We recently connected with Ankita Agrawal and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ankita, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

I chose this question as I sincerely believe that the way that my parents raised me has had a significant impact on my life, in the best way possible. Growing up in India, specifically New Delhi, I was always a very loved and spoiled child, protected from the harsh realities of the world to a certain extent. I am an only child, so my parents, family, and friends always supported me and stood by me.

However, around middle school and high school, my grades started going down. Conventionally, that is a complete NO NO in a typical brown or/and desi or/and Asian family. However, my parents always helped me out and motivated me rather than scold me for it. Of course, there were times when pressure got to my parents too. Fear of getting into a good college, being able to grasp important logical sense in the real world, and much more. This ended up causing me a tremendous amount of anxiety. I went to a very good and frankly speaking privileged school, but when that school is more worried about its image and how well the students do in numbers, students like me tend to fall behind

One thing my parents were very clear about was that they wanted to make sure that I was doing well mentally and emotionally alright. My parents always made sure I was able to talk to them about anything, including stress regarding studies, friends, love life, and career. Open conversations, acceptance and good communication are something that I am so grateful for in my family. I can never thank my parents enough for letting me do what I truly want to do.

I always knew I wanted to do something creative. Many students’s parents were worried about their kids’ careers and focused on making sure that their children followed a specific, safe, and well-constructed career path. My parents said, “Hey! So you want to pursue art and design, and go off to college in the States when you have never lived alone or away from home for a long period of time?! GO! FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS! WE ARE HERE FOR YOU!”

I don’t think there is any way in which I can thank my parents for everything that they have done for me. I talk to them almost every day and truly have not just an amazing parent-child relationship with them. But, they are also amazing friends of mine. As I am growing older too, it’s only getting better. Hopefully, this questionnaire can somehow be an ode to them as I truly love them. I cannot emphasize enough, how important it is for children at any age to have understanding, loving, and accepting parents. It feels so special, and helps you understand what you want out of your relationships with others, sets your standards, provides healthy compassion, and makes you feel secure.

Ankita, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hey there!

My name is Ankita, but my friends call me Anki! you can too! I am an aspiring Art Director, interested in graphic design and photography. I am from New Delhi, India and I currently study at SAIC in Chicago, USA.

Most of my work is an execution of strong ideas, stimulating storytelling, and experiences. I love work that is not just one-dimensional but has multiple branches growing from it. I love creating work in different languages, representing different cultures, backgrounds, people, and more. Most of my work is balance between dynamic typography and bold colours which is something I love

I am a fairly decent cook, I love baking and if this design thing doesn’t work out I am gonna open a dessert bar and turn to culinary lol! That was in fact my backup plan haha! I love music, I can create some awesome playlists, and I also love to dance. I am trained in Jazz and Funk, but now I do a lot of hip-hop, lyrical, k-pop, contemporary, and more. I love to travel and can basically speak 4 languages.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

For me, I am someone who is always inspired by art and design. It has been a huge stress reliever for me and I truly feel at peace when I create art. That is exactly what I want to do for other people as well. I want to be able to create pieces that are not only impactful to people in the art world but also to someone who is just an observer. I want to create an impact with my work, which can make people think about themselves and others (as cliche as it may sound). My main mission is to be able to have my work presented everywhere in the world. I don’t want it to be abe to only impact people who speak a specific language but to be able to translate itself in any form and across all borders.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Talk and listen.

Just talk and learn to listen.

I don’t even know how important it is to emphasize the fact that it’s easy to build a community by speaking out loud and having grounded opinions. However, to be able to manage and sustain that community/team, it is very important to listen to your team. Be accepting, and learn to understand, don’t jump to conclusions. Please give people at least a second chance even if they mess up once. Everyone makes mistakes, cancel culture is NOT always the solution.

Breathe.

Learn to take a deep breath before entering a meeting and after a meeting as well. There are always bigger problems in the world than how much we put our minds into our own problems.

Be able to grow with the people around you.

Change is not easy, but it is important to adapt to it. If you don’t understand your flaws or/and learn from your own mistakes, no one is going to be able to.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.behance.net/ankitaagrawal3
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ankitaagrawalart/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankita-agrawal25/