Ques1. Congratulations on being recognized as one of Asia's 100 Women Power Leaders 2023. Kindly introduce yourself to our readers and also share your journey and experiences that led to this prestigious recognition.
Answer 1. Greetings to all! I am Palakh Khanna, a student at Gargi College. Thank you for your wishes. My journey has been nothing short of an adventure. Honestly, I did face several ups and downs throughout my journey and I still do. But that is also an important part of everybody's hard work. Until 11th standard, I was an introvert but slowly I stepped out of my comfort zone and got into social entrepreneurship and content creation on LinkedIn where I have around 70,000+ followers. I founded Break.The.Ice in 2021, with the aim to normalize taboo topics and stigmas in India and all around the world. I am grateful for being able to do what I do and help leave a social impact through my work.
Ques2. Being named a LinkedIn Top Voice and included in the Businessworld WB 30 Under 30 list is a remarkable achievement. How has your presence on these platforms influenced your approach to leadership and entrepreneurship?
Answer 2. My experience with LinkedIn has taught me so much. I have learned a lot about leadership as well as social impact. It opened doors for me to work under the guidance of leaders who are far more experienced, have done so much in their lives, and excel in what they do. I also got many opportunities to be around like-minded people, initiated many collaborations, and most importantly made new connections which has helped me in the long run. So, all in all, it was a great experience full of learning new things about myself and the world.
Ques3. As an ex-regional officer for Asia-Pacific, you’ve had a significant role in the corporate world. How did your past professional experiences shape your vision for Break.The.Ice and your approach towards social entrepreneurship?
Answer 3. I am someone who is very much interested in social entrepreneurship but I also volunteer for a lot of initiatives in other organisations which really helps in learning a lot about how an organisation needs to work, how we collaborate with others, and what are the ways in which we can be more efficient in our impact.
As an ex-regional officer for Asia-Pacific, I worked with something I have always been passionate about i.e. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We worked to build more and more initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region, which would eventually help in achieving the SDGs. That role helped me learn a lot about how to be a team leader, and how to efficiently lead more and more impact on the society. At Break.The.Ice, our focus is not just the SDGs but also taboo topics like mental health and gender equality (SDG 5), and we endeavour to ensure a tangible and widespread impact.
Ques4. Having given 30+ talks and a Josh Talk, you’ve been an influential speaker. Can you share a key message from one of your talks that had a profound impact on the audience or even yourself?
Answer 4. One thing I always mention in my talks is that all of us need to learn how to step out of our comfort zone and this is also what I abide by. As soon as you do it, the more it’ll help you. I was an introvert, my comfort zone was a very few people around me. But, now I would like to say that everything I’ve been able to achieve and experiment with has happened because I stepped out of my comfort zone. Firstly, I advise everyone to come out of their comfort zone even if it’s just 20%, it matters a lot and can make a drastic change in your life. Secondly, I tell people to network. As students, we are not really taught how to network. It’s important to get the right kind of mentors in your journey. It’s good to surround ourselves with people who can help us further in getting jobs, internships, and more opportunities even when we wish to open an organisation.
Ques5. Break.The.Ice seems to be at the intersection of technology, business, and social impact. How do you balance these aspects and what unique challenges and opportunities do they present for your organization?
Answer 5. At Break.The.Ice, we literally break the ice about taboo topics, everything the society is either ignoring or uncomfortable with or is not taking any action towards. We expand the meaning of taboo to include mental health, gender equality, climate change, LGBTQ+, and everything that is pushed away under the tag of taboo. We are an international youth organisation currently in ten countries and it definitely comes with many challenges. We face a lot of difficulties in engaging with a lot of people and getting the right kind of understanding. We do come across all these challenges while estimating our impact but we’ve been able to manage it very well. Initially, a challenge we faced was a feeling of lack of experience. We are a youth organization with team members from the age 13 to 23 and around 100 young volunteers, so we did feel we didn’t have the experience needed to go forward. But, we were able to overcome this barrier as well with great teamwork and hard work.
Ques6. With your background as a social entrepreneur, how do you envision the future of socially responsive businesses? What role do you believe they will play in shaping global economies and society?
