Started here as Social Media Manager, mostly figuring out how to make a student-run consultancy actually look like one online, not just another club posting event flyers. Built a social media strategy from scratch, along with the content to back it up, and ended up designing project reports and decks for stakeholders too, the kind of work that doesn't get noticed unless it's done badly.
Moved into Associate Consultant next, my first real shot at the actual consulting side. Led client acquisition for the branch's inaugural project cycle, secured 2 out of 4 target clients, which felt like a coin flip at the time but taught me more about pitching than any framework did. Picked up market research and go-to-market strategy properly here, competitor analysis, customer surveys, the kind of work that either holds up under scrutiny or falls apart the moment a client asks a follow-up question.
Got promoted to General Secretary after that, and the scope jumped considerably, went from running social media and closing a couple of clients to heading consulting projects, events, and social media together, with a team of 20+ people now reporting in. More people meant more coordination than actual doing, had to trust the team to run work I used to do myself, and spend more time making sure the pieces connected than perfecting any single one.
Became President eventually, directing operations for a 100+ member chapter, one of the world's largest student-led consultancies, a strange thing to say about something run entirely by people also attending classes and cramming for exams. Oversaw consulting delivery across startups, non-profits, and social enterprises, drove 7 projects spanning sustainability and food distribution, and led 4 client acquisition initiatives, including Indigifts and Feeding India-Zomato, some of the same names I'd later work with directly, funny how the dots connect later. Also mentored 2 other college chapters on branch setup, governance, and strategic planning, essentially teaching other students how to run the thing I was still learning to run myself. Social media reach doubled and engagement crossed 30%+ under a more structured strategy, the same instinct I'd started with as Social Media Manager, just at a much bigger scale by the time I left.
Looking back, this is probably where I learned that leading 100+ people isn't about being the smartest person in the room, it's about making sure the smart people around you have what they need to actually execute.
Made with Bullet