7 years and 7 BIG celebrations

As we approach our 7th anniversary on May 15th, I felt an urge to go down the memory lane and wanted to write about the most special part of these seven years that we spent together in the wonderful journey of astrum , which is me putting my money where my mouth was about insights based public relations.??What makes this journey special to me are stories of my extended family that ‘celebrate life’. I share these to express my grateful thank for a chance to a part of these stories.

?First and foremost, Shubhdha who has been by my side for over two decades and is more my sibling today. A single mother, she found love with Vineet and they married to live happily ever after in 2020 late. Vineet is a citizen of the USA and stays in New Jersey.?So she is now making a home in the AMERIKA along with Vineet and their son Naman, a budding musician. She has given a new meaning to ‘Work from Anywhere’ as she continues to be my side from the other side of the world.

?Second, Sharada, it seems like yesterday that she started working with me in my previous avatar at PSB and yet it has been over a decade. As the head of our strategic insights, she is the bedrock of our science of reputation. Sharada and Anubhav welcomed their second born Aanush, in 2016, she really was the gold standard of ‘flexible working’ as she balanced family and work beautifully and even today continues do so and I rely on her to get the job done.

?Third, is Nidhi, our silent busy bee, who celebrates her 7th anniversary at Astrum. Nidhi and Himanshu welcomed their first born Shanaya in 2018. Nidhi continued to Work from Anywhere (home as well as the office) and this July Shanaya will be 4 years old, and she is now the older sister to her baby brother who Himanshu and Nidhi welcomed into the world on April 15 of this month. Nidhi is following the footsteps of her boss Sharada :) ?

Fourth is Shrey, our ‘data guy’ since late 2016 and recently celebrated his 5th anniversary at Astrum in November which one more than his wedding anniversary. :) He is our data specialist par excellence who waves his magic wand and helps make sense of the numbers, he has been a part of our several election strategies and helped unearth some amazing insights. Bhanupriya and he welcomed their son Jeevansh, bang in the middle of the Pandemic in 2020 and we were so happy that the family remained safe and healthy.

?Fifth to go is Pragati, our ‘Principal Par Excellence’, the consummate professional who pursues her passion for excellence relentlessly and sets new benchmarks of success. She celebrates her 5th anniversary this summer if we only took her second innings at Astrum into account, otherwise it would be the 7th.?Pragati and Nishant welcomed the lovely Meeshika (Meesha) as her mother calls her in October of 2021 and Pragati was on a client call trying to finish a document until she was pushed into the delivery room. Some of us do take it to the extreme don’t we :) !

?Sixth in this edition is our ever-intrepid Aanchal, an Astrum lifer, no task for her is difficult and impossible is nothing is her motto. She celebrates her 7th anniversary with Astrum this summer and got married to the love of her life Sidhant last summer in an exclusive destination wedding, pictures of it I am yet to see ;) . Recently, she moved cities with her husband’s new posting to make a new home in the IT capital of India and helped establish our OWN presence in the city of Bangalore. She now leads our Bangalore Ops :)

?Seventh and the most recent is our master policy advocate, and who we call the boss because he knows his stuff and he is tuff :) ?Forget Bruce Springsteen, Rohan is the ONE. Shruti and Rohan welcomed their second born Aniasha in March of this year. Rohan joined us during the pandemic after hearing about us from our own Dipakshi and will celebrate his 2nd anniversary in the monsoon season this year.

?7 years, 7 BIG celebrations. What can be more joyous than these wonderful celebrations of life and thank you to each of them for giving me this opportunity to be in their lives and celebrate with them.

?Yes, the clients we serve, the amazing work we do and all other path breaking moves we make are alright, but these are the moments that light up our lives and a Cause Celebré.

?#AstrumStrong.