Gayathri Kumarakuran has bagged Excellent Young Woman Achiever Leadership Award

Gayathri Kumarakuran has bagged Excellent Young Woman Achiever Leadership Award

• December 09, 2022

Gayathri Kumarakuran is a project manager at Shoutout Labs (Pvt) Ltd, which is a software development company and a leading customer experience SaaS (software-as-a-service) solution provider in Sri Lanka. 

Starting off my internship in 2016 at a leading bank in Sri Lanka and then spending three and a half years in the banking industry handling credit facilities for several large and medium-sized corporations gave me quite a lot of corporate exposure at a very young age, having to deal with multiple stakeholders.

After working for 3 years in the banking industry and earning a significant amount along with several other benefits a banker would receive, most of us would never want to quit that job. But I always felt that this wasn’t me. I always want to take on new challenges and lead, and I realized that I have a passion for technology and management. 

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, I realized the potential of data and information technology, which then led me to pursue my career in the field of IT as I started off my life from scratch as an intern business analyst at a leading software company for a period of six months. While most of us were stuck at home for more than 6 months, I decided to do this free course provided by HarvardX (CS50) on the basics of computer science and thereon volunteer to work with an international team as a project coordinator on a COVID tracker project. 

This project led me to gain experience in the software development industry while working with multiple stakeholders as I progressed to pursue my career in leadership and project management. Thereon, I received many opportunities in the tech industry and was able to take up a managerial position within 3 years of time after working in several companies and gaining different product knowledge. 

Apart from my corporate career, I have always loved networking and talking, and therefore, at the age of 19, my mom, with the help of a friend, put me in this club called "Toastmasters" in Sri Lanka, and I was able to use this opportunity to learn to talk, evaluate, and network. I took up several leadership positions within the club, coordinated several events and programs, built my own network connections with several industrial corporations, competed with several individuals, and even won some of them. 

My journey started off just like every kid would say, "My ambition is to become a doctor!" and today I’m doing something completely different. This doesn’t mean that I am a failure or didn’t achieve what I wanted in life, as life is a roller coaster ride and what's in it for you is always special, and I am indefinitely proud of what I have turned into! Do what you love, or love what you do!