By Kavitha Gunasekaran | EEP AGMP 2024

As a child, I was driven by the curiosity of airplanes that soared across the sky higher than the birds, dreaming of a day when I would be able to be among those metal birds. A day too far in the future that could fulfill my desire to reach for the skies and beyond. This one childhood dream propelled me in myriad directions. 

I am optimistic, so I would rather state that being a girl was rather a blessing in disguise because I had to be extremely determined, never give up, and fight for my place at the table to get educated and build my career in the field of my choice. The challenges posed by the societal expectations thrust me further on my journey rather than dragging me down. While I planned to pursue Aeronautical Engineering, I ended up doing Electronics and Communication Engineering at the nearest Engineering college to my home to be able to devote more time to academics and strengthen my chances of making it to the IT or semiconductor industry, as advised by well-wishers. It was a detour that turned out for the better. I decided to make the best of my circumstances.

Four years went by in a jiffy, and as I had no option to fall short, I graduated with top honours. My HOD and mentors encouraged me to expand my horizons and explore a career in the core Electronics field. One fine day, my dad mentioned job postings at DRDO and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for Electronics graduates in addition to Aeronautical engineering graduates, which was music to my ears. While I could apply for both, I only chose to apply for HAL. Reducing the choices strengthened my resolve to make or break in this one attempt to launch my dream. I prepared for the national entrance test as if my life depended on it. I attended my interview at the HAL Engine Division, Bengaluru, the exact division where Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam interned. Voila, I succeeded in this strategic bet!

I stepped into HAL as a Management trainee and, as part of training, got a chance to study Avionics at MIT, Chennai, the original institute of my choice to do Aeronautical engineering. My life came full circle as I walked the hallways where Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam traversed, leaving his indelible footprint. 

I started out as an Avionics Engineer handling complex onboard systems and formulated specifications for the test equipment to qualify the onboard systems of aircraft. I traversed from qualifying advanced mission systems to managing production standardization at a program level for entire helicopter platforms. This stint at HAL enabled me to leap out of my comfort zone drastically, work in new domains, live in a different city, as a woman Avionics engineer at a defense public sector, a completely unconventional career path with no known precedence in my entire extended family. 

I was blessed with a lot of opportunities to learn, develop, and grow as a person, a professional, and a leadership executive at the organization. Some of the transformative and experiential opportunities challenged my technical and leadership expertise, including building a Shadow board for Production Process standardization impacting hundreds of stakeholders and setting the foundation for concurrent systems engineering for a new aircraft platform. Also won laurels on the way – Outstanding Woman executive award from Forum of Women in Public sector and HAL, Best paper award, Kaizen awards, recognized Guest faculty at HAL Management Academy and a recognized trainer for defense customers. Also, I kept donning several roles not just within professional boundaries but venturing beyond, including being a Conference speaker, Vice President of HAL Productivity Council, Facilitator of a Kaizen Quality Circle, Lead Auditor & Qualified Internal Auditor AS9100D, and a blogger that kept my learning spirit bright.

I leaped forward again, exploring the world of consulting with Capgemini Invent, leveraging my industry experience to analyse the industry and share my insights with leading aerospace and manufacturing organisations. As a business consultant, I have been involved in accelerating capability and business development in the domains of Engineering transformation, Digital Continuity, Complex Program Management, Intelligent Supply Chain, and Agentic AI for augmenting process workflows. 

IIMA has fostered my intrapreneurial spirit and opened the doors for learning deep insights, sharing great conversations, and brainstorming on fascinating ideas with brilliant peers, fulfilling the curiosity of my inner child. 

I keep reinventing myself and challenging my abilities.

As I continue to travel in this journey on a road less travelled, there are several lessons learned along the way that have shaped me to be a better version of myself. Treading forward, I always hold the 5 Cs close to my heart – Connect (with peers, mentors, women leaders), Collaborate (work with like-minded individuals to further your ideas), Communicate (speak up and speak out), Continuously upskill and Change (be quick to adapt to situations)!

Just like planes are meant to fly, our dreams are also meant to soar and not be grounded and forgotten. I have always believed in building my own runway to my dreams, and that has made all the difference!

Author Bio: 

Kavitha Gunasekaran is an Aerospace professional turned business consultant accelerating Intelligent industry adoption across the value chain of the Manufacturing and Aerospace industry to enhance efficiency and revenue growth. Currently, the Associate Director – Aerospace & Defense at Capgemini Invent.