Let's know about Aakanksha Gupta: The Power PR lady behind The Other Circle

Now-a-days everybody believes that women are outperforming men at all level. However, the contribution of women in the development of a nation has often been neglected.

Especially in developing countries, seldom do we see women entrepreneurs who make an impact on the country's economy and who contribute to the building of the nation. The present study is carried out with an intention to bring out the significant contribution of women entrepreneurs in India.

The aim of the study is to emphasize the extensive outcomes of collective efforts of women force in India. The last few years have seen the numbers of women in the workplace increase hugely since they entered the economic system to supplement the male earning capacity lost to two world wars.

This rise in numbers has resulted in women entering a much broader range of occupations, especially in corporate sector. Aakanksha Gupta, Founder of The Other Circle, is one of wonderful names in Indian corporate sector and famous personality in Indian PR and Marketing Agency.

The Other Circle, a leading firm that optimizes public relation solutions for over hundreds enterprises, is a brainchild of Aakanksha Gupta. It is a company with right blends of PR & Marketing that now cross-section of clients who belong to the fields of hospitality, lifestyle and e-commerce.

At The Other Circle, Askanksha directs a team of bright and energetic youngsters. From the smallest press note to a significant client meeting, she keeps herself invested in all aspects of the business.

Implementing PR and marketing solution inhospitality, lifestyle and e-commerce, is a challenge on account of various factors, which The Other Circle has successfully achieved by adopting customer centric approach rather than traditional product centric approach.

Thoroughly analyzing your business needs, industry and overall requirements, the company delivers tailor-made, cost-competitive, scalable and robust solutions.

The CEO Magazine interviews Aakanksha Gupta

TCM: What was your dream as a business lady?

Aakanksha:The Other Circle is a dream I had dreamt four years ago. Back in 2013, I saw that compared to international standards or even trends, people communicate very differently in our country. I wanted to understand that.

I must also admit I was a bit disillusioned then. Social perception demanded that you had to be a certain kind of person in order to contribute to society.

I believed you didn't have to be that someone. I felt you only needed honesty, intent and knowledge, which you'd have to back up with hard work. That's what The Other Circle is about. It's not about being a part of something, of some chosen circle. It is about telling people's stories. I dream to be able to do more of that in the days and years to come.

TCM: What is your greatest professional accomplishment till date? 

Aakanksha: The first clients I started out with are still with me. That, I think, is my biggest accomplishment because in the beginning, there was no team, no office. Now we have two beautiful offices in Bandra, and a team of fifteen people.

So, I think my greatest accomplishment is that they continue to trust us the way they do. Another achievement is that 70 per cent of the restaurants we launch are nominated for the Times Food Awards or other awards of that kind.

Lastly, one of my biggest accomplishments has been the building of my team. A leader is nothing without her team, and a team is headless without a leader. I am proud I have a team of equals.

TCM: Have you ever failed in your initiatives? What have you learnt from your failures? 

Aakanksha:To be honest, I think I fail every day. It was really hard at first because I had always been very good at academics and I invariably topped my class, so dealing with failure did not come very easy. With time, however, failures became simpler to negotiate when I started looking at them as lessons.

I now constantly look at situations and think – 'What is the lesson I can take from this?' And over the last year, I have become very thick-skinned, so I don't lose focus if I fail anymore. 

TCM: What is your greatest professional accomplishment till date? 

Aakanksha: The first clients I started out with are still with me. That, I think, is my biggest accomplishment because in the beginning, there was no team, no office. Now we have two beautiful offices in Bandra, and a team of fifteen people.

So, I think my greatest accomplishment is that they continue to trust us the way they do. Another achievement is that 70 per cent of the restaurants we launch are nominated for the Times Food Awards or other awards of that kind.

Lastly, one of my biggest accomplishments has been the building of my team. A leader is nothing without her team, and a team is headless without a leader. I am proud I have a team of equals.

TCM: Have you ever failed in your initiatives? What have you learnt from your failures? 

Aakanksha:To be honest, I think I fail every day. It was really hard at first because I had always been very good at academics and I invariably topped my class, so dealing with failure did not come very easy.

With time, however, failures became simpler to negotiate when I started looking at them as lessons. I now constantly look at situations and think – 'What is the lesson I can take from this?' And over the last year, I have become very thick-skinned, so I don't lose focus if I fail anymore.

TCM: What effective strategies you have implemented/initiatives you have taken to achieve success? 

Aakanksha:The first strategy is meditation because I think that is very important. It helps you weed out a lot of unnecessary baggage. Secondly, I cannot stress more on having a healthy support system. I think when you are starting out, you shouldn't think about building a billion dollar company. You first need to build a very supportive ecosystem.

TCM: Please tell us about your future plans.

Aakanksha:We plan to launch our research wing soon, which means that we are going to become an agency that circulates a lot of trends, white papers, etc.

The second plan is to launch a financial wing very soon, so The Other Circle will start a financial services arm for startups and first-time or existing restaurant companies, where we offer to take care of their daily finances and accounting.

TCM: Who has been your greatest inspiration?

Aakanksha:I would have to say, I have two—my father and my father-in-law. My father is the toughest cookie you'll meet and my father-in-law is the nicest soul.

They have molded a lot of my personality. My father is a tough man but he is a good man. He taught me the ways of the world, and my father-in-law taught me that you can just give without caring about the fruit in the end. 

TCM: Whom do you attribute your success to? 

Aakanksha:I will attribute this to my team.

TCM:What do you think is the biggest challenge to female leadership? 

Aakanksha:I think the biggest challenge is being taken seriously in a male-dominated world. I didn't feel this earlier, but I feel it now. After you get married, you are expected to have a child, and when you're expected to have a child, they simply assume that there are only those many years that you have on you, so they don't take you very seriously in senior leadership positions.

Clients are softer on you, and I don't need anyone to be soft on me. I just want to be taken seriously and do excellent work. Also my age is a big deterrent.

When people speak to me on the phone or read an email that I have sent, they are forthcoming, but when they meet me, they expect me to be older. To them, I've always said what I don't have in experience, I make up for with sheer hard work.