Performed Authenticity, Brave Brands & Starting Over | KETAKI TANAJI GOLATKAR, GOOD DAY PR | Pt 2

Visibility without values is just noise.

Ketaki Tanaji Golatkar returns for Part 2 of our conversation on Rooted and Routed — and this time, the lens turns from identity and belonging to the work itself. After 21 years across global communications, diplomacy, and international sport, including heading Global Comms for the International Cricket Council, she has spent the last year mentoring women across 108 countries through career pivots, first-time entrepreneurship, layoffs in midlife, and the quiet work of starting over.

This is Part 2 of a two-part episode.

Listen to Part 1 first if you haven't — Ketaki's journey from Bombay to London to Germany to the UAE, and what 22 years of living between worlds taught her about home, identity, and being a woman of colour in rooms built for white men.

In this episode, we explore:

- Why visibility without values is just noise, and what most personal branding conversations refuse to name
- What "performed authenticity" actually looks like, and why authenticity has become one of the most overused, abused words of our time
- What makes a brand or a leader truly brave, and the cost of taking a stand when the board, the investors, and the markets all say no
- Why virality isn't the goal — resonance is
- The unique challenges BIPOC women face in owning their narratives, and the cultural conditioning that tells South Asian women not to talk about their work
- Why nobody tells a 40-year-old woman who's been laid off to start a business
- Grief, divorce, parenting an aging parent, and what reinvention teaches you that conventional success never can
- What it means to lead a crisis with both soul and structure
- Why so many PR people thrive under pressure, and the hardest thing for a comms specialist to do (turn the spotlight on themselves)
- Imposter syndrome, single life by choice, child-free by choice, and what it looks like to build a business as your own boss after 40

About the guest:
Ketaki Tanaji Golatkar is a global communications leader, personal branding mentor, and the founder of Good Day PR and Strategic Communications. Over 21 years, she has worked across agencies in Bombay and London, led a diplomatic project marking 60 years of Indo-German relations, and spent a decade in sports broadcast and governance — including heading Global Comms and PR for the International Cricket Council. She has mentored women across 108 countries and is based in the UAE.

Follow Ketaki Tanaji Golatkar:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ketakigolatkar
Instagram: @ketaki.golatkar

Listen and subscribe to Rooted and Routed wherever you get your podcasts — Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube.

What words has the world taught you to repeat — about authenticity, about success, about visibility — that don't quite hold up close? I'd love to hear your story.

Rooted and Routed is a global mobility and cross-cultural storytelling podcast hosted by Sabiya Pathan Withoeck. New episodes every week.

Follow the show:
Instagram: @rootedandrouted
LinkedIn: Rooted and Routed
YouTube: @rootedandrouted
Website: https://www.rootedandrouted.com

Follow Sabiya:
LinkedIn: Sabiya Pathan Withoeck

For guest collaborations, sponsorships, and media inquiries:
info@rootedandrouted.com

If this episode resonated, the most meaningful thing you can do is share it with someone who'd love it — and leave a rating on your podcast platform of choice.

 Every share helps this conversation reach further.

Transcript

The Unique Challenges BIPOC Women Face in Owning Their Narratives

SPEAKER_02 0:00

As a DEI advocate and personal branding mentor, what unique challenges do BIPOC women face in owning their narratives and how can we collectively shift that landscape? That's a big one.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

That's a very good question. And I think I'm spending my life's work trying to answer that question as well. Um, what I have seen through my personal experience as well, and having worked with so many mentees now over the last year, I started the program in March, my mentorship and personal branding uh program for women. I realized that in this very tremulous um global financial crisis

The Global Layoffs Hitting Women of Colour — and the Cultural Conditioning That Comes With It

