While there are no shortage of leaders and entrepreneurs who have redefined the market with their success mantra and overcoming struggles, it’s always inspiring to see women leaders rising through hurdles and setting an example for the budding women entrepreneurs. Ashley Arora, CGO of 360 Interior Designs which is an award winning interior design and bespoke furniture firm based in New Delhi. An inspiring leader who, in a short span of just 4 years with 360, have helped the organization reach new heights in both national level as well as international level. While starting her career in marketing, the quick shift into sales in interior designing sector was not an easy journey for her. However, in a career of over 10 years, she has overcome every bit of obstacles while learning and growing in the new trade while motivating her team and others.

In an interaction with Women Entrepreneur, Ashley has shared her share of journey from Manager to CGO, her share of struggles and how she overcame them, her thought process behind succeeding as a female leader and so on:

What are some of the lessons or learning experiences at your previous experience which are helping you in your present leadership endeavours?

My career path has never been a typical one as neither I had the experience of working in large organizations nor I was trained in sales. Even though I started my career in Marketing, throughout my career, I was exposed to many companies like Marketing, E-commerce, people and strategies.

I have always been confident and hardworking with a determination to learn. In a career like business and sales, you have to be adaptive, handle rejections and setbacks.

With time, I have learned to slow down, learn from my failures and situations, never to give up and be determined. As a leader, I have learned to turn my roadblocks into opportunities and keep my team motivated by help of it. On a tactical level, I prefer maintaining a TO-DO list and check off item from it once it’s done, which gives me a sense of accomplishment. Today, I can say that with over 10 years of experience, I am a person who is a multitasker, planner and works with precision and resilience.

As a CGO, what are the biggest challenges you face in your day to day work life and how do you overcome them?

While in my prior experiences, I was working on plan and execute business strategies. At 360, I am responsible for the expansion of sales, business and client relationships. In the beginning it was a rough start, because people around me were more design oriented and technical whereas, I had no such experience.

I saw the pitfalls first-hand but I never gave up and persistently worked on understanding my role and the business. I never felt ashamed of asking about technologies and my team helped me in learning things faster. I also try to keep up with the latest trends and have improved my knowledge in Interior designing. It was like preparing yourself to take on more challenging roles. Whether that is learning a new skill or helping others grow and thrive.

Regular feedbacks helped boost my self-confidence, provided me with the insights that I needed to tackle aggressive goals, and helped me take control of my actions, and hence results.

Tell us something about your various business expertise and how did you put them to good uses during various critical business decisions?

Learning from your mistakes, developing new skills and putting them into practice over a period of time finally evolves you into a leader. It’s all about pushing yourself out of comfort zone while delivering consistently and growing both professionally and personally. A leader should choose teams success over personal ego.

Currently, I am responsible for driving the growth and expansion for 360 across functions including Sales, Marketing, client partnerships, solutions delivery, and training & communications and in 4 years now with 360 , I have learned a lot. I am proud to say that because of our hard work and teamwork, now we have a presence nationally and globally. We have set up offices and teams in USA, Canada & UAE– all in such a small span of time and have gained many multinational clients at the national level.

"Believe in yourself, follow your gut, take risks and do what you love"

How do you keep yourself up along with the changing technologies and periodic evolutions?

By learning latest technical evolutions through publications and learning market trends and listening to our customers, suppliers, employees regarding their expectations and gaps in our productivity, if any, we try to keep ourselves up with the trends and technologies, which I believe, is a continuously evolving process. Even the Interior design sector is continuously evolving. Because of the pandemic, where people’s health welfare gets the first priority, we have been relying on online tools as well as redefining technologies such Virtual reality, Augmented Reality, 3Ds and so on with priorities on a “work from home” setup.

What has been the driving force behind your success and achievements?

Since childhood, it has always been my dream to run a successful business. I belong from a simple, hardworking Delhi based family consisting of my parents, my elder brother and sister, who have always been the guiding force behind my success. They have always encouraged me to be self-reliant, not to be afraid of mistakes and to do things that makes me happy. Lastly my boss at 360 Mr. Vikrant Sood, who has been equally supportive and is someone who has always believed in my potential and have motivated me to look for business prospective even during the pandemic.

Any advices you would like to give to the young women and budding entrepreneurs who are trying to follow the same path as of yours?

As women comprise of 50% of the society and workforce, they can’t and shouldn’t be ignored. I truly believe that women can do anything if they work hard, believe in themselves and never give up. I have been doing the same throughout my journey. I learned from my mistakes, I had lots of ups and downs but I always came back stronger both in my personal and professional life. I also had a lot of support.

Ashley Arora, CGO, 360 Interior Designs

CGO, 360 Interior Designs. An MBA in Marketing with over 10 years of experience in marketing and sales. Having started her career in Marketing, Ashley has smoothly adapted and excelled in her role as a CGO at 360 while helping the organization expand in both internationally and nationally in a span of 4 years.