Sunday Reads is back, after a long hiatus!

It's almost the end of the month, but Happy New Year, everyone!

I want to answer a few questions about Aglet Ink and address them in the first newsletter of 2024. I also want to tell you a bit about non-Aglet Ink related services, in case you would like to avail of them.

What does Aglet Ink do?

Aglet Ink is a full-service creative content firm, operating in the realm of talent management. Aglet Ink crafts, plans and offers strategies for job seekers on how best to land their dream jobs. This is done in the form of writing resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, strategizing for interviews, career planning, long and short-term career coaching and working on areas such as diversity and inclusion. Aglet Ink is sector agnostic and has worked across geographies with leading companies and senior executives for nearly a decade.

Has Aglet Ink won any awards?

My awards for Aglet Ink include the Digital Women’s Award in the Category of Content (innovation) by Shethepeople TV (2017), a Special Mention at the Young Achiever’s awards (the Vision India Foundation) for contribution to education and nation-building (2017), the Orange Flower award for inspiring woman entrepreneur – one of five finalists (2018), and as one of eighteen Women Of Worth (2019) by Outlook Business Magazine. I was also one of three awardees out of 1,300 applicants at the Study UK Alumni Awards (2021) in the Entrepreneurial category and was feted as a distinguished alumni. In 2022, I was honoured with the award of Iconic Women Creating a Better World For All, by Women's Economic Forum.

Personally, I have also won the following scholarships

I have been generously supported by the Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship, The Choice Fellowship from the Seagull Foundation For The Arts, The LAMP Fellowship, The Matador Network Travel Writing Scholarship, the Goethe-Institut/Zubaan Books Children Understand More fellowship, The Vonda N. Mcintyre Sentient Squid Scholarship and the Ann Mclaughlin Scholarship.

I am also an invited member of the ForbesWomen Forum, the Women's Economic Forum and an entrepreneur who received funds from the West Bengal Government (IBAC) to received training and certification of Empretec (UNCTAD)

What is your educational background?

I graduated from Jadavpur University with high first-class honours in English Literature (GPA 9/10) and with a Master’s Degree in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where I was elected the sole student representative for all Masters' students university-wide (Student Body President) at the Masters' level.

What are Aglet Ink's service offerings?

1. Career Strategy Consulting- Negotiating better Pay, Strategizing for interviews, Nonlinear Career paths, high performance career coaching.

2. Group Consulting Sessions and classes on how to write your resumes

3. Resume/ Cover Letter/ Linkedin profile writing and editing and sectoral research- End to end services where Aglet Ink writes and edits your resumes.

4. Resume/ Cover Letter/ Linkedin Profile one on one consulting sessions: One and a half hour sessions, where Aglet Ink identifies areas that you need to work on and gives you substantive feedback and notes on what you need to do, going forward.

5. Group Sessions on Personal Branding, Writing Letters of Introduction and Writing for Social Media: Online classes for a group of 20 or more.

6. Teaching at universities- I have taught classes as Guest Faculty both in IIM Calcutta and Lucknow and am open to opportunities anywhere in the world, both in India and elsewhere. If you want me to be present in person, you will need to cover accommodation and flight costs, and I am also open to conducting sessions on Zoom/ Teams/ whatever the university desires.

7. In-person Sessions for Corporates - How to identify and attract the right talent, writing effective business emails and how to leverage strategic communication in your sector/ industry.

8. Services for C-suite professionals- Working with senior management and CEOs, COOs and CTOs for nearly a decade, I understand how important it is for their documents to be a differentiator. I also understand keenly the importance of Non-Disclosure Agreements and the need to protect their privacy at all costs. I provide support on their resumes, LinkedIn profiles, their business profiles (for speeches), help them establish a personal brand that aligns with their business goals and execute their larger vision, help them craft white papers and assisting their teams with annual reports.

9. Services for students and early career professionals- 1. Consulting sessions for resumes and cover letters for university/ your first job, Sessions of navigating the transition from being a student to a professional, teaching you how to write business emails for work, providing substantive feedback on essays and white papers.

10. Websites- Aglet Ink has crafted content for several well-known Companies and is happy to work with internal design teams. Although we do not have an in-house designer, we have experience working with designers and can supervise the placement of content.

Bonus services (some not Aglet Ink related, but available upon request)

11. Restaurant menus- Aglet Ink has experience working with hotels and loves coming up with fun one-liners and spunky content for menus. Aglet Ink also has experience training the Social Media teams of PR firms focussed on F and B, cafes and smaller restaurants. If you or anyone you know is looking for such a service, get in touch!

12. Transcription work- Aglet Ink also has experience providing English subtitles for films and videos.

13. Archival Research- Research is one of my greatest passions and as a student of Anthropology and English Literature, am happy to help out academics whose interests align with mine. I've worked on the Bengal Famine of 1943, I've researched Censorship Laws and I've worked with academics on healthcare, education, refugee rights and refugee issues, previously.

14. Book editing : I've worked with Rupa, Harlequin, Yourstory and Hachette and am open to editing books, both fiction and non-fiction.

15. Tour Guide : Am a national award-winning tour guide and I conduct walks on art and urban spaces between 4 and 6 p.m, in Kala Ghoda, Mumbai on weekends. To book your slot, you can get in touch with me at [email protected]

16. Working with Refugee Organizations : This is a lifelong mission that is very close to my heart. I would like Refugees rehabilitated and live with dignity, wherever they find themselves and I would want to help with the skills I have- resume writing, cover letter writing, how to land contract jobs and anything I can help with. If you are a Refugee Caseworker, I urge you to contact me.

Who are Aglet Ink's clients?

Aglet Ink' s clients also include individuals who now work for Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Twitter, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, KPMG, BowerGroup Asia, E-Government Foundation, IIM (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta and Lucknow), IIT(Kanpur), Colgate-Palmolive, Vodafone Idea, IndiGo, Dabur ,Samsung, Nikon, Kiran Immigration Services, Furlenco, INSEAD, UNIRAY Medical LLP, University of Virginia, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Yale University, Princeton University, UNICEF, UNHCR, Tata Sons Limited, Baruch College, Ziklin School of Business, Columbia University, Eros Studios, Rajasthan Royals and National Geographic, to name a few. Some clients run their own businesses and are ecofeminists, yoga instructors, chiropractors, stylists, chefs and content creators. Others have had a non-linear career journey where they have been human rights activists, educators and independent journalists. I've worked with individuals and organizations in the following geographies: India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, South Africa, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, The United Arab Emirates, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, China, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Finland and Nigeria.

17.How do we get in touch with you?

Am happy to work with anyone who wants to work with me! Please get in touch at [email protected]

18. What else do you do?

In addition to running Aglet Ink, I serve as Partner at Sumantrana Management Consultants LLP and as Director at Rupantar Investments Private Limited.

19. Will your previous clients be willing to talk to me?

Absolutely. Some of them have readily volunteered to talk to future clients!