Aaisha Balakrishnan: On Rebranding Leadership & IDEA’s Legacy
We are delighted to formally introduce Aaisha Balakrishnan as our 13th Altschuler-Meyer CEO of IDEA, Northeastern’s very own student-lead Venture Accelerator.
Aaisha Balakrishnan is a 5th year International Business major concentrating in Marketing and Management with a minor in Consulting, and she plans to use her existing resources and connections to past IDEA management to build an IDEA stronger than it has been in the past.
AAISHA’s JOURNEY to CEO:
The story of Aaisha Balakrishnan and IDEA begins long before Balakrishnan had even applied to NEU, and actually begins with her brother Abhishek Balakrishnan joining IDEA as an analyst in his middler year, back in 2018. In the years since Abhishek first introduced IDEA to her and her mother, Balakrishnan can not recall the exact way Abhishek introduced the concept of IDEA to her back then, but what she remembers most is the passion and the excitement that IDEA inspired in him. At the time she started at Northeastern, Balakrishnan was not interested in entrepreneurship, and she was even less interested in ‘following in her brother’s footsteps’, so her personal involvement with IDEA really began when Abhishek became IDEA CEO in his senior year and Balakrishnan’s sophomore year.
Balakrishnan began regularly visiting the lab upon his request, which is how she “started to really see the impact the IDEA organization has on the community here at Northeastern, and the stuff they were doing, the people that came in — the ventures, the students, the coaches, everyone, just the work they were doing was so amazing. And everyone was so passionate about each little thing they were working on. And I was just like this is an amazing organization.”
This impression was so strong on Balakrishnan that she took her brother up on his offer to interview for a marketing position halfway through her Sophomore Spring semester. Balakrishnan liked writing for IDEA, and enjoyed spending time with the other members of her team and IDEA in general. So when COVID-19 struck and derailed IDEA’s 10th Anniversary celebrations and her brother’s tenure as CEO, Balakrishnan realized that she had a unique perspective into how IDEA needs to be run and decided to stay and keep IDEA on track. The following year, Balakrishnan was a Marketing Associate again during the Fall Semester of IDEA’s virtual year, but became Chief of Staff in the Spring Semester, despite being on co-op in Dubai. The year proceeding found Balakrishnan in a position that was different from the positions she was familiar with as it was newly created, but she nonetheless took to being Brand Director during the 2021–2022 Academic Year well regardless.
“I know this organization now. I know what we can do, I know the positive impact we can have on the community and even the broader Boston community and the new campuses that Northeastern has, and I will do what I can to support IDEA’s mission. And so I applied for CEO. And I got it.”
Throughout her journey to CEO and her experience in IDEA, Balakrishnan details that the only hesitation she had was the way she thought about what it means to be a leader and what that meant within IDEA’s context. Initially, Balakrishnan had imagined being a leader and being an entrepreneur to be synonymous with the word ‘Innovator’, and she did not have a lot of interest in being a revolutionary ‘Big Boss’ figure, as she preferred a more supportive role for herself.
“My mission in life is to help people no matter what way I can, even if it’s in a small way, such as giving someone an idea for a brand name, or telling someone about a cheap lotion that’s really good for your skin. I just want to help people — it’s my main ambition in life.”
Balakrishnan does not have an exact moment she can point at that explains her shift in opinion, but she does describe there being a distinct switch. Balakrishnan realized that she could use her existing connections and relationships to multiple past CEOs to further enrich IDEA’s community and Northeastern University entirely.
“I realized I can be CEO, I can be a leader, without having to be that Innovator cap concept. I can be the support for others rather than just telling people what to do, I can create positive experiences for them, and help us as a group create a positive impact.”
HER VISION FOR IDEA:
Now that Balakrishnan knows what being a leader and being CEO means to her, she also has a clear vision of what she wants her impact on IDEA to be beyond her. Overall, Balakrishnan wants “everyone who interacts with IDEA to have a positive experience” — and by everyone she means everyone from the students who make up the IDEA management team, to our affiliated offices and organizations, to every venture or entrepreneurially-inclined individual who walks into the lab. Balakrishnan infuses this motive and mission into all the choices she makes as CEO, which shows in her core goals for the year.
“I’m a third culture kid, so I’ve grown up around the world, and I’ve met many people from different cultures. I always strive to make everyone comfortable, or at least as comfortable as I can.”
Balakrishnan identifies Diversity, Engagement & Inclusion as a core focus of hers, but she also is focusing on setting up future IDEA CEOs and their teams for success by producing more documentation and standard processes. Balakrishnan is also using her previous experience as Brand Director and those relevant connections to further bolster IDEA’s branding and identity, as she wants everyone associated with Northeastern University to know that IDEA is available for them as a resource and a support. Finally, Balakrishnan is looking to further encourage engagement both within and outside IDEA now that there is more opportunity for in-person networking and connecting as a community.
WHO IS AAISHA BALAKRISHNAN:
Outside of IDEA, Balakrishnan is a creative individual and has a wide variety of interests and hobbies she pursues. These hobbies and interests include knitting, pottery, musical theater, singing and the very geometric design painting skills she’s currently applying to the drawers in the IDEA lab. Aside from these creative pursuits, Balakrishnan enjoys playing all sorts of games and activities that enable her to spend time with the people she cares about, which is best explained in her own words: “Quality Time is something that really means a lot to me with the people I care about.” Balakrishnan has already started applying this passion for activities and encouraging others to receive and find the same support and community she has in IDEA through some of the bonding activities scheduled throughout the semester, and is excited to see where the year takes the entire team.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR BALAKRISHNAN:
As for where Balakrishnan sees herself going next? She is not certain where life will take her but she does have a few ideas. She is currently considering different career paths and options such as working in-house in either strategy or branding, but she also might pursue a Master’s Degree in Future Foresight. There also might be a venture of her very own in Balakrishnan’s future — but even if she does not get around to it any time soon, Balakrishnan knows that IDEA will always be in her future, either with her in an advisory position to future CEOs or as a resource when she needs it.
“Ideally, I would love to one day start my own branding consultancy where I get to amplify the voices of startups and groups. That would be my absolute dream.”
She also might get a dog if that is in the cards for her.
For her parting words, Balakrishnan has a direct appeal to all readers that helped her in her own personal journey through IDEA and her academic experience at Northeastern University.
But the advice is best heard delivered from Aaisha Balakrishnan, the 13th Altschuler-Meyer CEO of IDEA for the 2022–2023 year, herself:
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If you want to learn more about Aaisha Balakrishnan or the impact her mother and brother have also had on Northeastern University, you can read more here.
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