And just like the year 2022, I wish 2023 to be ‘Upwards and Onwards’ with PRAG. 

August 2021 was when I got a call to share some vernacular content. That one call changed and shaped my year 2022 as a Phenomenal, Rewarding, Adventurous, Gratitude filled year with PRAG.

From writing vernacular content to being entrusted with writing entire content for high-profile political clients, from being a remote resource to being given the responsibility of mentoring new teammates to get into the ‘right write’ groove, PRAG has given me everything that an employee would dream of getting.

Just like a Bollywood movie, when the star cast had fairly new names and no one had expected the movie to work, a few days turned out to be the highest ‘Positive Appreciation from Clients’ grossing events and the feeling was as if we hit the 100+ crore club of revenue. The joy of bringing accolades for your organization, Boss and Team cannot be encapsulated or expressed with words.

And then there were days, when the 100 crore club stars of Bollywood were given a solid script, yet they failed to impress the audience. Everything was perfect but nothing seemed to be perfect. But every cloud has a silver lining. It taught me how to manage things to avoid such crises when the stakes are critically high and you have no option except to Deliver!

It also gave me an opportunity to become friends with my teammates who till then were part of a team 2000 km located away from me. People have 2 am calls with friends. I’ve had 2 am calls with my teammates, keeping them away from falling asleep, encouraging them to keep working to meet deadlines, gossiping about the working patterns of clients, and also pulling up each other when the world (read Boss and the Manager) came crashing down on us for having done a shoddy job (which our sleepy eyes at 4 am felt they saw a stupendous work done).

The advantage of working in a PR and Social Media branding organization is that you get to pull your teammates’ and manager’s legs directly on the social media platform without the world knowing about your friendly banter. Be it a sly on the ‘most commonly used words’ or a hilarious comeback, such lighter moments have kept me sane and chirpy throughout my 2022.

Narrowing down the best moments of 2022 with PRAG will be difficult but few moments will always remain special.

Making videos in vernacular for clients has been one such task - yes, task because I’ve had to actually demonstrate it to people, how to face the camera, what to share, where to control the giggles and so on… But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it - though I still get reminders from people asking me to share links of their videos and I have no clue as some of them were never used.

Growing as a resource is the biggest gift one can give self and when your organization offers your ‘never imagined before’ opportunities, you are blessed. So one fine day when (as usual) my teammate and I ran out of ideas and in an attempt to make the most of the time that we had in our hand, the teammate came up with an idea for a ‘Voice Over’ for a piece of text. No brownie points for guessing who became the Voice Over Artist.

How often does it happen that you’ve been associated with your team for over a year and you have never met them in person? I was glad to have broken  the jinx of not meeting anyone when I got to meet the brain behind this idea called PRAG - Gaurav Sir. And the joy of meeting was so evident that we forgot to click a photograph as a memory of our meeting in Ahmedabad.

There have been multiple occasions when I’ve missed being a part of the Gurgaon office - especially when the Saturday Lunches happened, during festive gatherings and of course during the Office trip. And I am sure to make it up for all these in this year  - let me put this on my bucket list for the year 2023. 

As a professional, while reading the quote ‘People don’t leave organizations, they leave managers’, I used to always wonder. When adversity hit me, my professional life was managed because I’ve had an amazing Manager and teammate who has ensured I'm able to balance it out well. 

As I write this, we are 1 Month already into 2023 with a promising year waiting in front of us.

And just like the year 2022, I wish 2023 to be ‘Upwards and Onwards’ with PRAG.