She chose to face her fears head on, emerged victorious

Hers is a story of grit and determination. Withdrawn into herself by peer pressure and inferiority complex, at one point she had decided to quit her career after her graduation. However, instead of succumbing to her inner conflict, she chose to face her fears head on. She decided to give her life a spin. Meet Nashik based Aishwarya Andhrutkar, pursuing masters in Interior Designing, who recently won first prize among students at the Interior Design Awards, a competition organized by the Nashik Infrastructure Magazine. Buoyed by her success, she now aspires to setup her own design firm.

Aishwarya always wanted to setup her own business but after studying commerce in 12th, she wasn’t sure which discipline she should choose for her graduation. She liked drawing and painting from her childhood and her parents knew she had an artistic bent of mind, so they eventually decided to go for a graduation course in Interior Designing. She took admission for BSc Interior Design course in INIFD, Nashik. Just when it looked like her career was now on the right track, she took a detour.

In the first year, Aishwarya’s first designing assignment was of a Creche facility. They were asked to give a panel presentation in front of senior faculty and the whole class. She did good in designing but the presentation part turned out to be very difficult for her and she failed miserably in it. She ended up getting mocked by her peers and it shattered her confidence. Months went by, things went down the spiral and Aishwarya was caught up in the maze of considering herself inferior to her peers. She withdrew into herself and felt she made a wrong career choice. At one point, she wanted to quit interior designing as she felt it was very difficult. By the time she finished her graduation, she was very frustrated. Her parents intervened but Aishwarya had made up her mind to not pursue career in Interior Designing.

My parents were not happy with my decision, they counselled me..but I was firm on my decision to quit Interior Designing.

Aishwarya Andhrutkar

Aishwarya was restless with the whole situation and decided to take a gap of 1 year. She watched many motivational videos during this time. She did lot of thinking and introspection and then realized that all this fuss about inferiority is all made-up and in her head. She had put more emphasis on what she doesn’t have instead of what she has. She spent too much time in comparing herself with her peers. She decided to remove labels she had attached to herself. She decided to confront her fears and make a new beginning. She decided to go for Masters in Interior Designing in the same college.

New friends, new subjects, it was all new for her. She pushed herself to interact more with her peers. She realized that the more you socialize with other people, the more you understand that they aren’t judging you, making fun of you, or putting you down. She knew she was good with Design, so she worked on her strengths. Her faculty especially Ms. Pratima Chaudhary also gave good support and guidance. Along with support of her new friends, she took her designing skills to the next level. During her studies, she came across the book The house in Good Taste by Elsie De Wolfe who was world’s first woman Interior designer. She studied in detail her designing skills and Elsie’s thought process has had a deep impact on her. Soon, Aishwarya made her own identity in her class based on her strengths in designing skills.

I am indebted to Pratima Ma’m for her support and guidance. I am also thankful to my friend Sagar More who has helped me a lot in improving my design skills.

Aishwarya Andhrutkar

Winning the award is one of the most important success in my life.. The career that I wanted to leave.. which made me frustrated.. I feel passionate about it now.. It is indeed a miracle for me..

Aishwarya Andhrutkar