When Smita graduated from college, she had no idea what she wanted her future to look like. She assumed there would be a regular 9 to 5 office job waiting for her. But almost twenty years later, after a career full of anything-but –regular stuff, she looks back at her journey with immense awe.  

The career that did find her was one in sales. "I found sales interesting and challenging because it was a particularly male-dominated field,” said Smita. “When I started here there were no women in this field. I was the only girl going to shops and taking orders. Six to eight months into my role as a District Sales Representative (DSR), the company started recruiting more women as sales trainees.” 

Smita’s time at Godrej has taken her to many places, like Nasik and Pune, where she worked in modern trade, handling larger retail client clients like convenience stores and e-commerce and general trade, where she built relationships with small businesses like the local kirana stores and other mom-and-pop shops. In 2008, she got married and transferred to Mumbai. 

She credits her husband’s unyielding support as one of the reasons she continues to thrive at her work. “My husband always understood that my career was going well. And he has supported me a lot through [life].” His partnership allowed them a shared understanding that all responsibilities are to be divided up equally; be it household chores or caregiving for their young child.  

Reflecting on her job as a salesperson and her role as a mother, she admits that both require consistency. “At work, I look after my DSRs and, at home, my child.” 

She pauses, and then says, “That too, is there.”