Women often find themselves managing a combination of work tasks, responsibilities at home, and potentially additional commitments such as community involvement or educational pursuits. This multitasking skill is particularly evident in careers where women balance demanding job roles with family responsibilities. They might seamlessly transition from professional meetings to household management, demonstrating a remarkable ability to handle diverse challenges.
One such woman, Punam Nagpal is equipped with a background in journalism and writing; and has prior experience working with a national newspaper and a multinational publishing house. Currently, she is actively engaged in content creation and curation, predominantly collaborating with companies and startups.
In an interview with Asian Voice, she talks about her work and how she manages to achieve a near-perfect work-life balance.
Can you share your journey and how you've managed to build a niche for yourself in content creation?
I have a fair number of years of work experience, and yet following the break I took to be the primary caregiver for my son, I had to start as a fresher in my field. I started with freelance work; no project was too small. The idea was to build a portfolio for my work. The one thing I always aimed for was to deliver more than the expectations of my clients. Work content, deadlines, client meetings, feedback – I always gave more than 100 per cent. This helped build my credibility and people did not hesitate to recommend me to others. It was a long journey but it paid off as I made sure to build the right foundation. I also read a lot and researched thoroughly about the work I undertook so my content delivery was always of a very high quality, and this became my USP.
With your background in journalism and writing, how do you approach content creation for companies and startups differently than traditional journalistic writing?
My training and experience in journalism gave me the right foundation – to read, research, sift the relevant from the irrelevant very quickly and put it together in a logical yet cohesive, user-friendly format. However, having said that writing for start-ups can be tricky. First I need an intelligent grasp of the product/concept I’m writing about – that needs a lot of research and reading up; next I need to adapt my writing style to the in-house style of the company – that is, the language they “speak” to their clients/consumers of the product. Then I need to tailor it to the format and word limit they require. So it can be quite a juggling act to get it precisely the way the client envisages. There can be quite a bit of to-and-fro with the client team and sometimes you need to convince them that what you’re delivering will work or it can go into unlimited iterations.
How did you identify your specific area of expertise, and what advice do you have for others looking to carve out their niche in the tech field?
I did not choose my area of expertise, rather the area chose me. I took on freelance work as it came my way and grew organically from there as the clients who would recommend me tended to be in related fields, so more of the work from the same or similar fields continued to come my way. It also helps that when you keep working in similar fields, you build up expertise and experience over time and slowly it all adds up to a point where you begin to feel confident in what you’re doing. My advice to anyone starting out would be to not be afraid. Start small if you need to, but make sure you give your very best even to the smallest projects even if perhaps they don’t pay that well. Build your credibility, build good relationships and take the time to read well and research your work. Don’t do a half-baked job and don’t cut corners.
How do you manage your time effectively between your work, professional development, and personal life?
Time management is one of the greatest life skills you can learn. From my own experience, I could not have done the work-life balance if I didn’t manage my time well. I try and keep client meetings for mornings/afternoons so I can be home in the evening for family time. No work on the weekends, even if that means spending a couple of hours working late at night after the family has gone to bed, so I can spend the weekend with them. I use my time spent commuting for client meetings to read/research for my work projects, so that adds hours of productive time to my weekdays. And I always make a priority list of my work, so things get done in order and I’m not panicking at the very last hour. Updating upcoming work, family and social events on my phone calendar weekly keeps things running smoothly most of the time.
How have you overcome obstacles put in your path professionally and personally?
Obstacles are a given in life. I now, after much experience, like to think of them as growing opportunities. You do grow as a person and a professional when you live through and overcome obstacles. Microaggressions and professional rivalry are a part of life for most of us and my stance has always been to be dignified in such situations and understand what is happening without stooping low.