A family moves up the social chain: A journey of confidence made possible by Unnati!

Veena – 29

th

Batch – Retail Vocation 

Veena has lived in Bangalore all her life. She traces her origins to Andhra Pradesh, but has never been there. Veena lost her father when she and her brother were very young children. That meant her mother had to shoulder the responsibility of bringing them up and raising the

to do so. Veena’s mother used to do multiple odd jobs, and the income from Tailoring was the most standard for the family of three and this income never exceeded Rs. 6000 a month.

Veena’s brother had to find a job very early to support his mother, and he became a painter. Even with that, Veena’s family could not afford for her education beyond 10th standard.

 It was Veena’s mother’s friends who suggested Unnati as an option, for Veena to pursue a focussed course and find a job. Veena comes across as this very interesting and enterprising individual, and we are sure that this character must’ve prompted her mother’s friends to suggest the right choice for her.

Veena joined the 29th batch at Unnati and chose the retail vocation. This was more than three years back, and she recalls that every one of the lessons taught at Unnati were extremely valuable. The following three subjects seem to be her picks for the most interesting lessons:

•  Life Skills (and so many students mention this as their top pick)

•  Spoken English – she rightly mentions that this particular course gave her so much  confidence to face the world.

•  The session on having an aim and following your goal.

Once she completed her course at Unnati, Veena was placed at KFC for a salary of Rs. 7000 per month. She loved the job, and says that Unnati had a huge role to play in her liking the job.

At KFC, Veena was one of their ace performers. She says she has lost count of the number of awards she has won at KFC, and is definitely not haughty about that statement. KFC has rewarded her with “Star of the month”, “Star of the quarter” awards multiple times. She has been their IDP and product champion, which we understand, were her promotions up the rank.

Veena mentions that she has become more confident, independent and self-reliant, thanks to the holistic Unnati training. She says, like many other students who talk to us, that her “life has transformed” because of Unnati.

Veena is now a proud “manager” at KFC earning a whooping Rs. 1,80,000 annually. This has moved her family to a higher socio-economic level. Veena is still one of KFC’s top performers and continues to be passionate about her job.

During our conversation, I could hear Veena very adeptly solving a people issue at her workplace, and she exuded so much confidence in that situation. She says this is a complete transformation from being an introvert while joining Unnati.

Veena is willing to give back to Unnati, in fact she wants to. She says she would love to spend time with Unnati and the current students when she has the time, and tell them one thing: to stick to the jobs that Unnati finds the students. For, she feels that being patient and understanding a job takes at least 6 months and once there’s that patience and understanding, success definitely comes calling!  I asked her about the attrition, especially at FMCG joints like KFC, and her answer was to be patient and not give up, which is what Zig Ziglar mentions in his quote above.

Team Unnati is very proud of Veena and we wish her the very best to grow more heights in the corporate chain. Veena leads by example, and we’re sure with the training as sincere as Unnati’s, many more such leaders will find the right place at the right time!

Contribution by Sukanya Kuppuswamy (Volunteer)

Team Unnati