Shinjini Das and CEO of GirlQuake Denise Restauri had a conversation about what she was doing in her life. She was a digital strategist at Iron Horse Interactive in the San Francisco Bay Area; she moderated a panel at the 2016 Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations in recognition of her advocacy work to empower women and youth; she had a social media following of 67K+.
The pair then got together at the Forbes Under 30 Summit and recorded their conversation about Das’ desire to inspire women to stop being apologetic, to stop being the good-girl and to write their own great stories. That brought them to Das’ Mentoring Moment, in her words:
“I have chased goals my entire life, but at 24, for the first time, I listened to my heart and it ignited my soul on fire.”
She continues on to say:
“The truth is that this hunger to not be normal, to not do what is expected of me, had been latent within me for a long time. But I had just chosen to ignore it. But not completely. For the past 18 months, my passion to do the unexpected became my side hustle. I have always been fascinated with creating my own story, and quite frankly, had no interest in someone else writing my own story for me, so I christened myself “The Go-Getter Girl!” who was on a quest to lead a personally and professionally fulfilling life while positively empowering individuals to take action to achieve their highest potential. And then two weeks ago, I listened to my inner voice, quit my job and became an entrepreneur.
But, you must understand what a crazy idea this is. I am an Indian-American female and entrepreneurship is still viewed as a very risky endeavor in my community. Here are the top four things I did before making the jump:
1. Think. The jump had to be layered with a great deal of thought, intention and foresight. I had to listen to my deepest voices, understand what my desires and passions are and make my goals align with what is driving me. And I realized that only I could make it happen. Of course, I want and need the help of others, but it must all start with me believing in myself. And that leads me to point #2:
2. Fall in love with myself. That’s not egotistical, that’s something we should all be proud to say because loving myself gives me the power I need to say, “I can do this.” Plus we are not in a position to love anyone else if we do not love ourselves first.
3. Test the waters. My passion was a side hustle for 18 months which gave me the time to explore the waters of American media and figure out my plan before I decided to dive in full-time.
4. Stop Asking A Question That Doesn’t Have An Answer. I stopped trying to answer the question, “Am I making the right move?” — the only way to find out is to make the move.
An entrepreneur quite literally means the “bearer of risk.” I’m now ready to take that risk and create my own destiny. I am extraordinarily grateful and excited to call myself a newly minted female entrepreneur.”
Take a listen. To hear more about Das’ transformation from a introverted young girl in an immigrant household to an American entrepreneur, take a listen.
Read more on Forbes.com.
