Stories of Skilled Women from Tata STRIVE

Mounika, Retail Sales Associate, MAX Lifestyle

Mounika is a girl from a small village called Ashta, in Nirmal District of Telengana. She’s from a very poor household. Her father is a farmer and her mother a beedi worker earning just about Rs 170/per day. Mounika is the youngest of the 3 girls, Her elder sister had got widowed at a very early age and also lived with them. The other sister is married to a farmer in the same village. Having seen only poverty and hard times, she was determined to make things better for her family even if it meant that she would have to work very hard. Mounika since the beginning was very keen on working and was determined to support her family.

It was in early September that she came to know about Tata STRIVE, during one of the mobilization drives. She approached Tata Strive and joined the Retail Sales Associate (RSA) course. She literally had to fight her way to join Tata STRIVE as none of her family and friends were willing to send her to Hyderabad. Her family was scared to send her alone to a big city. But she not only convinced her family, but also encouraged her mother to speak with other mothers and convince them to send their daughters with her to Hyderabad.

Finally she along with 4 friends joined the RSA course. She worked very hard, studied with a lot of passion, put everything she knew into the training. Hard work always pays, soon she was ready for placements and got an offer letter from MAX Lifestyle as a Retail Sales Associate.

This was the first interview she had sat for and she was one of the very first to be selected. Today she is a proud member of her family and an example for her whole village. She now plans to bring her very young widowed elder sister to get trained at Tata Strive and soon the whole family will join her and settle down at Hyderabad.