To Kat Kuan, With Love
Dear Kat,
I would like to let you know what makes me feel that you are special. And hence dedicating this blog to you.
It was in February that I got selected for the Google Udacity scholarship.
I started taking the classes which was headed by you and I could easily get rid of my imposter syndrome (I think for ever) which used to haunt me very often. Your presentation style has definitely helped me with that.
Sometime during that period, I followed you on Google plus and Twitter. I was also following your blog. When you announced your first book, “Use your voice”, I was very happy for you and was planning to buy it for my son. More than that, I wanted to read it myself. :-)
I became a big fan of yours when I read your short story. Way back in 2010 when I decided to bid good bye to a career in IT, I had gone through what your protagonist had gone through in your short story. I am sure that it is just not me or you. Many other women (& men too) can for sure relate to what you were talking about in your short story.
I had subtly mentioned about my worries about my looks in one of my blogs.
There are lot of fashion bloggers and v loggers around. I love and enjoy watching them.
But again, there is some disconnect.
And it is that disconnect which you can kind of mend.
Let me try and explain.
As far as I am concerned, fashion and style means two things. It is a matter of your confidence. To put it more blunt, it is important because it helps you feel that you are not “below” anyone else. (I agree, it is silly.)
Also, it is a statement. Fashion can make others feel uncomfortable because it might project that you are richer, sophisticated and superior than the others.
Being a techie in India, I always felt that it is important to keep my style a bit modest so that you make your team realise that I am one among you. (Things are changing now. I started my career as a techie a decade and a half back.)
I didn’t have anyone whom I could model myself on.
Either women moved into a managerial role too fast and they never had to spend much time to work on their pure tech skills. Or they opted to move out of a tech career totally.
For someone like me, for whom the corporate ladder was not something which I aspired for, I had to work really hard to reskill and spend every extra hour I have to upskill.
Fashion and looking good definitely needs time to invest and someone who is struggling with my career and family, looks always took a backseat in my case. But I have always wanted to look good and wanted put efforts on that front.
In your video where you announced your new career, I totally related to what you said. We some how don’t express things when we don’t want to be seen. And it is the case with many of us. (I strongly believe that looks should not be a fact which affects one’s confidence. But, unfortunately, we do not have a choice most of the times here!)
Why you are an inspiration is because, you are someone who had a successful career in pure tech and you probably understand all the issues that we go through. We never had someone who gives style tips and at the same time who understands the expectations our industry sets.
Your t shirt tuck video was a perfect styling tip for super busy women whose every minute goes into upskilling or into other personal priorities.
Looking forward to watching you more often,
Pyari
(It is a very stressful night for me tonight, as it is flooding in the state where my parents live. Here, my son has to go to the school tomorrow and we have only 5 hours to sleep tonight. Work wise also, there is too much stress and I opted to write to you on this night because you are such a great inspiration and a very strong influence in my life. Thank you for all your work. And I want you to know this, curious Kat. You are touching many lives. Not everyone might be letting you know that. :-)
(please bear with my not so thought out post for you. But, as you mentioned, we need to start somewhere ;)
