My name is Radhika Nandwani and I manage Marketing Communications at the Indian School of COmmunications and REputation (SCoRe). While a lot of you reading this may know of my current role, you may not know about my past work experience. Before joining SCoRe, I spent nearly three and a half years working at a leading PR Firm in India, handling communications for some prominent global brands.

When I first spoke to Amith Prabhu about working at SCoRe four months ago, I saw the role assigned to me as a ‘job’ that will help me explore the areas of marketing as well. What I did not realise then was that I will be 33% of the workforce here which meant that my role is not only limited to my title but to a lot more! At SCoRe, I am not just an employee like I would be in a big company, who has no or very limited say while taking business decisions. Here, I have experienced the power of my own voice. Along with the power there is also responsibility- that the success or the failure of the school depends a lot more on me as an individual- the activities I do or do not do well.

My present role has given me the opportunity to experience many aspects of a business which are common for any industry and not just education. Being  a part of SCoRe has helped me understand how a start-up operates and what are the pieces of a business you need to put together to make it a fully functional machine. Our three  member team works on all aspects- operations, management, technology, human resources, finance and accounting among other things. We have defined set of responsibilities but we all do several things together.

Unlike most education institutes we do not have set work timings- . Neither of us would hesitate to call the other at 11 pm to get a status on a particular item or take action on an urgent request. We also have the liberty to work from wherever we want as long as the goals are being met, until we move to our own centre. I have often worked from the Starbucks cafe in our future office building or at a PR office of our generous collaborators. Several PR firms have been kind to support us in various ways including giving us the space to sit at their workplace until our own space is ready.

Being in the education segment has been a new experience. Over a period of 20 days I visited close to 30 colleges in 2 Indian metros which gave me an understanding on how the student network works. Visiting varied kinds of career venues like coaching centers, language institutes, career counsellors, and education fairs has given me a fairly clear picture of the Indian education segment. I now understand the popular courses amongst graduates, their understanding about PR as a career among other things.

Being with SCoRe has given me a deeper awareness about the consumer and customer relationship that is prevalent in the education system. We do not have one but two kinds of target audience to influence. The students are the consumers of our service but our customers are their parents who will eventually pay for their education!

I hope to write another series on this topic once the first batch graduates from India’s first school dedicated to Public Relations!