SPEAKER_00 0:50

that has disproportionately affected women and women of color across the globe, right? So they are at the firing line of getting laid off. And you have this large community of women who've been told that you do the job, right, have the family, get married, have kids, then build your career on the side and grow, and that is the life that you will live. And suddenly, when all of that is taken away from them, when that one pink slip comes through, and they are left to feel what am I gonna do with my life? How am I gonna pivot this? Am I gonna be able to sit at home and not contribute financially to my household? And to top it up, the layer, the cultural layer of conditioning that we've been uh you know brought up with as South Asian women, we've been taught to not talk about our work too much, um, let our work do the talking, and uh don't tom-tom too much, don't have too many ambitions. I mean, it's okay. You can at the age of 40 plus, if you get laid off, then you can start something on the side, you know, have a little bit of a distraction of sorts, like not career pivots. Like nobody

Why Nobody Tells a 40-Year-Old Woman to Start a Business

SPEAKER_00 2:25

tells a woman in her 40s who's been laid off, start a business. Yeah, I'll fund you. I'll fund you with it. Start a business, start something of your own, think about your legacy, think about your child. What will they want to have their mommy do? Right? No, nobody talks to them like this. They're basically made to feel irrelevant because they're no longer young in the workforce as well, and made to feel that, oh, abito ho giana career kardiya, so maybe it's time to wind down, take an early retirement. It's fine.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Or maybe even as a mama, when when somebody's pregnant, and then maybe take a break because that's better for your unborn child and for you. And you need this time to really be a good mama. Yeah. Yeah. These are also the dialogues kind of really. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Absolutely. So I work with women who have found themselves suddenly wanting to pivot in their careers and in their personal lives. And a lot of my mentees are first-time entrepreneurs, uh, mentees who have uh started something on their own for the very first time, or are vying for that promotion, heavily pregnant, even.

Mentoring Women Through Career Pivots, First-Time Entrepreneurship, and Pregnancy-During-Promotion

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

You know, and will do anything and everything to get it. Right? So it is so important to have a support system for BEPOC women, black, indigenous, people of color women across the globe, so that they feel that they anyway have to work twice as hard, right? Compared to the right white, um, blonde woman who's also part of the same rat race. Right? Yeah. But they also need to have a different kind of skill sets, skill set to navigate the internal conditioning that their upbringing has given them.

SPEAKER_04 4:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

So my life's work is to help them decondition that thinking and then apply all of that in the life that they want to choose to live for themselves, that they choose and not the society around them decides for them.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

And that do you think it's a really long process to probably because it's almost like you've got layers of things which you've been living around, and some layers take quite some time to

The Trauma Layer Underneath Personal Branding Work

SPEAKER_02 5:12

get rid of?

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Yes, it's deeply therapeutic. A lot of it is trauma-driven. Um, and I work with a psychotherapist on call to help women navigate the trauma pieces because I'm not a trained therapist. A lot of my work is so deeply rooted in our inner values, yeah, in our principles. And a lot of women don't spend time, enough time thinking about our value systems. There are certain things that happen to us, certain situations where we are forced to think about our values. Does this align with my value system? And that's when you start thinking about them, right? I want us to start from the beginning thinking about our values. Like if this doesn't align with my values, I'm not going to do it. This aligns with my values, therefore, I am chose to do it. Right? So having that understanding and hand holding them a little bit to arrive at that clarity is what my life's purpose is

Becoming the Mentor She Needed in the Room

SPEAKER_00 6:27

now.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

Isn't it interesting to see that you start as somebody as the only woman of color in the room, and then now to really start the advocacy and mentoring about it? I'm not too sure if you thought of it at that moment when you were the only woman in the room, that you would end up one day mentoring these mentees.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

I knew that I didn't want to be the only woman in the room. I knew that I didn't want to be the only woman of color in the room. I wanted more women who looked like me, dressed like me, sounded like me, with me. And I didn't think then that I would start this mentorship journey. Okay. But I knew that I needed to make space for more women like me. And that's, I think, that's where it started.

Visibility Without Values Is Just Noise

SPEAKER_02 7:15

That's beautiful because I think I've read a couple of things, you know, from your LinkedIn uh post, which is really deep. Uh and it does speak a lot about the intellectual level that you have gained uh through your experience or that I've come across that um which which shows that you believe in visibility without values is just noise. In a world obsessed with attention, how do you help brands and individuals show up with intent?

