Gayatri Puranik is an Entrepreneur in Germany. She was born in Mumbai and grew up mostly in Mumbai, but spent a very decisive 4 years in Bangalore without her parents, and that early experience, she believes has enabled her all along to see, accept and appreciate differences amongst people – cultural and other differences such as practiced traditions, values, mannerisms, etc..
She has a BA in Economics & Psychology from University of Mumbai and a degree in Applied Linguistics from University of Heidelberg & Mainz – Germersheim. After working in her family company for a year, she decided to return to Germany in Oct 1989 – 3 weeks before the Berlin wall came down on 9.November 1989! And has been living and experiencing European history in HD/FRG ever since. She started her business of Import of Ayurvedic products just before her second daughter was born. In fact, the first delivery of consignment and her daughter arrived 3 weeks apart!
Leadership in her own words :
I think a certain kind of leadership comes naturally to everyone, as also to me. All the different steps I had the freedom to take, as a young person in India and later whilst living in Europe, continued to give me the feeling that within a certain framework I can, should and am in charge of my own life. That itself is a kind of leadership. In being a woman, I think the framework within which I can exercise my freedom is definitely different to the framework boys and men assume for themselves.
Her mission in life is
“To achieve whatever I set out to do, without losing myself as a human being. Being the “bridge” I set out to be – Bridging concepts, enabling proper communication and Connecting Ayurveda across continents.“
Excellent podcast. Enjoyed listening to your experiences in Germany M’am – especially Coping with the German structure and taxes.
And your experiences on communication are valuable. It is another of those topics that’s easy to theorise but really hard to practice.
I believe in prompt and clear communication- but now listening to your podcast opening to the fact that people communicate with silence and other forms as well.
Interesting insights on intercultural experiences ! Thanks Malathi for asking those questions 🙂