Learning is best when it’s Shared and Experience is best when it’s Learned – Richa Dua, Lodestar Media

1. Richa, briefly tell us about your journey from a Media Assistant with IND Advertising to now a Group Manager (Digital) at Lodestar Universal?

“Arise! Awake! And stop not until the goal is reached” – Swami Vivekananda

One small drop of my dream has created a ripple in city of Dreams ‘Mumbai’. 

Started as a Media Assistant, with a dream of becoming a Television Planner.

But destiny has some fantastic plans for me. One day when I received a call from Cosmos Creatives and was selected as an Online Media Planner on Telephonic Interview. 

My love for Digital started from there and I started jogging experiences and weightlifted challenges along with diet plans of higher degrees.

Today when I look back to those 8 years of my Digital journey, I feel grateful to my mom, as she taught me to believe in God and Never say NO to anything which is the bookmark statement of my life.

2. What are three major trends that stood for you in the last three years and why were they game changers?

Digital is fast, revolutionary, imaginary and technology driven.

Three major trends in Digital is well explained by VAK Theory. VAK stands for Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic (Tactile). 

The first Digital Kinesthetic revolution is of Touch Pads / Smart Phones which has changed our lifestyle from calling on phones to chatting on What’s APP.

Second Auditory Revolution is of Voice Streaming where Amazon Fire Stick / Google Voice Search has changed the way we give commands to our electronic devices from remote control to voice search.

And the third big revolution is followed by Visual Theory of AI / AR innovations. Technology which will become more acceptable, adaptable, and affordable in coming years.

3. What are the campaigns that you loved to work on and what has been the hardest so far? 

I have worked for different category of clients in Automobile, Banking, FMCG, Insurance like Mercedes Benz, Bharat Benz, ISUZU Automobile, SBI, LIC HFL, RBI, Times Of India, GEOJIT, Stockholding Corporation of India, TATA (AIA), Edelweiss, PN RAO, Orient Cement, HPCL etc. 

The hardest is to work with Government clients, where we have trained the brand team on the complete Digital ecosystem. It’s so hard to shift traditional mindset into digital and to explain them to integrate their media strategy to attain best results. 

4. You must have a big team to handle, how do you make sure that each of them is equally productive?

Lead your team by sharing knowledge. I don’t believe in bossing around. We all learn from each other and so, have never failed to utilize the best skills from my team. Very Essential element of teamwork is when all are inclined towards one vision and one objective and this can happen only with leading your team to right direction. 

5. What has been your biggest challenge at work recently and how did you and your team overcome it?

The biggest challenge is to lead the team by setting an example for them, it can only overcome by working together, sharing knowledge and understanding the potential of each, to be better utilized in the effective way. One of my best statement which is the Thumb Rule of my Life is – “Learning is best when it’s Shared and Experience is best when it’s Learned.” 

6. What are your current and ideal work/life balance?

My belief is that the ideal way of living is to BE HAPPY, enjoy each moment, keep learning and keep engaging yourself with some or the other activities (like fitness, cooking, travelling, teaching, music, writing, painting and movies) which I normally do, no matter it’s a work place or home BE YOURSELF, that is being in a meditative state of mind. 

I understand it’s difficult in different phases of life, especially when you have add-on responsibilities after marriage, but here I am lucky & blessed to have a best supporting, motivating and caring life partner who makes sure that I achieve my goals without compromising my happiness.