subconsciously, maybe this wasn't an active thing that I used to think of, but I believe just the way I function. I have been very diligent in my role, and very ownership-driven, and that showed. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(30:34):

So a lot of my promotions and the way I moved up in my career hierarchy was purely because I let my work speak for me more than I had to advocate for myself. It definitely helps that I'm a people person, and maybe because that is how we function, as humans. You definitely want, like, someone to validate the social proof element stays true for us, no matter where we are. And I had those people and at different positions, at different functions, at leadership roles, who could do that for me. And who I believe validated that call when it was made that, okay, I'm now ready to be promoted from x to y. I think there was a, say eco chamber, but there was a chamber that always said, yes, it's going to be the right decision. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(31:18):

So I think all of these things worked. Again, I wish I could say that this was also structured, and everything was like me driving and steering my own ship. To some degree it was. But to a large degree, it was really the way, I think I built that allowed it to just happen so seamlessly. 

Mita Mandawker (31:36):


I think one thing that I would like to dive a little deeper into is, you mentioned one part, and I think I also recall this from our previous conversation, is you've been good at building relationships with people. You have a very strong network and that also kicked into effect when you actually left your last role and got into, marketing consulting. A lot of folks actually gave you a call and asked you to come join them full time, but you were not keen, getting into conversation a little early here. But I think one thing that I would like to know is a lot of things that you have done for your career have happened very unconsciously, but being very strong at networking has been a huge strength of yours. 

Mita Mandawker
(32:21):

So, how do you build that? I think being a people person makes that a little easier. But generally, what has been your approach to doing it? 

Pranjalee Lahri (32:36):


Believe it or not, I identify myself as an ambivert. I want to say introvert, but I'll still say ambivert. And I say this because sometimes we have at least a myth or a wrong understanding that being introverted means that you probably cannot network or you cannot do some things. To me, that is what I thought of myself, only to know that actually, the right people energize me. And I liked understanding and just having a curiosity for other things. And I know you're using the word curiosity so loosely because it means just so many different things, but I mean it in the best way possible, that I was always curious about learning about other things. So going back to, let's say, the e-learning company example, e learning as a field, was very new to me. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(33:23):

So just understanding how every function in e-learning worked, whether it was instructional designing, or project management, or just the tools they used, I used to have a lot offline and informal conversations with these folks to understand what were they doing. Only because I wanted to know how is this going to translate into my marketing. So a lot of what I was actually doing, which was, again, subconsciously, unconsciously was trying to build my own understanding of some things. And in the process, I believe the networking, understanding, the talking to people across teams. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(33:59):

And I think, here's one thing right now that I'm talking to you, this kind of, you know, maybe comes as a strong point, that I never really thought of is, I've never been afraid of asking. So if I needed to go up and speak to someone, yes, I had the doubt in my head. I was like, can I really do this? This is a senior person. Can I do this? I was pretty junior, but nothing stopped me. And maybe this comes from me being the rebellious 13-year-old that I told you earlier about, that if something needs to be done, I will probably be the first person to say, I'm going to be that one to do it, because I want to just mentally, in my head, check it off and say that, okay, I was capable of doing. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(34:31):

Building a network, I believe, became a part of what I was doing and how I was operating. And when, again, I went on to LinkedIn, now coming to more of the digital network part, I started using LinkedIn, I believe, far more in the year 2000, maybe 2011 or 2013-ish. And that's when I started realizing that this is probably the place where you could build networks outside of the physical boundaries that a company or a placed on you. And that became then a move and kind of organic way of building networks and being genuinely interested in people. So whenever I connect with someone normally, and again, not always, but normally, I would want to understand more about them. It's not like just a DM that I drop and say, you know, can we connect? 

Pranjalee Lahri
(35:16):

I'll try to understand more about them and those relationships that really served me in the long run is what I realized. 

Mita Mandawker
(35:24):

I think the parts that you mentioned, regardless of whether you're an introvert, yes, like certain kind of people definitely fuel your energy. I think the parts that you mentioned about being very genuinely curious about something or the work that someone is doing, I think that's like the biggest bridge to actually networking, just showing that curiosity. I think that opens up a whole lot of conversations. I think that's the biggest problem anyone ever has with networking is how do you actually start the conversation. What do you speak about? So I think these two points that you mentioned, they're the biggest bridges to actually opening conversation with pretty much anyone. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(36:09):

I agree. Maybe just bringing this back, fast forwarding into my career. So in my last stint, I was actually overseeing marketing for a particular region, Southeast Asia, but I was also leading the corporate communication for the company as a part of the same thing. Before I fully transitioned into the role that I just mentioned, I was actually responsible for setting up events as a function. And events, as you can imagine, or field marketing, as you can imagine, is a function where you have just multiple opportunities and just so many stakeholders. So I believe just having the ability to talk to anyone and having the right kind of conversation starters or conversation enablers became key. 

Pranjalee Lahri
(36:50):

So I believe through my career, through the opportunities and the roles that I have played, it has just kind of allowed me to hone into this even more. Not that I had decided that this is what I want to do and this is how it's going to help me, but I believe just the way organically it continued, it just allowed me to get stronger in it. Because every single time I have to talk to a media person, it meant I had to wear a different hat and just be a different version of my to present myself there than, let's say, at an event when I'm talking to maybe a vendor or maybe trying to work alongside different partners. So it really kind of changed and allowed me to hone into this craft even more. 

Mita Mandawker
(37:31):

Pranjalee's story is not done yet. Join us next week as we listen to the next part of her story. I hope you found this conversation as enlightening and enjoyable as I did. Thank you for tuning in and staying with us till the end. Your support means the world to us. Please show us your support by hitting the subscribe button and leaving a five-star review and also telling your friends about Ctrl + Alt + Marketing. Your feedback helps us reach more marketers like yourself. Stay updated on the upcoming episodes and gain access to exclusive bonus content. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter and the link in the show notes. We’ll send you episode updates, insider tips and more right to your inbox. 

Mita Mandawker
(38:14):

We love hearing from our listeners, so if you have any thoughts, suggestions, or even just want to say hello, drop us a line at marketerhelpmarketers1@gmail.com. Until next time, take care and I'll see you on the next episode of Ctrl + Alt + Marketing, where Marketers help Marketers.