Leading Positivity Coach
From the time she was a child, Dr Anjana Vinod had a knack for explaining difficult topics in easy terms using metaphors, anecdotes, and personal life experiences. “I was always good at explaining stuff, in school I would help my friends; in college my faculty would ask me to explain topics in class. Luckily my first job gave me exposure to sales and customer service. As part of the telly-calling team, I was asked to train new members. This was where it all started,” begins Anjana.
While she loves to talk and interact with different people across all age groups, what really drives Anjana is her passion to train and coach. “As a trainer, I have established myself by gaining credibility and working across industries and levels. As a coach, I am proud to say I am the ONLY breast cancer coach India has. I teach across spectrums and verticals on diverse topics ranging from majority soft skills, behavioral skills and specialized verticals like Design thinking. My quest for learning and upskilling myself enhances my ability to perform and challenge my own self,” says Anjana.
Having a funny bone and being a theatre artist for many years gives a unique blend and flavor to Anjana’s delivery style. Her passion for reading helps her give loads of examples that her audience easily connects with. In addition, her agility and adaptability helped her train/ facilitate across age groups, be it students of 5th grade or CEOs of companies.
Anjana today is a leading Positivity and Breast Cancer Coach, Faculty at multiple global B-schools, Faculty Development expert, Published Author and Keynote speaker, under her company – Impact Enhancer.
However, the journey wasn’t always smooth. Anjana’s biggest challenge came when she had to build credibility as well as opportunities in her freelance journey. “After I quit my two decade long corporate career to manage my daughter’s school and her sport, I missed the financial freedom. That’s when my freelance journey began. I took up small projects and started upskilling myself to match the industry demands. I completed many certifications (ICF – PCC, EI, Design thinking,
MyBRain, Image Consultant, to name a few) that helped me build my credibility and gain opportunities,” shares Anjana.
What also helped tremendously was the unflinching support of family. Anjana reveals, “My Dad has been my inspiration and my husband, my role model. Coming from a small conservative family in Kerala, my dad retired as a Commissioner of Income tax, whereas my husband always delivered more than what he promised. I don’t think it’s fair if I don’t mention my brother here who has always been positive competition and an invisible pillar of strength. While my mom taught me to be a selfless giver. Lastly, I learnt resilience and never give up attitude from my wonderful daughter.”
The mother-daughter duo love to go for long walks in the rain. In addition, Anjana loves doing paper quilling, doodling, and acting in plays till date.
What keeps her sharp, she says, is humor, presence of mind, visualization, and focus on work rather than money one of things my husband taught me to do. He always said follow your passion and money will automatically follow. “My energy levels and passion for my work makes me stand out from the crowd. Be it coaching call at 3 am or a university lecture ending at 9 pm, my energy levels never dip. My weakness on the other hand would be my inability to say ‘no’ to tasks and then land up burning the midnight oil,” says Anjana.
How did the pandemic affect her work? She answers: “I will be lying if I said the pandemic didn’t affect my profession. But I remained resilient to the situation and moved from offline to online mode just like fish takes to water. I delivered many free online workshops and coaching sessions to clients as both parties were trying to gauge the effectiveness. I also upskilled myself with the online delivery styles but what worked very well for me is the ability to create my own style of delivery by blending new learnings with old style.”
Anjana has been awarded the ET Pioneer 2021, India’s best coach by ICF 2021. She leaves us with a few mantras and tips: “Never say ‘no’ to any work only because the financial pay-out doesn’t match your expectations. Learning never stops and so upskilling one’s knowledge should never stop.
Sharing your knowledge only helps it grow. Seek to understand before expecting to be understood. Give without expecting; that’s what selfless giving is all about. Empathy and a sense of belonging helps build strong bonds and relationships. I also strongly believe one should never try to copy anyone’s style. Develop your own style, that’s the key to success.”
