A mother-of-two finds a corporate job: Employability made a reality by Unnati

“FEAR has two meanings: ‘Forget Everything And Run’ or ‘Face Everything And Rise’. The choice is yours.” – Zig Ziglar

Margaret – 43rd Batch – Housekeeping Vocation

It was a very different interview with Margaret from the very first question. For a family background, we normally do not hear of a spouse and children, we expect to hear about parents and siblings! Margaret hails from Thiruvannamalai town in Tamil Nadu. She does not want to talk about a family before her marriage; she only said she had nobody. With such a setup, she had not received too much education as well.

Margaret’s husband has a flooring contractor job, which meant that the money would come in only when he had work to do. With this irregular source of income, they had to run a family with two little children in an expensive city like Bangalore.

Margaret was part of the Women empowerment society in her neighbourhood, which was led by a responsible woman working for the Government of Karnataka. She was aware of Unnati and its activities, and suggested that Margaret join Unnati and experience a transformation.

For a background, Margaret mentioned that she never wanted to speak to anyone earlier. She was an extreme introvert and would only keep to herself and fend for her family. She was afraid of everything, and coming to Unnati and registering for a course there was a huge step in itself for her.

She registered for the Housekeeping vocation in the 43rd batch, and was overwhelmed by seeing so many people along with her. Margaret mentions that the energy of the other students slowly began to rub off on her and she began to enjoy her course.

Margaret was also very different in picking her top three favourite courses at Unnati. She feels that every day and every hour had a life lesson for her. And the biggest transformation that she saw in herself was her ability to face people and stand up for herself to speak her mind.

Margaret landed herself a job in the housekeeping unit of the famous St. Mark’s hotel. She really likes her job and mentions that her job exposed her to multi-cultural people and the confidence Unnati gave her helped her in presenting herself well at the job.

She had no problems executing her job well. Margaret’s shift would typically start at 7:30am, which meant she’d have to start the day very early, complete all her household chores, ensure that her elder son (in primary school) and the younger one (two-year old) had enough to eat all day, and also make sure they were secure at the caretaker’s place. When she returned home after 7pmevery evening, due to the distance and the peak hour traffic, she would have to make dinner, ensure her son studies and prepare for the next day.

Margaret had to do this every single day. Well, this may not be huge; but imagine an individual who could have just stayed home and let her husband manage the running income, as against pursuing a career so passionately even if it was a secondary interest! That is what makes Margaret unique – she stood up to the situation and rose up to face it head-on! And in her own words, Unnati has helped her in every single step of that journey.

Her job pays her a steady income of Rs. 7000 a month, which is helping Margaret’s family a great deal. Margaret says she owes it all to Unnati, and cannot imagine a life without Unnati.

All the heavy work had taken a temporary toll on Margaret’s health. When we spoke to her, she was in hospital being treated for a flu and general fatigue. She sounded very tired while speaking to us, but the spark of a new life came up during the conversation!

We wish Margaret a speedy recovery, and also wish that she rises up confidently from this situation and continues to shine in her career!

Many thanks to Ms Sukanya Kuppuswamy for the wonderfully written success story!

Team Unnati