“Success rarely happens overnight. People need to stop pressuring themselves to be perfect. There’s a lot of struggle and positive thinking involved in the process, which one shouldn’t neglect. A clear vision and goal are enough to get you started.”
Read her journey of being a women in tech below or click directly on the link:
https://medium.com/nepali-women-in-computing/be-the-change-you-wish-to-see-in-the-world-5e8e8c3d400e
Be the change you wish to see in the world
Himsheela Bharati is the Chairperson and Creative Director of Saedi Works, a Digital and Creative Agency that provides its expertise to national and international clients all over. Read her journey in tech that has been full of aspiring moments of achievements, hard work, and self-realization.
A person with impeccable ideals and positive energy, Himsheela Bharati, went through many struggles and always rose from them like a phoenix from the ashes. Himsheela’s father used to work for UNICEF, so she spent her early childhood in multiple countries, being exposed to different cultures and perspectives. Despite being shy, she was very much into sports and would try things that girls around her wouldn’t normally do. She would arm wrestle with the boys, not worrying about the win or the loss. She always had the creative stride and was interested in art from an early age and her father was supportive of her interest. In 2009, her paintings were exhibited as her First Solo Art Exhibition at Yala Maya Kendra, Lalitpur, Nepal, where she was featured in numerous newspapers. She kept exploring more with portraits while she pursued A levels in art and design at Harrow International School of Beijing, China.
She attended A levels in China after completing her schooling. After completing her A levels in four main subjects, as a farewell celebration, her band ‘Cross outs’ performed at the Battle of Bands which was then published in the ‘Jing Kids’ Magazine in China. She then went to England for further studies where she spent five years in Manchester, UK. In the UK, she found herself more independent than ever before. She completed her studies with a first-class honors degree in communication design and graphic design. The employment rate at that time was so low that she didn’t have high hopes, however, in her case, within two weeks of graduating, she got a job in a design agency, where she worked for the next two years.
“That job, being my first one, shaped up my knowledge about the fundamentals of this field. It taught me the importance of providing quality work with constant communication, respecting and connecting with team members, and taking design-related responsibilities to fulfill the agency’s expectations of me. I learned to always speak up when my inner voice says to do so. That agency has been my client ever since. I feel very grateful and accomplished.”
In 2011, Himsheela had to return to Nepal to support her family. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but she chose family over her career in the UK and decided to start her career in Nepal. Her journey didn’t stop here. In search of the perfect agency that allowed her to grow her design capabilities, her expectations didn’t seem to match, so she turned her page into a new chapter by establishing Saedi Works in 2015.
“Struggle is an integral part of growth. I am grateful for my experience and struggles in other agencies that pushed me to start Saedi Works.”
A start of something new, it was a union of her passion and grit. The initial days weren’t easy! Handling the A-Zs of the business had her occupied, leaving no time for her to work on creative prospects. The pressure was real yet again it drove her to do better each day by taking the first few steps and finally sprinting as practice made perfect. Her keen sense of ability to envision and execute clientele needs became an effective motif of thinking out of the box at her agency.
“The previous agencies I worked for didn’t value or treat their employees with utter respect. That was a game-changer experience for me, I vouched to change that at my workplace. I gradually learned to manage employees and guide them by being open, supportive, and mentoring them to never be afraid to speak up.”
Himsheela conquered her fear to the extent that she felt she could do what she wanted to do. She challenged herself by pushing boundaries and contacting larger agencies one at a time. A large number of clients such as Bottlers Nepal, GIZ, Rakura Tea, Maruti Cement, and Ncell have commissioned them for their designs. Even so, her University work won a pitch for Metro Newspapers in Russia, who held a 2-year campaign using character designs and campaign ideas she had worked on.
“Success rarely happens overnight. People need to stop pressuring themselves to be perfect. There’s a lot of struggle and positive thinking involved in the process, which one shouldn’t neglect. A clear vision and goal are enough to get you started.”
Himsheela believes that women should cherish their inbuilt qualities like emotional strength, empathy, and impeccable organizational skills, on the other hand, men are straightforward and value solving complex problems as well as technical aspects. She puts forward the idea that asking why there are fewer women in tech would be like asking why there are fewer men in fashion designing. However, her undoubtable assurity that women can and will lead in any sector, whether it’s tech or not. She believes that if every woman learns to stand up for themselves, we would not need to have any gender-centric conversation in the coming days.
“It’s not to say that women can’t involve themselves with tech. I am a woman in tech. We should stop making this a question of gender. Everyone is capable and should be provided an environment to practice their interest, whatever it may be. People can be very pressurizing, they try to pull you down, control your free-fledged nature and I think that’s because you let them. In such cases, you have to speak up, you have to say “No”. Let’s move away from the mentality of “What will others think of me?” to “I am capable of making my own decisions”.
Tragically, Himsheela’s parents passed away before she had established her agency. She says that these unfortunate events drove her to divert her strength in the right direction.
“I learned that there is a plan. I learned to get up on my two feet and do what I can with what I’ve got. It’s the struggles that made me who I am today.”
Himsheela received many awards and accolades throughout her career for her artistry as well as scholarly pursuits. Her agency Saedi Works (Ideas spelled backwards) was featured on M&S Magazine and she got to bring her agency mascots Slim & Saedi to the VMAG show. Her long-term vision is to build her agency to be a top branding and design dedicated one. She envisions opening multiple agencies abroad starting with the USA and UK. She strongly believes that she should give back to society in some form through social work.