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Well, I have to remind them about the why are they doing whatever they're doing. Sometimes they forget, tend to forget, because they get caught in, oh, I

Why Virality Isn't the Goal — Resonance Is

SPEAKER_00 8:00

want to make this viral, I want to go viral. And I'm like, do you even know what goes viral? Stuff that is authentic that goes viral, and even if it isn't, for it'll go viral for 24 hours or 48 hours, and then people will forget you. Right? People remember people that move them, they listen to stories that they relate to, they see themselves in those struggles, in those journeys, and then they want to listen to you more and sit across the room and truly, truly listen to your story, right? And none of that happens if you start thinking about oh, I want to go viral today, right? So it's important to remind clients and individuals that virality is not your end goal, remembering and resonance is your end goal. So all of what I do is to just simply remind them this is important, and then they somehow remember who they are at the core themselves, and the truth comes out. Right? So that is what I think is more important than just simply visibility, simple visibility.

Performed Authenticity vs Real Authenticity

SPEAKER_02 9:33

I think you know, online the media is sometimes the mirror of the society. And now what I see, I'm sure you you would agree to that, in the society we have many societies, and you want to see somebody that you can relate to within this space because it has become really scattered. And uh, as you said, the authenticity is true, but you know, sometimes there's also polished authenticity.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

I've learned performance authenticity. Yeah, performative people perform authenticity as well because it's one of those very uh easily used and abused words, authenticity. What is authenticity? Authenticity is being true to yourself, right? Yeah, if you don't know who you are at your core, and if you're just trying to be somebody else because that is trendy, that's not authenticity, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:25

It's true. I think any which ways we cannot be 100% authentic in front of the camera or in the public spaces.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

We try to be, but sometimes we put on a brave act. We are, you know, nervous in internally, and we're trying to put on a brave act and be a version of ourselves that we'll be proud of. But that is also authenticity because we are allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, getting out of our comfort zones, and also simply just putting one foot next to each other and putting ourselves out there. That is also authenticity for me.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

It's a difficult one to crack, I must say that. It is, it's very hard in in the society where everybody you see everybody um living or being successful in a certain way, and then here it is you you you have to start from scratch and be authentic, and because that's the only way to to find your own success. How do you find it? And I think that is also another layer that you have to probably with your mentees uh yeah, discuss, show, uh, see if they can see what you can probably see. I don't know.

Why Success Looks Different for Every Individual

SPEAKER_00 11:39

I don't know whether I want to see a version of success that is my version of success for them. I want them to realize that success could look very different for every individual, right? Tomorrow, if I say I want to only sell toothpastes that work.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Yeah, and I want to sell the most number of toothpastes in the world, right? That is my version of success. But there would be somebody else who says, I just want to have good eight hour sleep, right? Without uninterrupted, and God knows perimenopausal women need eight hours of sleep, uninterrupted eight hours of sleep without a hot flash, right? That is my version of success. It could be that, right? So who are we to decide? I'm not nobody to decide that this should be your version of success. I want them to discover that and I'll help you get there, right? But it is so important to know with a blinding clarity that this is the life that I want to live for myself, and I am not modeling it against my girlfriend or my husband or something that my parents have told me or something that my boss is telling me. Right? I want to live a life and create an environment where I live that life that is true to me. Right? Authentic, yeah. That is the authenticity journey that I take my mentees on.

SPEAKER_02 13:28

A society where you see being authentic, that way of authentic leads you to that way, that direction.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Yeah.

Why You Can't Replicate Someone Else's Blueprint

SPEAKER_02 13:38

And uh, which becomes more like a blueprint for somebody to replicate and maybe uh be inspired, as they say, inspired. But to crack your own authentic and authenticity is very hard. And as a mentor, uh, it must be difficult to tell them like that is their authenticity. Yes, should not be replicated, even if it has been viral, it has been successful. Yes, you have to crack yours, you have to find yours. That's another layer of uh.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

And it gets easier as you get older. Okay, because you start then shedding things like this is not for me, this is not me. You start realizing and discovering that as you get older. When you're younger, it's very easy to say that, oh, I want to be like that person because that person is very inspiring. It's okay to be inspired by somebody else, but you cannot be in that person's shoes because the resources that that person has are very different to yours. The journeys that you've had led are very different. You can take elements of that person's successful journey and apply it wherever you think is applicable, but you cannot just take the blueprint of that person's life and say, hey, this is my life now, and I I think it's a great success. No, it would be a disaster, and you'll sooner or later you'll find, you know, find out that it is a disaster.

