Changing career paths to pursue one's passion is always controversial and a path not many dare to tread. Starting a corporate career in the financial services domain is no easy feat for women in India. This predominantly male sector has been notoriously biased from the very beginning. Rajeshwari Vaidyanathan, an accomplished individual, not only dominated the financial services domain, holding senior positions in well reputed banks, but also dared to leave her stable job to build something on her own. Developing a keen passion for dance, Rajeshwari co-founded VR DanceSport, a dance school dedicated to teaching Latin Ballroom Dance in its truest form. Over the years, she went on to achieve various milestones and carve out a successful career in dance, inspiring women all over India not to be intimidated by anyone or anything.

Women Entrepreneur recently engaged in a one on one interaction with Rajeshwari, here are some highlights from the same.

What are some important features about your expertise as an entrepreneur?

Having established VR DanceSport, I have built an enterprise that goes beyond dance. With the knowledge gained from masters in dances and a strong corporate background, I am successfully teaching Latin Dance forms, helping address issues around physical health including posture correction, joint pains, and improving stamina. We help students with Alzheimer's, autism and mental health issues through dance therapy, and have trained visually challenged people and celebrities as well. Our expertise in dance forms has enabled us to partner with major OTT platforms like BBC and Netflix and production houses like Yashraj Studios for choreographing their movies and mini-series.

Take us through your early educational journey and prior industry experience. What motivated you to step out of the corporate world and into the shoes of a dancepreneur?

I completed my education in English Honors followed by an MBA. Thereafter I pursued a career in financial services as a banker and worked with major banks including Citibank, Kotak, and Yes Bank. While at the peak of my career, I underwent emergency surgery for a life-threatening tumor but my demanding job required me to return before recovery. It was then that I decided to take the leap and do something on my own. With encouragement from family and a friend who was keen to start a dance partnership together, I was motivated to take this leap, and VR Dancesport (VRD) was founded. In the process, I was able to bring Latin Ballroom to India, and build it to international standards and in the process also becoming the 1st Indian couple to dance the international way in Dancesport competitions across various parts of the world. And this is how it all started.

Tell us about the underlying idea behind founding VR DanceSport. Throw some light on the major challenges that you face in terms of leading VR DanceSport and how do you counter them?

VR Dancesport was formed with the vision to bring International Latin to the country and introduce competitive dancing in India while making it accessible and affordable to the market.  Although Dancesport is an elite sport and one of the most expensive training programs in the world, we offered classes at competitive costs. We also reached schools and started training students and teachers in this dance form to ensure wider reach and successful alignment of a new generation of dancers to international level Dancesport.

Coming from a career-oriented background and then giving up a high-paying corporate job to pursue my passion was a massive challenge and required a huge mindset change too. And then, choosing the Latin Ballroom dance form and making it a goal to bring it up to international standards in India was another humongous undertaking that required intensive training, time and effort. The biggest obstacles came in the form of availability of funds for training and acceptance in the market from those teaching the 'Bolly Latin' style - but our passion kept us going.

What are some of the key roles and responsibilities that you shoulder as the Founder of the company? What are your primary areas of focus currently?

As Co-Founder, I oversee and develop the business and strategy to grow DanceSport in the country. My primary focus is also on continually up-skilling myself to ensure I am capably teaching others. Further, we are also training for the Asian Indoor and Martial Art Games, to be held in Thailand in 2023, where we are hopeful to represent India. It requires a lot of time commitment and effort including a full diet and exercise regime as well as proper-guided training. And finally, as part of our efforts to continue the growth of DanceSport, weprovide personalized attention to all our students, with batch sizes capped at 10. So my hands are pretty full for the foreseeable future!

What are some of the most significant milestones that you have achieved throughout your professional journey? What has been the driving force behind your success as a business leader?

Being a go-getter, I have always given my 100 percent to anything I undertake. This attitude and my ability to deliver under crunch situations consistently helped me became one of the top women retail bankers in the country. Risking a stable corporate job to pursue my passion, I brought the 'World Dancesport Council' to India and organized many national level championships. I became the Indian ambassador for the 'Freedom to Dance' world body and also worked with the Argentine Consulate in India to promote Tango. I had the honor of representing India and winning in International Dancesport competitions. In addition, I was the first Dancesport professional TedX speaker. I have also taught various Bollywood personalities and even a UK celebrity chef with 95 percent blindness. My greatest motivation and high is passion for what I do and the satisfaction I derive from watching my students grow as dancers.

Drawing from your experience what would your advice be to young women and girls who also aspire to become business leaders  & entrepreneurs in the future?

Women are powerhouses of intellectual, spiritual, and intuitive capabilities and need to stop pulling themselves back. There is nothing we girls cannot achieve and there is no reason to compromise on our career or personal life. Learn to manage time and have clarity of thought. Believe in yourself and tap into your potential. There is no stopping us.

Rajeshwari Vaidyanathan, Co-Founder, Vr Dance Sport

Awards/Recognition Won So Far:

Gold medal in the Taipei DanceSport Championship

Silver & Bronze medal in Thailand Open DanceSport Championship

Featured as one of "100 Emerging Woman Leaders" of India by Her Story/YourStory Lead Choreographer for Mira Nair's BBC production and Netflix webseries "The Suitable Boy"

Tango Trainer for Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor for Befikre

Trainer and choreographer for cast of "The Good Karma Hospital"