Savieta Batra
Life is beautiful! I love the ways it winds along with its blind turns and curves, leaving us to spell bound. Yet life knows our destiny and smoothly chaperones us along to our fantasy dreamlands, fulfilling our desires and granting whatever we wish for in our lives. It’s amazing!
My journey to becoming an Image Consultant began almost three decades ago. During my school days, in one of my career counseling sessions, I interacted with this gorgeous lady from a five star hotel in Delhi and I thought to myself: “I want to look like her”. And my destiny was sealed. In order to fulfill my bidding I had to drop out of a Physics Honors degree course from the most prestigious college of Delhi, and probably the whole of India, St Stephens College, to pursue a degree in Hotel Management. In fact, my fascination for an impressive appearance had hatched much earlier. So when I read ‘The Secret” recently, to understand the power of visualization, I realized that unknowingly I have applied The Secret all my life. I used to cut out pictures of gorgeous looking clothes and preserve them under my pillow with the hope, faith and trust that I will don them one day.
Therefore, the foundation to becoming an Image consultant had been laid, and over the years, all the efforts have been towards the fruition of this beautiful dream. Along the way, I chose professions that allowed me to work intrinsically with people.
I worked at the Front Desk of Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi after completion of my course. It was a job that gave me maximum happiness and I loved every moment of the grueling nine-hour schedule that demanded me to be on my toes at all times. Also, it was the most satisfying, as it allowed me to bring to fore my inherent talent, my skills and abilities and everything that I believed in. My ability to connect with people, almost instantaneously, my confident demeanor that emerged from the fact that I looked good in my Turquoise saree (the Taj uniform), and my hospitable nature earned me the best employee tag month after month.
The hospitality industry has always been my first love. In fact, my last job before becoming an image consultant was as a communication skills lecturer at a college of hotel management in Mumbai. I taught young adults on how to break barriers in communication and forge everlasting impressions on people we interact with. I have also taught languages to students at an International School in Saudi Arabia, where my husband was posted for six years. In short, working seamlessly with people of any age group is what comes naturally to me. My work as an Image consultant requires all these innate qualities
August Image is the name I chose for my company that I established in November 2011. The word August means inspiring reverence and admiration; of supreme dignity or grandeur and August also happens to be my month of birth! True to its name, under the auspices of August Image, I have hopefully touched the lives of thousands of people by helping them enhance their image through workshops and individual consultations.
Image management is a process of unearthing one’s inner strengths and enhancing our belief in our own abilities. The positive impressions that we leave in the minds of others through our appearance, body language, communication skills and etiquette are what opens new doors of opportunity for us, helps us cement everlasting relationships and helps us achieve our goals in life. This is the essence and purpose of Image Management and benefits everyone across all age groups and all sectors of industry.
