Ladyspeak: Sheena Sharma is an associate partner with Genesis PR, Bangalore

I love Bombay and am deeply attached to the place as I hail from there. After finishing school from St. Joseph's I continued my education at St Xavier's pursuing a graduate degree in English and Psychology. I was the highest scorer in Bombay University the year I graduated.

When I secured a scholarship to Stanford, I had two enviable options before me- either to pursue my higher education or take up a teaching career.

I had to move out to Delhi then - a process, which was very unsettling as I was keen on building my career in Bombay.

I did a postgraduate diploma in public relations and this laid the foundation of my future career and my first job. There was no turning back after that.

Looking back over the years, though I think that a teaching career in Stanford wouldn't have been such a bad idea after all, yet the line I chose was for the best.

A decade back public relations was not such a hot shot or recognised profession. If it ever existed, it was restricted to the government or the public sector or at the most to press releases.

Liberalisation in the early nineties saw this profession coming into its own.

Then came the IT boom which put India on the world map. This was when I joined the corporate voice 'Snandiik', the PR agency of Mindshare advertising agency.

Though international PR firms were interested in setting up subsidiaries in the country, this was not very feasible, as the advertising firms owned PR agencies.

Genesis was one of the PR agencies that was not part of any advertising agency and though independent handled only the local PR activities.

Healthcare, insurance, biotech, and communication, all came under the aegis of PR. When Genesis first started, the concept of public relations was still evolving.

However, with companies becoming savvier and leveraging all the agents that could meet its targets, there was a great collaboration between marketing, PR, advertising and event management.

Now, of course PR has become more of a science, which has deliverables that are quantified by the company.

Working in a PR agency requires one to put in immense efforts. You may need to work late to meet a deadline, at the same time giving yourself and others an opportunity to recharge.

I personally do not believe that employees should not stay in the office after 7 pm. Success in any field has more to do with competency than gender.

As told to

ARCHANA JAYAKAR