How and why I left my IT job to pursue my dream in dance
We’ve all seen stories of so and so left their successful job and started their own company or pursue something completely different from what they are currently doing, but I have never imagined this would be me someday. I never had the courage to take such a big leap in my life, I was always afraid of financial instability, status etc etc.
I had a job in IT that paid well, and I was good at doing what I was doing, however deep inside I loved dance and arts more. I was always the artsy girl who’d create something in any art media, be it drawing, painting, poetry, photography or performance art. I studied arts in college and pursued a career in digital art (graphic design) and later shifted to UX design but what I really love is fine arts. For career purposes, I chose digital art, if I could, I would have pursued fine arts for sure, but we all know fine arts make no money, as sad as it sounds, it is true. We are in this era of technology and internet, computer jobs is where it’s at. I worked in IT for 10 long years.
February 2022, I got a new job at a start up in NY, a full time job can be very demanding, not too mention this is a startup, it is even more time demanding. In order to keep my dance alive, I got up early every morning to practice before I go on my day, I did that for 7 months until an unfair decision was made within the company to eliminate me versus fixing their process, but to be honest, I was happy this happened and just one day before vijayadashmi, the auspicious day of good over evil in hindu traditions, as if god saw what I wanted in life and pushed me to pursue it. I was relieved without that stressful job, and at the same time I was completely fed up with always working on someone else’s dream, product and success. I want to take this time in my life and build someone of my own. That’s when Nritya Studios was born, a platform that offers dance, fitness, nutrition and flexibility as well as zoom lessons.
It’s been 5 months, I don’t miss a single day that I worked in the tech world, however I am very thankful for all the skills that I learned in tech that helped me built this platform.
I have been chasing my dream hard, and I have been practicing dance hard every single day, with a belief in my mind and with the passion and love for this beautiful art form that I fell in love with - Bharatanatyam. This summer I will have my arrangetram in Chennai, a dream that I never thought it would happen due to high expenses here in the US, I had given up this dream a while back. Special thanks to Roja akka for encouraging me to do it. I am not a very religious person, but I do believe in karma, I was destined to do this dance and destined to walk in this path and meet the spiritual gurus who guide me through this path in art. I am eternally grateful.