What Makes a Brand or a Leader Truly Brave — The Huda Beauty Example

SPEAKER_02 15:08

I believe that. So with with this mentoring, now we're moving on to your work at a good day PR, you help build brave reputations. Yes. What, in your view, makes a brand or a leader truly brave today?

SPEAKER_00 15:27

It is very imperative for brands and leaders to speak the truth regardless of the situation. And I think the bravest and the strongest brands are the brands who actually speak the truth when it's the hardest, whether it is standing for what is right or sticking to a particular cause, even when it costs you money. One of the biggest and most recent examples of this is actually one of my favorite makeup brands called Huda Beauty. I knew it. Huda has stood for something when the whole world stood against it, right? And she actually put her money where her mouth is and donated the profits from her business for the cause that mattered to her. We all know what's going on in the world. Yeah, we all know that there are larger powers, larger brands. But here's a brand who stood tall, chose, and she got tremendous backslash, tremendous amount of trolling, insane amount of opinions floating around, and and to be a successful Arab businesswoman, entrepreneur, and do that. And the US is a huge consumer market for her, mind you. All of those choices would have costed her huge chunks of money and business, right? The the deal with Sephora was almost broken. Yeah. So I want to work with companies like that that are unafraid to choose and take a stand. Not be new, we're talking about what's happening in um Palestine and uh between Palestine and Israel. But there are so many things that are happening outside of that world as well where you need to take a stand. Whether it's dismantling of the DEI policies, whether it's LGBTQI rights. Yeah. If you do not take a stand, somebody else will assume that stand for you, and it'll be too late to make a difference then. So that's what I think. That's why I like to work with brave brands and individuals who are unafraid to speak the truth.

Boards, Investors, and Leadership of Courage

SPEAKER_02 18:20

I think it's not easy sometimes to be, as I said, like there's a consequence of taking a stand. And while probably there's a leader who probably wants to take a stand, but then you also have a team next to you who's probably supporting the communications, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Yeah. You have boards who will not allow you to take a stand. Yeah. You'll have investors who will be like, no, stop it, don't do it. But that's where the real leadership and leadership of courage comes in, right? Will you be able to sleep at night with full peace if you've done something that doesn't sit right with you? That's the question most leaders must ask. If the board is telling you don't do this, and the investors are saying don't do this, but your heart tells you this is the way, this is the right way, this is what I stand for, this is what the company I built stands for, then nothing should stop you.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

It's a difficult one.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

It is a very difficult one. That's why you have to be brave.

Grief, Burnout, and Starting Over

SPEAKER_02 19:33

Brave, yeah. You've spoken openly about grief, burnout, and starting over. What was what has reinvention taught you that conventional success never could?

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Oh god, I could write a book. I could really write a book. Um I speak about grief because it is such an inherent part of getting old. You know, we get older, we start thinking about our aging parents, yeah, and we start losing them. And nobody prepares you for that. Right? We all spend so much time talking about that beautiful phase of parenting to a newborn, but nobody

Parenting an Aging Parent in Your Own Perimenopausal 40s

SPEAKER_00 20:25

talks about parenting an older parent. Yeah. Right? And that's the hardest because they are adults navigating a very different, complex world, and you are also aging at the same time as perimenopausal women in our 40s. We all know the kind of turmoil and bodily changes we go through, and at the same time, we are expected to care for our elderly parents. And I lost my father in this phase of my life, and I thought my whole world had come crashing down when that happened. It took me a while to actually start talking about it and writing about it, and it's been one of the most therapeutic things that I could ever do to deal with it. And when I started writing about it, I realized that there are so many people like me who go through this every time, and it just gave them a sense of voice as well through my stories and through my journey. And I thought initially as a young divorcee, I was 28, 29, I think, when I got divorced and 30, and spent

