Apoorva moved to Australia, 9 years ago to do her masters in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Melbourne. After university, she joined a manufacturing company called Actionlaser as an R&D engineer where she worked on several projects with a focus on improving the quality of the end product and increasing production efficiencies. At Actionlaser, she currently works as an Operations Manager, where she leads a team of skilled operators, and work to streamline processes and improve transparency between the sales & production teams. Outside of work, she loves working on side projects, and some of them include running an e-commerce website and a blog on Cavoodles. She was a part of the Winter20 Fellowship program and got the opportunity to intern with Gecko Traxx as a customer experience consultant.
What is the Fellowship to you?
Initially, all I wanted from the Fellowship was to network with like-minded people. I’m coming out with more than I expected: a targeted approach to my career and personal development. I would have eventually figured it out, but the Fellowship has only accelerated my thinking.
For me, the two major takeaways from the Fellowship are:
- Put yourself out there and trust in the process.
- Be comfortable in asking the uncomfortable questions.
The Fellowship has helped me identify my strengths and weaknesses and create a new identity for myself and see the world with a fresh perspective. I’m forever grateful to the Startmate team.
Would you recommend it to others?
Yes!! If you are someone who is curious, proactive, ambitious and ready to push your boundaries, I totally recommend the Fellowship. The Fellowship only provides the framework, and it’s up to you to tailor it to your personal goals and make the best out of the program.
What were the biggest outcomes for you from participating in the Fellowship?
As Micahel Batko says “You have to expose yourself to luck to be lucky. For luck to strike, increase your surface area”. The Fellowship not only increased my surface area but also helped me get introductions with some fantastic people in the startup ecosystem which helped me land an internship with Gecko Traxx, an innovative startup in the Assistive Technology space.
What can I say about the network, it’s beyond amazing! I know I can always reach out to the amazing women from my cohort or Startmate’s extended network for inspiration, motivation or just a good chat.
