Author: Ipsita Sarkar
“Imagine you are sitting in the driving seat of your car. You have control over your steering wheel, gear, accelerator, and brake. You choose the direction you would like to take. You should allow nobody to sit in the driving seat of your car. Your journey is yours.”-Hawia Nabi
From making a bet with her parents and getting their permission to study outside Kashmir to changing her career plan when the tickets had been booked to delivering a winning presentation while fasting during Eid, Ms Hawia’s journey from Srinagar to Ireland, was all about choices and chances that she turned into opportunities to fulfil her calling successfully!
On 29th August 2020, the Scholar Students of the Kashmir Education Initiative (KEI) were privy to the electrifying and inspiring story of Ms Hawia Nabi, Senior Strategic Account Director, Oracle EMEA Ltd Ireland, who hailed from Srinagar. As Mr Omar Hafiz, Youth Mentor and introduced her virtually to the young audience, he informed them that this session wasn’t going to be a formal one, since Ms Hawia too was once in those Scholar’s shoes and she would be addressing concerns that they are facing now.
Thus Ms Hawia began the session by asking the Scholars of KEI to write down their dreams and aspirations on a sheet of paper. She spoke about her childhood, how she had been a diligent student who enthusiastically competed in the extra-curricular activities in school from dramatics to sports- her competitiveness that was later to help her in her professional life.
Growing in a society where students would tend to get polarized towards either Medical or Engineering fields, Ms Hawia showed an initial inclination towards wanting to be a doctor and studying outside Kashmir. Her parents couldn’t have been happier with her choice of course. But after self-introspection and analysing her options based on her aptitude, she changed her plan last minute and chose to pursue BTech in Biotechnology in Jaipur. From her experience, she encouraged the students to come out of their comfort zones and try out new skills, like she picked up anchoring after overcoming her stage fright!
Post her graduation, among the 3 students selected from her college, she stood out as the only girl to join as an engineer at WIPRO in Pune. Despite feeling homesick and going through low phases, she remained confident, working hard, and surrounding herself with positive people. She advised the Scholar Students to keep negative people at bay-those who would try to bring their morales down as they were a deterrent to success and keep asking questions from Seniors to get better at what you do. She also advised the students to respect their parents and have faith in God.
Ms Hawia expressed that being a people’s people, she next wished to pursue management and surge ahead in corporate life. The skills that could come in handy for her as an entrepreneur. The next challenge was to convince the parents, about travelling to distant lands to study or work, in a rational and planned way. For this, finding scholarship programs in tune with your career goals was essential to seal the deal.
She advised the students who were keen on going abroad for their higher studies to sharpen their English communication skills, so that they could appear for competitive exams such as IELTS, TOEFL and so on. It would be a bonus if they could study an additional foreign language!
She recalled how thrilled she had been to get admission into a University in Ireland in 2014. It gave her an opportunity to meet fellow students from different corners of the world, while adjusting to a new kind of life that was certainly not a bed of roses! She had to get used to doing her own chores and blending with the cultural diversity and how businesses work in a global set-up. Over a course of time, she started appreciating the warmth and openness of the Irish people. While in University, she was always on her toes, networking and keeping her eyes and ears open to new job openings. Deep down, she wanted her parents, who had earlier wanted Ms Hawia to become a Doctor to feel proud. At the same time, she advised the Scholar Students to consider going abroad for any Post-Graduation course, while it would be financially and practically more feasible to remain in India for Graduation.
She asked the Students to neither take failure lightly nor seriously but accept it with grace and humility. She pointed out that such challenges made us more aware of our shortcomings and served as a reminder to put in more hard work. Remembering how she had got upset after getting rejected from the Deloitte interview, she pulled herself back again and worked harder for the next interviews and kept wearing a confident attitude. At the end of the day, the struggle would only make us stronger, she said.
Finally, after several ups and downs including a well paying job that was not aligned to her interest, long waits for job interview results and pitching an impressive presentation while fasting during Eid, she cracked the interview at Oracle, her dream organization in her dream role! Her problem solving and never say die spirit helped her rise in the organization and 5 years down the line, she was heading the Strategic Accounts department in the UK and Ireland divisions. She grew in competency as gained expertise and interacted with senior colleagues and made a mark for herself in this male-dominated industry.
Post sharing her experiences, Ms Hawia answered queries of the Scholar Students, most of whom wanted to follow her footsteps and carve a niche in their careers for themselves. One of the questions asked by Mr Mohsin, which also seemed to be on every Scholar’s mind was about how to convince orthodox parents to leave their homes to pursue studies outside Kashmir. To that, Ms Hawia explained that it was more important to explain the purpose behind your travel rather than simply the intent to travel. For the students themselves it was necessary to take charge of their lives, analyse the pros and cons of their actions and take a decision accordingly.
Mr Omar agreed and said that it was important to stay committed to your decisions and not regret a step once taken. And then it was crucial to give it your utmost best.
When Ms Rehana asked about how they could improve communication skills, Ms Hawia told them that they need to be carrying confidence on their sleeves all the time and to believe in themselves as they conveyed a message.
Towards the end, Mr Omar pointed out how beneficial, relatable, and eye-opening the session with Ms Hawia had been and together, they announced a sequel session on preparing for English competitive exams for foreign universities.