Divorce in 2013 — and Falling Back on Career

SPEAKER_00 21:50

my 30s brooding and being heartbroken about it, right? Because, like I said, you have this life for yourself, you dream of the This life and suddenly it comes crashing down. It's no longer the life that you see yourself in. But to accept that reality takes a while, especially when it's the same time that everybody around you is living their lives and getting on with life. And not to mention the stigma of getting divorced in our country as well. Right? I got divorced in 2013. Nobody was getting divorced. Nobody was marrying outside of um, you know, community at that time, and divorce was like un unthinkable, right? So it happened. And I was very fortunate that I focused all of my energies on my career. And it was the hardest thing to do, but also the most important thing to do. Because if I wasn't financially independent and able to look after myself, I don't think I would have been able to survive those years. Right? So it just so happened that my marriage fell apart. Um, years later, then I lost my dad. All of this made me start over again and again and again and again. Right? I'm no longer afraid of starting over.

"I'm No Longer Afraid of Starting Over"

SPEAKER_00 23:31

It is being one of the most um rewarding things. Not that now, tomorrow, if you'll tell me, oh, start a new business again. Like, no, sorry. I still need to finish what I've started. Um, but I know that if tomorrow something unplanned or untoward happens, I'm prepared. I'm prepared because the worst, my biggest fear was losing my parents. The biggest fear of my life, and it happened.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

I think they say like the low moments of your life teach you more than what a success could teach you.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Yes. All my failures, all my heartaches have taught me and made me the person that I am today. I wouldn't be this strong, resilient person today sitting in front of you, had I not had my heart broken several times.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

And this goes to show how one can come up when there has been a failure in life, or not that I'm saying that uh it's nice to think about losing a family member.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

But it happens, Sabiya. Yeah, it is. It happens to everyone, this is what it is. All of us. This is what life is, but we don't think about it, and we don't, we are not equipped to handle it when it happens to us. Equipped is the right word indeed, yeah. That's true. So when I talk about it, I'm also giving people to the permission to think that this could happen to us. What can we do to cope better? You can't you can't avoid it. It'll happen. Whether it happens now or in 10 years, but it'll happen. But what can I do right now to help me cope better when it eventually happens?

Why We're Not Equipped to Talk About Loss

SPEAKER_02 25:28

And I think this is something we have to we're not among those countries where the mindset is evolved to accept such things. Yes. Whether having uh to marry somebody outside your home country or or or divorcing it quicker or moving on or starting all over as you did. Those things, yeah, we don't really have a blueprint, we don't really talk a lot about it, we're not equipped, we're not we're not evolved as a as a society as well. So it's really hard, and I think kudos to you. You should be really proud of yourself. I'm sure your father who is watching from somewhere must be very proud of seeing

Missing Her Father — and the Person She Most Wants to Tell

SPEAKER_02 26:13

this.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

I'm sure he is. I feel him. It took me a year to realize that he's still around, he's within me, he's around, he's blessing me, he's watching over me, he's making sure that I don't fumble. Um, but I still miss him physically. Like the other day, I was at um the IAM Lucknow giving a lecture, and the only person I wanted to pick up the phone and talk to was my dad, and he wasn't there. My mom sends me messages, and uh my brother sends me messages, and they're all like so happy. We're so proud of you, so proud of you. And the only person on the planet I want is my dad to tell me he's proud of me.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

I saw

Lecturing 180 MBA Students at IIM Lucknow on Personal Branding

SPEAKER_02 27:00

the post. Yeah. Was it a lecture that you had to yes?

SPEAKER_00 27:03

It was a guest lecture on um uh executive visibility and communication. Okay, and personal, a bit of personal branding as well. Why is it important to have personal brands as future leaders? Because all of those MBA grads from IIM are either going to be CEOs or you know, project leaders or entrepreneurs one day. So it was a guest lecture in communication and executive presence.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

How many kids?

