Walking through the marble halls of Bangalore’s Leela palace against a background of live violin music, Isobell makes her way to the event she’s helping to organize that evening. Providing a presentation and panel discussion on risk management, her company has prepared an evening for the major CIO’s of Bangalore’s IT sector. What is Isobell’s role in this? “I am the social media intern at this Marketing and Event Management company. My job usually involves finding news content and spreading it across the company’s social
Leela Palace, Bangalore
media so that it syncs with their overall vision, although tonight I’ll be helping out with the organization of this info-session.”
After the guests leave to attend the opening words of Leave UR Mark’s Amit Awargal, Isobell explains that she’s studying Advertising and Marketing for her graduate degree at Coventry University, UK. She’s just finished a year in the industry, working in London, and wanted to see how the sector is developing in countries that are less effected by the economic crisis:“Strangely enough, most places outside of the EU and US seem to be booming economically, for example in countries such as China, Brazil and of course India. There’s a lot of money going around, which you can clearly see at this small event: for a similar evening I hosted in London, I had a lot less money available while hosting about five times as many people. Tonight, India’s economic boom is visible in IBM’s sponsorship, and the event basically brings the CIO’s and heads of the technology departments of several Indian companies up to date on risk management.”
As the presentation starts and the men in suits sit down, Isobell explains that she also had another reason to come to India: “It may sound strange, but the country’s a bit familiar to me: I’ve got many friends from Chennai and Delhi at my university, and I’ve spent some time at their houses, enjoying a small introduction to Indian culture. Now that I’m finally here, I can see it was a good decision: India is starting to lead the pack in so many fields, and I’m in the middle with it, helping this company gain a bigger social media presence and giving new forms to that. It’ll allow projects like the one tonight to occur more often, and to make our presence out there bigger so that customers can grow to rely on us.”Despite the niceties of the evening, however (including a luxurious dinner and a chat with the CIO’s), Isobell will work the rest of the week back at the office, where she reports to the wife of the CEO: “She’s really nice and sweet, and also a bit of a mother figure, which I like because I can rely on her.”
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Around Bangalore, Isobell has traveled quite extensively, and she particularly recommends the Iskcon temple to all those who visit Bangalore: “I loved it, although it was such a strange feeling for me: I’ve got a Christian background, and in this temple I’m suddenly in the middle of all these people worshipping a statue. That’s strange, because that would not be allowed for me – worshipping an idol. It was a bit of a culture shock.” Craziest thing she’s done? Isobell laughs: “I’ve been to Goa, where I tried to drive a scooter with some friends. That was absolutely the scariest thing I’ve done so far: the scooter jerked forward at the slightest touch and we really decided to walk, from then on, which I would really recommend for all who travel to Goa.” She concludes: “On the whole, there are so many things to do in India, and so many experiences to be had: one cannot simply do that all in one visit. I really am planning to visit again in the next few years!”
To apply for this internship, email info@leaveurmark.com.
