Have ever heard that someone has taken a shift from being an engineer to becoming a writer? Sounds courageous right? Shwetha Ravishankar is a person who believes that there’s no such thing as balance and is still able to handle everything.
She is the one who took the courage and left her well-paying career, engineering, and started doing what she loves to do.
With the lovely support of her husband, Shwetha conquers the day as a content editor, while her evenings are adorned with the rhythmic beats of Bharatnatyam. That’s not it, after all this work when she comes home, she takes care of her lovely daughter too.
IcyTales is in a conversation with Shwetha Ravishankar where we delve into her life asking questions about how she handles everything, while also being good at it.
“Work Hard, Believe in Yourself, and Destiny Will take you where You Want to be” – Shwetha Ravishankar
How would you feel, if out of nowhere, your boss comes to you and says grab your stuff, this is your last day? Terrible, right? No matter if you love the job you do or hate it, when you get fired, it’s one of the worst feelings. But Shwetha Ravishankar is kind of different. Here’s how:
Shwetha Ravishankar didn’t want to do engineering but was kind of thrown into it. She didn’t enjoy it much but still gave it a try. Shwetha got a job in a U.S.-based Pharma company right after college. She did that for two years and then in 2008, the recession hit, as it was a U.S.-based company about 300 of them were laid the same day. People were very shocked but she didn’t feel anything like that.
“I believe in destiny and I’m sure many of you reading this think the same. If it’s meant to be, it will happen to you. However, it doesn’t mean you just sit at home, doing nothing, and say if things are meant to be they will come to you. That’s wrong.”
Shwetha was going with the flow and never said no to an opportunity, which makes her unique. After two days of asking to leave her job, she got a call from someone she knew. They were starting a little travel startup and asked her to work with them in testing and all. It was a small team of 3 people.
“Two months in, there were some needs of writing, and asked do you want me to do it for me? Because again, going back to high school I was very into writing, debates, writing poetries and all. But I didn’t do it because there was no one to guide me. So, when this opportunity came along I was like why not. They were hesitating while giving it to me but when I showed them the work. They were impressed and said testing is fine but can you do this as well.”
“Trying is not enough, Keep Trying Till Your Last Breath is” – Shwetha Ravishankar
Everyone comes to a point where they see everyone around them getting successful in their fields and you think you are not kind of moving forward. This makes things even tougher to even think about shifting your career from one field to another. Because starting all over again isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But Shwetha is not someone who gets demotivated by anything.
“I met my husband in India and then after marrying him, I moved to New York. I started my way again from the ground. While my friends and everyone were in managerial positions I was interning in New York City. It was different and difficult because when I moved here I only knew my husband. I started finding my way in which I did a lot of writing for different companies, conducted a few interviews and all.”
Many people do a lot of hard work for a certain time and when things don’t happen they just say that they were not born for this. Which isn’t fair enough. At least by trying you have a little chance of winning but if you quit then definitely it’s not going to happen. Being smart while working hard is essential.
Two years later after a lot of trying Shwetha Ravishankar found a full-time job where she had to do copywriting. A fun fact was that when she interviewed for that job she didn’t even know what copywriting was, because she was only doing long-form content writing. Shwetha still somehow got that job and did that for about 10 years and left that job last year (2023).
“I went back to Columbia and got a certificate in digital marketing. Now, I work for a marketing agency. But my love for journalism and writing remains the same and that’s how I started the Chai Break Podcast.”
“Things Don’t happen themselves, You Need to Take Actions” – Shwetha Ravishankar
We all have long conversations with some of the closest people in our lives. How many of you thought to start a podcast out of those conversations? Well, include myself in the list. The origin of the Chai Break Podcast happened like this only.
“My co-host also happens to be my cousin Rema. We used to have a lot of long conversations about life and stuff. I was feeling stuck in my job and was thinking of starting something and a podcast was one of them. So I thought why not start a podcast out of it.”
However, as many of us think about starting podcasts, it’s not just having a conversation, it requires a lot of planning about what topics you choose and all. Chai Break Podcast has 3 seasons now in which they have talked about different things.
“In season 1, we talked about self-love, positivity, sustainability, etc. Each of those topics even including season 3 till today comes from our own experiences and that’s what makes it more authentic. Also, if you listen to the podcast it’s a very candid conversation. It’s two friends having chai while having a conversation. That’s where the name comes from Chai Break Podcast. When we put it out, everyone resonated with it. Then I realized I’m not alone in this.”
Shwetha’s grandfather has left a great influence on her, emphasizing the value of hard work and authenticity which has shaped her beliefs and approaches towards life. Although she said that there’s no such thing as balance, somehow she can be good at everything. Whether it’s being a good wife, a good mother, or someone who can guide people through her experiences, Shwetha just excels in everything.