SPEAKER_00 27:34

I mean, kids, who young people, we call them young people, yeah, 180 students. Wow. I did two sessions, yeah, one in the morning at 9 and the other at 11. The first batch was 60 students, the second batch was 120 students. That's a massive number of people. Yes, huge responsibility. I hope I did justice, but from the looks of their faces and the fact that they all added me on LinkedIn later and wanted photos and conversations to continue, I felt like I did a good job. I think I might go

Leading a Crisis With Both Soul and Structure — The Factory Accident Example

SPEAKER_00 28:14

back.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

I think I'm sure you have a lot to explore and share. Because I think uh you're also somebody who's balancing the emotional intelligence quite well. Thank you. So when you are balancing emotional intelligence with executive level strategy, yeah. How do you lead with both soul and structure, especially during moments of change or crisis? Because I've heard that during the crisis, what the PR, um, the communications is needed is something it makes or breaks the whole situation. So how do you, if you can talk about that, how can I repeat my question maybe? How do you lead with both soul and structure, especially during moments of change or crisis?

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Well, that's a very important question and a very uh easy um thing to do for comms people because we have when it comes to crisis, we have usually been through so much as senior comms people. Um we know how to navigate a very complex situation with heart, always. There is always a template to a crisis response, there's always a structure to a crisis response. What sometimes we tend to forget is the humanity in all of it, the humanity in a crisis situation. I'll give you an example, say in a factory there has been an accident, right? Um, people are injured, right? So I'm not gonna sit there and start thinking about what how am I gonna spin this story. I first need to start owning that there has been an accident, and I am responsible as a factory owner or the factory manager for this accident, right? And my first response would be to ensure that whoever is injured has the right medical treatment and is able to be on their feet and support their family in making sure that they are okay and also back into the workforce as soon as possible. Right? Then my second thing, my second response then would be then to talk about this. Sorry, this happened, this shouldn't have happened, but we take full responsibility. This is what we're doing for the families, and this is what our plan is, and we'll make sure that they get back into the workforce as soon as possible, or for whatever reason, if they can't, then we'll employ their children to make sure that there is continuity and also uh a responsible line of um in stream of income as well for the family, right? So there are so many ways in which you can hand you could have handled this, right? But owning that we made a mistake and these things happen, and these are real life examples of people getting injured at factories, running, you know, systems that are not meant for them sometimes, even. I the the last step would be like, what am I gonna do to make sure this never happens again? Right? So you have to think as a human first response. If I were that in that person's shoes, how would I want to be treated? What would I want my bosses to do, my managers to do to navigate that situation as well? Right? So it is so important to not ever forget that humanity in a situation like this.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

Sometimes it's hard, I think, like being part of the communications, um maybe it is that we picture, it's all about the notifications given, like apologies. This happened, as you said, like addressing it that way. But behind that, the soul, as that's as you said, the human side, yeah, um, that is also to be reflected in the messages and the way it is treated and the way forward and corrected. Uh it's interesting to know from like from you right now. Because for me it's always like, okay, it must be not that hard for them just to write a letter about apology and then that's that's it, done, right? For some big brands. If I'm just taking the example that you just said.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

No, one is to write the apology and the other is to see through that this never happens again and also deal with the consequences of this action. Like I have to make sure that the people who work for me are safe and are not put in this situation ever again. Right? And accidents are accidents, they are unfortunate things. Sometimes they are in your control, sometimes they aren't. But you still need to own your responsibility and your part in that action as a leader.

Why PR People Thrive Under Pressure — The Stockholm Syndrome of Crisis Comms

SPEAKER_02 33:54

That must be like a nightmare to handle a crisis like that for a comps uh comms team.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

But it's also funny enough, it's it's almost most PR people, I think, suffer from some sort of a Stockholm syndrome because we thrive the most during such crisis situations. Okay. We do. We are the most alert and the most productive during such dramatic events. I have pain as well, and I know so many of my peers have been on their feet in crisis situations, thriving.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

That's that's the job. Maybe that is a moment of learning, right? It's a low moment, and you learn.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

And maybe that's where you and moment of shining as well. That's your moment of shining, the low moment. Oh my god, it's weird to say that, right? I hate to admit it, but it is we thrive under pressure.

