Chandni Keshavamurthy

We Care

“I was always inclined to work with people, even in my previous organizations. Brillio has a great platform, doing much more than any other organization. Everyone has a CSR component, but Brillio actually does it.”

My journey at Brillio so far was paved with opportunities. I joined Brillio in February 2020 as a data governance lead for a short project, which lasted only 3-4 months. After that, I was assigned to a different engagement, also in data governance, where I was the only person in my department, handling data governance for multiple regions. At the same time, I got affected by Covid. It was pretty serious had been admitted to the hospital for ten days.

I was given the opportunity to be the Scrum master for two regions, for 15 people. This was a huge step for me. I took up the Scrum master training and completed the certification. I would assign work and also do data governance in parallel. This experience helped me transition to my current role, helping me understand how to manage people.

In December, the former project manager on the team had to leave, so I took on that position and officially started working as a PM. I had a 35-people team with multiple roles, from production support to data lake transition and full stack end-to-end development projects.

In between, the project I was working on was selected for a CMMI Audit. I was very new to the project, and it was difficult for me because we started preparing for it in January, and the audit happened in March. It was a steep learning curve, with a lot of documentation, training, and courses we had to take and create for the process. We were successful, and we managed to pass the audit seamlessly and successfully obtained a Level 3 certification we had also applied for. That was quite an achievement for me.

My managers really encouraged me since I had no prior team handling or scrum master experience. My manager at that time was the one who presented me with the position and assured me that I would have all the support I needed. Because she offered me that opportunity, I got into full-fledged project management, even though everything was happening fast.

Being in a client-facing role, my manager helped me understand how to handle the discussions with the clients, what kind of questions to expect, and more. She had me assisting in calls, which gave me the confidence needed when I had to handle these calls on my own.

I was part of the first vaccination campaign that Brillio had initiated, handling registrations, coordinating with all the employees and their families to see what vaccine they wanted, and then actually getting through the vaccination process.

That was an incredibly difficult period when we lost many people around us. Many people would reach out to us for help from within the company. We had created a WhatsApp group where we would give them support and let them know who they should reach out to if they needed any medicine or food.

I feel that Brillio’s response to the COVID crisis was really good. Everyone involved in the Covid crisis team was affected, either themselves or someone close to them, so they took it very seriously and tried everything they could to provide for the families or the employees with whatever they needed. That often meant getting out of the way and doing everything possible, especially since even getting someone admitted to the hospital was a challenge.

I was also part of another CSR activity. Every year, Brillio plays a blind cricket game. There is a national/ international blind cricket team, and we have booked a playground and played a match against them. This initiative is driving awareness and also helping the organization that takes care of these children, enabling them to succeed in life.

People with total blindness were such amazing players that we actually ended up losing the game. It looked like there was nothing stopping them, they were enjoying and playing the game just like anyone else would. After the game, we had lunch and a ceremony and had an amazing time together.

I’m also part of the group helping children in government schools with their studies and crafts, enabling them with sessions that teach soft skills and much more.

One time, when we visited, children wanted to have a day to play sports. But there was no playground at that particular school. We promised them we were going to have a sports day for them. And then we organized it. We rented a whole playground, which included a basketball court, a football court, as well as other games like badminton. This was very close to the school, so children could drop by without any problem. The whole school came and just played and enjoyed the time. They were so happy they got a day to play, not just for studies.

I was also involved with phone mentoring and recording audiobooks for children with disabilities. Each of the volunteers was assigned a child, and during the summer break, we would regularly connect – twice a week - and check-in, discuss, and help them with whatever they needed.

As for the audiobooks, we would record the voice so that visually impaired kids can listen and enjoy the books like everyone else. I am currently in the middle of recording a 500-pages novel.

I’m also involved in the interviewing process to hire people at Brillio, mostly driving freshers' interviews and trying to find young talent.

I was always inclined to work with people, even in my previous organizations. Brillio has a great platform, doing much more than any other organization. Everyone has a CSR component, but Brillio actually does it.

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