Answer 6. I think if in the next three to four years every business tries to be a little more socially responsible and a little more sustainable in not just their business models but also their products and processing, they can drastically change the way the entire economy will work. Also, in the next five to six years, I believe only those businesses will actually do well and succeed that are more socially responsible and more sustainable in their approaches. People are now getting more and more aware and conscious about what they are picking up, specifically in the fashion industry and I definitely see all this growing more and more in the upcoming years.
Ques7. Break.The.Ice operates in a dynamic market. How do you stay ahead of the curve in terms of innovation and trends ensuring that your company remains competitive and impactful?
Answer 7. We keep on trying to explore more and more topics that people refuse to acknowledge. Yes, we do live in a diverse world and Break.The.Ice helped me in getting to know about different cultural taboos. We observed that a taboo in India might not be a taboo in any other country and vice-versa. Hence, we are trying our best to bridge this gap and incorporate the varying cultural taboos through innovative ideas, understanding the demands of the audience, and live feedback through social media. Our aim is, thus, to combine innovation, impact, and cultural aspects while remaining responsible and sensitive.
Ques8. Being a part of Asia’s 100 Women Power Leaders list, you are seen as a role model. Who are your role models and how have they influenced your leadership style in business decisions?
Answer 8. Honestly, I have a long list of role models as I believe every person has some valuable skills that I want to embed in myself. So, for me, technically everyone is a role model. It might sound cliché but my mom is one of my foremost role models. I look up to her a lot as she is also a working woman and has been managing everything incredibly well. I am grateful to her for always guiding me and the one thing I respect and admire the most about her is the way she balances everything so well. So I think one can have several role models who motivate and help us in our journey.
Ques9. You have a background in both the corporate world and social entrepreneurship. How do you think business can balance profit-making with creating a positive social and environmental impact?
Answer 9. I really like this question and I talk about this everywhere. There are so many people who don’t know how to go about it. It depends on the kind of organisation and business model. If it’s a social enterprise, it is extremely important to know your business model in detail. If it’s a non-profit organisation, you should be aware that you are not technically able to make a profit but you can get funds and apply for grants to use to push forward your impact and your idea. For companies working within the social enterprise sphere and are not exactly non-profit, they need to balance it very well and even if they are making money out of it, they have to be conscious about if that money is being used in the right manner for the company’s mission, vision, community as well as ultimately for the social impact.
Ques10. You’ve been recognized as a social entrepreneur. Can you share a specific project or initiative that you are particularly proud of and the impact it has had on the community it serves?
Answer 10. I am the founder and CEO of Break.The.Ice which I am most proud of. I hope it can multiply manifold. We’ve been able to combine social impact with young people. I’ve realized that people who are creating societal impact are either very experienced and young people don’t often get access to the organizations but the scenario is changing now. Youth entrepreneurship is becoming the new normal and has a very strong positive impact all around the world, which was not true in 2021 when I started my journey.
Ques11. Balancing academics and work can be challenging and we are curious to hear about your experiences and any strategies you use to effectively handle both aspects. Can you share some insights on how you manage these juggling acts?
Answer 11. I listen to a lot of people talking about time management but I believe it to be a very subjective topic. Everyone needs to do what works best for them because everyone has their own strategies, some people maintain a to-do list which is what I do while others take small breaks in the middle of every activity and while some take weekly breaks. So, there is no specific technique for time management.
I keep a daily realistic to-do list and by realistic I mean I know whatever I write is achievable in the next 24 hours and make sure I stay motivated and productive throughout. But most importantly, I also get my own personal time and space. A lot of people get so occupied with managing their academics, college, books, work, and initiatives that they forget their mental health, mental space, and some me time. I have always made sure to not burden myself so much that I forget about my own personal space where I can just relax without doing anything and be at peace with myself.
HIGHLIGHTS-
●Palakh is a world record holder, Businessworld WB 30 Under 30, and the former regional officer for Asia-Pacific. She has been featured on Times Square aswell.
●She is a LinkedIn content creator with over 70,000+ followers.
●She is also the founder CEO of the International Youth Organization Break.The.Ice that works to break societal taboos and stigmas.
●She has also given 30+ talks and has delivered a Josh Talk as well which left a long-lasting impact on her audience.
●She advises all of us to step out of our comfort zone to achieve what we desire for and she herself abides by this.
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