Gauri Chaudhari, Brand Consultant, FCB Ulka

She is a box full of ideas. A right combination of creativity, knowledge and wisdom, as a strategic consultant to FCB Ulka Healthcare, Gauri Chaudhari has read the consumer's mind well and has created enduring brands like Digene and Calcium Sandoz Women…

Not many women opt for the road less travelled but Chaudhari did that right from the beginning. Born into a family of pharmacists, Chaudhari takes pride in belonging to the industry and yet does not think pharmacy is the only connection. She proved it through her unique approach to the industry. "My grandfather opened the first medical store in a small town near Aurangabad. This inspired my father, Dr S G Deshpande to take up pharmacy as profession. Both my brother and I grew up listening to stories about various medicinal formulation developments," she recollects. No wonder, both children from the family took up pharmacy as a profession. However, while her brother went on to do his PhD after his masters in pharmaceuticals in Iowa State University, she went against the norm and refused to do her masters in the same subject.

"I decided to take a pause after my Bachelors in Pharmaceuticals. This was a big shock for a 'pharmaceutically intellectual' family of mine," recounts Chaudhari. The lady rather wanted to follow her mind and decided to see and understand the industry from her own perspective. "I loved the marketing side of the industry," she reveals. She later took up marketing as a profession and did her MMS (Masters in Management Studies) from Mumbai University, with a specialisation in marketing.

Chaudhari worked with marketing departments of Boehringer Mannheim and Boots (now Abbott) for more than six years before moving on to start the healthcare advertising vertical at FCB Ulka.

Happy from heart

Chaudhari followed her heart each time she faced a dilemma. She refused to take the conventional path of going abroad for higher studies and instead decided to take up marketing as a profession. Further she moved on to advertising, the least travelled path for a pharma graduate. Today, she is not just confident but happy about decisions she has taken on her own. "I think, I took a lot of risks and as a result I am a lot happier than successful in a conventional sense," she asserts.

The new age woman

According to Chaudhari, the new millennium has given birth to a new woman. Today's woman is proud to be a woman. She has a mind and heart of her own. She believes in doing what she wants to do and achieve what she wants to achieve. She is not competing with men. She is not trying to prove herself in the world by denying her womanhood or motherhood.

Chaudhari will authenticate this argument with her experience. "During several of our consumer research studies we have seen this new Indian woman. Sometimes she takes up the path of corporate life or sometimes simply decides to go the entrepreneur way, keeping in mind the time she needs for her family and herself. She does not shy away from taking maternity breaks from her career. She does not gauge her success by the yardsticks of the men's world; rather she follows her own success formula," she emphasises.

Ask her if she has faced any obstacles as a woman on the professional front or ever felt discouraged and she will honestly tell you, "None and never!" However, she agrees that being a working woman is challenging. She did go through several dilemmas but feels fortunate to have worked in organisations which were open, flexible and yet professional. "I still remember, Boots had a policy of 84 days maternity leave where 42 days had to be consumed before the delivery. This clearly meant I had to leave my 42 days old baby home and go to work, I couldn't. I could not wean myself away from my son. I called up my boss. He had the most assuring words to say, 'I am a father myself, I understand. Extend your leave'," recalls Chaudhari. She returned to office only after her child was over four months old but she missed out on the portfolio she was handling since someone else had to handle it in her absence.

Celebrating womanhood

For Chaudhari, being reborn as a man would perhaps mean doing things the conventional way. "I could experiment a lot with my professional life only because I am a woman," she reasons. Chaudhari therefore, enjoys and celebrates her womanhood completely. "Being a woman I have my own set of skills in addition to the professional skills one needs to have. I present my own set of experience and thus a point of view which could be different. Being a woman, I understand emotions a lot better. They are extremely important when brands are trying for emotional bonding with consumers. However, my male colleagues have their own strengths. They bring objectivity and rational thinking to the process," says Chaudhari.