Alumna April, 2020

Alumnus of the Month

Ritumainty Mondal

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I had joined Techno India University in 2013, the year it was established. Being a part of the very first batch, it was all about growing along with the university. We wanted to shape ourselves as well as the course of the university and as a result, the professors, students and the authority joined hands for a better tomorrow.

One month later after joining the university I somehow realised that computer science engineering was not for me. I kept going because I didn't wanna give up. But, I started dreaming about a different world. A month and half after opening one day when we were preparing to do the first welcome fest of the University, I had proposed out of the blue, to take the responsibility of the first fashion show. I named the team Helix. Well the first show was a huge success.

From there I slowly developed my interest in fashion. I always had this creative caterpillar inside me that somehow couldn't turn into a butterfly due to the pressure of getting in an engineering school. For months and years, I studied for exams and simultaneously worked extra hours at a production house, as a self-portrait photographer and sometimes as a model to give my dreams of studying in one of the best fashion schools in the world, a chance. I had very low attendance but it was the professors, who believed in me. They knew, I was on a different but the right path and always supported me. Especially, Ishan Ghosh Sir, whom i'd always be indebted to. It was not easy to do this jump, coming from a non fashion school and engineering background, there didn't seem any synchronisation between the two world. I had to prove my worth. The world of fashion is the meanest but they opened the door to me.

At the end of the fourth year, with the help of work I had put in, I got a green flag for my dream University. They had acknowledged my passion,my struggle and they respected my different background.

I studied masters in fashion marketing and Communication from Polimoda. Throughout a year, we made some of the amazing projects, saw the best shows at the Milan Fashion Week, drooled over designers like Alexander Mc Queen and Maison Margiela. Soon, I landed a job in one of the best Fashion PR agencies in Italy(based in Milan). I am the first one or probably the only one in my batch who broke the notion of non-Europeans to getting a job in Italy, in the field of fashion. While in Milan, I had met some of the best personalities from the field of fashion, but somehow was lacking the medium to showcase my creativity. I was summoned by Polimoda for the possibility to be a part of their fraternity but I had already said a yes to my current job. Months later, now I am working in Rome, in one of the first(or probably the first) Google partnered digital agencies in Italy catering to luxury fashion and hospitality brands. A lot of people believe that the world of luxury is like "aria fritta", like a big packet of “Lays”, having just a few pieces of chips. I help brands in realizing their core values, the beauty of the little inputs and real efforts, not the unreal dream experience, they try to sell often.

I also own a jewelry brand based in India: @perthro_jewellery, which I had created while staying in Milan. Every piece is either a protest against the societal atrocities or a ray of new hope. My work talks about equality, miscarriage and various other similar concepts. A brand in which I had invested less than 5 thousand rupees, has already been featured twice in Homegrown, Keeping Zen, what's hot Kolkata & LBB Kolkata. This brand is not about business, I prefer to be a lowkey brand catering to those who appreciate the fantasy of a secret bar for example. The brand is about shock art and guerilla marketing and is loved a lot by those who know about it.

Coming back to Techno India University, if given an opportunity, I would be more than glad to contribute to the enhancement and development of the students and the university with my experience and skill-set.

To wrap it up, I want people to understand, if there's a will there's a way. There's still a long way to go and there always will be. But the mantra is to never give up hope, be kind to each other and never stop as Rome was not built in a single day.