The Hardest Thing for a PR Specialist — Putting the Spotlight on Yourself

SPEAKER_02 34:56

Well, from your career, now we're moving on to the the in-between. You've built a career telling stories for the world's biggest brands, sports, diplomacy, and media. What's it like when the storyteller has to narrate her own journey, which is you?

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Oh, that's been hard. Yeah? It has not been the easiest thing to do from the beginning, but as I do it, do more of it, it's getting easier. I have to admit. I'll tell you why it's hard. It's because as PR people, we are not naturally used to having the spotlight on us. We put the spotlight on other people, the our CEOs, our clients, you know, brands, right? We are not very comfortable when the spotlight is on us. So it has taken me years and months of

Imposter Syndrome and the Internal Dialogue That Won't Quiet Down

SPEAKER_00 36:00

internal work to be okay to stop, uh, to start talking about the stuff that matters to me and do it in a way that is true to me. Right? Like, you know, there are dialogues sometimes. It's like, what would people think? Is it too much information? Is it I always think, is it adding value to other people? Is it helping other people, or is it just me showing off? Right? There's always this uh internal doubt about whether this is me just showing off, or this is just me genuinely trying to help somebody when I'm sharing a piece of my story with them. Right? So there's always this internal dialogue that I have to fight. I also suffer from a huge imposter syndrome. We all do. Yeah, I've worked very hard to get over it, and I'm still learning. I'm not successful. There are times when I'm like, oh my god, I don't think I belong here. And it's okay to feel this sometimes, and to just live in it for a little bit and then just brush it off when you can. So um, yeah, it's it's it's been hard, but I am learning to own it and to celebrate it with every passing day.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

For me, it was always that would that it must be very easy for you to narrate your own journey because yeah, you you you've been doing that for the others, so it should have been easier. It should have been, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

It's easier to write, but when you post it, the the difference between writing it for yourself as a journal versus writing it for an audience. Yeah, okay, yeah, okay, I get it. There's a difference, yeah. So you always have to be like posting, posting, post it, let it be, let it breathe, let people read, let people think what they need to think about it. It's not in my control. My control what is in my control is I put out the words that are the most truest words that will ever come out of my mouth. That is all that's in my control. How people react to it, what they think of it, is not in my control. So I just do it now. But yeah, it hasn't been easy

What Her 20-Year-Old Self Would Never Have Imagined

SPEAKER_00 38:46

in the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 38:46

I can imagine. And is there a moment in your journey or when you're narrating your journey that your 20-year-old self leaving India would never have imagined which is possible? Did you ever think that was possible? 20-year-old leaving, and now you're talking about your journey. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:09

I actually never thought that I would build something of my own. I always thought I would be working for somebody else.

SPEAKER_02 39:18

Yeah. Maybe it is a mindset that I don't know that people say that is maybe more stable, you know, like success, like stable career, stable income, uh, that takes care of your bills and every every payment and stuff. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:33

Maybe, maybe if our parents would have been coming from a business background, and then maybe it's different mindset we're

Single by Choice, Child-Free by Choice, Building a Business Anyway

SPEAKER_02 39:39

grown up with.

SPEAKER_00 39:39

Yeah, probably. I also didn't think that I would be single and choosing to be single either when I was 20. But I enjoy it. I am so comfortable in my solitude. I also want to say this to a lot of young people is that we need to learn and teach our daughters to live by themselves without the pressure of marriage, husband, children, etc., etc., etc. It is such a rewarding travel alone, see the world, discover things. Um, I never thought in my twenties that I would be living this lovely single life with no stress, child-free, in my 40s. I am very, very proud of that. The choice of not having a child and a husband and building a business is scary. Not having that supplement income is scary, but it's so rewarding. I am my own boss.

The Memoir She'll Write at 50 as a 50th Birthday Gift to Herself

SPEAKER_02 40:53

Yeah, and this is equity and this is inclusion. Starting with yourself. Absolutely. And then when once you feel it, and then you can pass it on to the others. Think so? I've seen on LinkedIn that you have always spoken about writing a book about yourself. Yes. So you're a writer, mentor, strategist, and a speaker. Yeah. When you had to when you have to write one line about your book. Oh no. The opening of your future book, what would it say? That's my last question.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Oh my god, I have to really think this through. I think I want to be remembered. In my the opening line of my memoir would be that she tried and she succeeded, and she had a blast while doing it. That's not bad. Yeah. She tried. She tried. She succeeded and she had a blast while doing it.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

I had a blast while doing it. I like that line.

