Human spirit has no bounds and can oft script success stories that might seem like fiction to many. One such story is of Dr Divya Rangenahalli, the Founder & CEO of Media Connect, a pan-India PR solutions company with expertise spanning the entire spectrum of marketing, communications and media solutions.

Dr Divya who is today a savvy business woman and known within the industry as a marketer extraordinaire, began her life's journey as a farmer in a small village in Chikkamagaluru district. From ploughing fields as a child to becomming a successful entrepreneur is no simple feat. But driven by her father's lofty dreams for his talented daughter and her own determination, she has today created an organization that is highly sought after by clients for the best business model and marketing services.

The Women Entrepreneur team caught up with Dr Divya for a Tête-à-tête and spoke to her about her life's journey, her view on successful marketing and much more. Here are excerpts from the conversation.

Take us through your early life and educational journey.

I hail from a remote village called Rangenahalli, located near the Bhadra dam in Chikkamagaluru district. As a young girl, I was interested in agriculture and would support her father in the fields. However, my father had different dreams for me. He wanted me to head to Bengaluru to pursue higher studies. So I completed my school education from the village and eventually had to say good bye to it in order to fulfill his dreams. I then moved to Bengaluru for higher studies and passed my post-graduation with distinction.

Take us through your inspiration journey from being a simple village girl to establishing a successful marketing organization?

Although I had spent my childhood ploughing fields, I was also deeply interested in literature. My love for writing took me towards journalism as I joined a leading Kannada newspaper Udayavani. I soon became rather popular amongst my readers and continued to write some of the thought provoking articles spanning various sectors. 

“Letsinfluence is a women-owned organization, with 15 women administering the platform”

I believe it my 'go-getting' attitude that encouraged me to take up newer challenges. From news writing, I moved to technical writing and content writing. From there, I got an opportunity to host an event. This turned out to be a life changing event for me as I soon began coordinating with the media for a number of events. It was here that I noticed how some employers were mistreating the employees. This realization pushed me towards starting my own company in 2003.

Introduce us to your brainchild, Media Connect. What are some of the company's unique facets?

Media Connect is a communications `start-up' that functions on the mantra of creating & managing brands by blending traditional and modern communications. We enhance customers' businesses by formulating strategic frameworks which are highly impactful.

The company is specialized in PR services, production of Corporate videos, movies, event management, content support, social media marketing, creative designs, advertisement, photography, Brand management, celebrity management, government relations, website solutions and events management. The company is unique because we deliver the promised results for our clients.

Throw some light on the approach you take while working on a new project or campaign to ensure that the final output helps clients achieve the desired business goals?

We can proudly say that no one understands media space better than us so that we devise strategies which get the best coverage for our clients. Whenever we take up a new project, we do thorough research from the company's profile, products, and business and then we also study who the competitors are and how we can position our clients better than the competitors. Based on this, we will devise new strategies, campaigns etc. Then, we will have a lot of internal brainstorming sessions to come up with the best strategies which will be then discussed by the clients and then work on result-based campaigns.

From the standpoint of an experienced PR professional, how would you say the PR & Communications industry has evolved over the past few years?

PR has seen a sea change. From just distributing press releases, a few companies like ours have now redefined as strategy oriented companies providing end-to-end solutions. From assessing the client's business potential to providing strategies to improve the businesses, organizing events to creating buzz and companies like us are now providing end-to-end solutions to the clients thereby helping the clients to achieve more than their required goals.

In between your busy schedule as an entrepreneur how do you strike a balance between your professional and personal life? Also, what advice will you give you young girls and women who aspire to foray into the field of communications as entrepreneurs?

To be honest, it is very challenging to strike the balance especially after the Covid pandemic as geography has become history and work from everywhere concept. There will be long meetings and getting time for personal chores is definitely less.

In terms of advice I would like to mention that there are immense opportunities for women in the field of communications. I would suggest aspiring women folks to be articulate, clear in thought and to think out of the box. More than anything, confidence is the key. Confidence shapes our attitude and our attitude defines our work. With good communication skills and the right strategy, we can provide the best results for our clients.

Dr. Divya Rangenahalli, CEO, Media Connect

Dr. Divya is a farmed turned entrepreneur who is currently leading her communications `start-up' that functions on the mantra of creating & managing brands by blending traditional and modern communications.