Coming from a humble background Gayatri Kapil, was born in West London and grew up in Feltham. At that time, she was part of a small Asian community living in a town that was predominately white and had to deal with racism and bullying from a very young age.
Undeterred, she went on to study Business Studies at UWL, and a postgraduate in IT at Kingston University.
In 2000 during her gap year, Gayatri was offered an opportunity to work for Siemens with top IT professionals in their field. She realised from there on that she wanted to remain in both tech and business. In 2005 she got her first break working for the Global Digital Business at Sony Music, which kick started her career in the Media industry, then onto working for Viacom, Sky and Sony Pictures carrying out roles in Business Partnering and Relationship Management. She is now a partner in a Digital Marketing Agency and also promotes Emotional Intelligence in the corporate sector.
1 Which place, or city or country do you most feel at home in?
It would have to be West London, being in close proximity to my family and near beautiful green outdoor places, such as Kew Gardens, Richmond Park, etc.
2 What are your proudest achievements?
Overcoming so many years of adversity and never giving up no matter how tough things became. If anything, it's been character building.
3 What inspires you?
Ultimately, the thing that inspires me is helping people, problem solving and learning something new. As long as these three elements are in the mix, I am pretty much content.
4 What has been biggest obstacle in your career?
Sometimes certain events caused me to doubt myself and once you are in that space you become your own worse enemy. I, therefore, wished I had not listened to people who told me that I wasn't good enough and allowed them to walk all over me, but now I know better.
5 Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?
It would have to be my dad and him drilling, like Tony Blair, "education, education, education"!! My parents came to this country with nothing, and they worked extremely hard to support and provide for not only my brother and I, but also for our extended families.
6 What is the best aspect about your current role?
I get to work with clients, who are mostly top coaches that are spreading wellbeing, ethical responsibility, and spirituality throughout the world. How incredible is that!?
7 And the worst?
I wouldn't say it is the worst, but it is a challenge working with resources where you are training up from scratch and therefore having to exercise patience, which is not one of my strong points, but I am learning.
8 What are your long-term goals?
To promote (and maybe eventually teach) people to empower themselves to overcome adversity and to encourage a healthy and positive work environment.
9 If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change?
I would make meditation/mindfulness part of the national curriculum. There are countless studies showing how meditation alone helps to manage stress and mental illness, and if you can teach people to overcome these issues from a early age then you are halfway there preventing most stress induced physical illnesses and promoting a peaceful society.
10 If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why?
I was going to say Cleopatra but I don't want you to get the wrong idea haha, but seriously for a woman to have that much power during a time where men ruled the world is pretty much extraordinary.