SPEAKER_00 41:55

Yeah. I need to have fun while um doing all of these things. I think we don't think of joy and adventure so many times in our lives. We think of inspiring other people and doing these important life-changing, life-affirming things, but we forget to have joy. Yeah. Like. And she danced. And she danced, okay. That's it. And she danced. Because that's the biggest sense of joy and purpose for me. And not being able to dance if my knees give away is the scariest thing that keeps me up at night sometimes. That's life. I know. But I don't want to be not able to dance. Ever.

Mayuri Nache, the Dancer Who Refused to Stop Dancing

SPEAKER_02 42:46

We'll have some inspiration around to look up. Who is that? Ah, I forgot the lady. What's her name? The one who couldn't dance and she's she was a dancer and she couldn't dance. Mayuri. No, no, there's somebody else.

SPEAKER_00 42:58

Mayuri Nache Mayuri. Yeah, she had her feet uh legs amputated and she then she continues to dance.

SPEAKER_02 43:05

Mayori. That's an inspiration for many women.

SPEAKER_00 43:08

Mayori Chandran, I think. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. She was an inspiration growing up.

Closing Reflections and Where to Find Ketaki

SPEAKER_02 43:16

Well, I really had a lovely time interacting and knowing your journey, your story. Um, and I'm sure the audience watching in also must have got a lot of wisdom and learnings from it. And I hope that your book really, really happens that you know the line that you said, maybe that is something, uh, a line that you remember, and then you can start writing if you haven't seen it. I'll give you credit. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

I'll take that. I'll take that. I'll give you credit. No, but I the memoir will come eventually at 50. That's the plan.

unknown 43:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 43:50

I have a couple of years to to get there. Um, but that's a gift to myself. My 50th birthday gift is the memoir that I will write. Isn't that a great thing to really gift yourself? Yes. Gift myself, and with that, hopefully, every other girl, 20-year-old girl who dreams of leaving home and building a life from scratch. I was thinking so again and again and again. In every decade of my life, I've done that. So yeah. Hopefully it'll inspire people.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

I'm sure it will be. And I will be the one to read it. Maybe when you launch it, maybe don't have don't forget to. Yes, I'll give you a signed copy. Yes, please. Yes. You'll get it. Thank you so much, Kate Key, for your time. It was really lovely to have you. And I'm gonna share your details. The LinkedIn profile because I think there is a lot of things that one can learn, which we have not covered in the podcast, because the time please follow Link Kaitki on LinkedIn. And also, do you have a website?

SPEAKER_00 44:59

No, I don't have a website, but my LinkedIn is my go-to for everything. But do you have a newsletter? The newsletter is Have a Good Day in PR, which is on LinkedIn. The main platform is LinkedIn for sites anymore.

SPEAKER_02 45:16

Okay. I get that.

SPEAKER_00 45:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:19

Well, thank you so much, Kate Key Thank you, Savia.

SPEAKER_00 45:22

I loved and enjoyed having a conversation with you. I felt like we were old friends just chit-chatting and not, you know, talking about deep uh even though we were talking about really deep and serious topics, I felt that um I am not meeting you for the first time. Yeah. And that's it. Same here.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

Really? I I thought like I knew you for a long, long time. And uh honestly, it has been long that we've been talking about doing this podcast. So probably because of that, that I visualize myself talking to you so long and the questions, and every time I see the post, I knew that ah, I want to talk about that, you know? Yes. So thank you for this.

SPEAKER_00 46:04

It's been a pleasure. I've enjoyed this every single moment of it. Thank you. Thank you. All the best. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

If today's conversation made you feel understood, informed, or simply connected to the global journey, we'd love for you to stay with us. Please subscribe and follow the channel. Your support truly helps us bring global voices to this space. So thank you.