Himangi Ahuja

Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow

“Feline-Canine aficionado, driving enthusiast, and a Philosophy guru who twirls to rhythmic tunes while envisioning an equitable world.”

Hometown: Delhi, India

Fun Fact About Yourself:  If I hadn’t been so passionate about academics, I would have probably been a race car driver, no kidding.

Undergraduate School and Major: Graduate and Postgraduate in Philosophy, University of Delhi

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Luhaif Digitech, Head of Marketing and Communication

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of IIM Lucknow’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? There are many reasons as to why I chose IIM Lucknow. Wanting to continue my career in marketing, I was driven to IIM L because of the reputed faculty of IIM Lucknow. IIM Lucknow boasts of some of the best marketing faculty in the country, offering a comprehensive learning experience.

Secondly, being part of the IIM network carries a significant weight. The IIM brand is highly respected and is synonymous with excellence in management education in India.

Another feature that drew me in was IIM Lucknow’s focus on global learning. The program provides global exposure, enhancing the overall learning experience and offering a broader perspective on international business dynamics.

What has been your favorite course or extracurricular activity at IIM Lucknow? What has been the most important lesson that you have learned from it? I thoroughly enjoyed studying macroeconomics. Though a heavy subject to study, and I admit this rather reluctantly, I had very limited financial literacy and a juvenile understanding of how the economy works. Understanding economics led to increased awareness of how the world is interlinked, and how a change in a variable in one country can devastate another 7,000 miles away.

What excites you the most about the International Immersion? Well, it is the exposure to international business dynamics. However, I am just as excited about getting to experience a new culture, French, a country that produced many profound thinkers, such as the father of modern philosophy, Rene Descartes (who, sadly was also responsible for my childhood misery and struggle with the cartesian plane). But the absolute honest answer is, I hear, Europe does wine really well.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: There are many things in my career that stand out to me. Due to my sheer passion and dedication towards academics, the teaching jobs just came to me, ones that I had never applied for, nor interviewed for. The second biggest achievement, I would say, was being able to seamlessly transition from a career in academics to being a pro-marketer.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far: Being an achiever, my sense of self-worth had somehow tied itself to achievements and marks along the course of life. Being at IIM Lucknow has been rather humbling, and my biggest achievement has been imbibing that it is okay to be average at some things, and that it is okay if I am not immediately good at the others from the get-go. I had forgotten that learning is a marathon, not a sprint.

The professors here have made this possible. I will forever remember my math professor telling me that it is okay to be not amazing at math, and that it doesn’t take anything away from the many talents that I do have. The minute I learned to be okay with being average, I ended up doing better than I imagined. Sometimes, it’s the fear of failure that holds us back from a truly immersive learning experience.

What do you hope to do after graduation? In the long term, I really hope to be Bruce Wayne, especially the billionaire philanthropist part of it. In the short term, I will gladly settle for a strategic product marketing role for a multinational company.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into IIM Lucknow? With a good GMAT score being a qualifier to get into any top B-school, including IIM Lucknow, I would suggest getting a handle on both quant and verbal, and addressing the gaps in knowledge that may be there. But GMAT is nothing more than a qualifier. What’s more important is what you bring to the table apart from it. Honing your talents and learnings, both personal and professional, is what will make you stand out. Having a sense of self awareness and clarity in your thought process is an absolute must have.

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