ABINASH SAHU 
Bhargavi Swami, is the CEO of Excel Corporation, a leading HR Consulting company that caters to Human Resources Solutions for Fortune 500 co.’s, Indian Business House, Startups across India and UAE/ Singapore markets. As an Entrepreneur, she has been recognized among top 100 women entrepreneurs by ASSOCHAM (Association of Chamber of Commerce), India in 2017, along with being featured in the covers of several Business Magazines for her innovation in Services and content. She is one of India’s leading Podcasters with her Corporate Podcast – “People Who Matter” for an audience base ranging from India, Singapore, US, UK and Australia. The Show gets the inside access to some of the leading Thought Leaders and experts from some of the biggest Corporate in Asia. She has turned into a content producer, providing customized Podcasts for Brands to engage with the digital age of consumers. Recently her new book was published by ‘The Write Order Publications’ below are the answers she responded to the questionnaire of Interview Times:-
Q1- What motivated you to start writing a book?
Answer– Podcasting is a passion project and nothing in this book could have come to life without that hunger to do something more and be innovative with the platform. While I was researching on starting out as a Podcaster, I realized there was zero information on the very basic steps of becoming a Podcaster for an absolute first timer with no connection to media production or content creation. Despite having a background in Mass communication I had my own challenges and learnings. The book is written in first person from my own experience of starting a Podcast, seeing it scale and then monetizing it. It is to help all those who want to get into this but don’t know how.
Q2- You are an entrepreneur, how did you manage your time for writing?
Answer– As an Entrepreneur, you wear multiple hats at once and are always sighting opportunities that seem distant to most people. The Pandemic and the lockdown lifestyle created an explosion of content that we were consuming over video, audio and the return of people to reading and writing. As per global stats the growth in Audio listenership especially the Podcast segment was globally an 11.07 Billion $ and this is expected to hit 60.50 Billion $ by 2027.
Knowing this and having gone through my own incredible journey of 0 to 100 k listeners for my Podcast – People Who Matter. I was determined to share the basics of Podcasting and my learnings as I became a Podcaster. We have almost no information on Podcasting in the Indian and Asian context and this was the motivation I had to complete the book despite a grueling work schedule. I guess my passion for this medium and my own amazing experiences in this journey got me to share the tricks of the trade with the world. 
Q3- What are your hobbies?
Answer– I am someone who has an endless pursuit of creative expressions. I was that kid in school who was a good student but also a good singer, dancer and orator and actor. I have been intrigued by art and literature as much as I am with archeology and geology. I read the Bhagavad Gita as I try to research on string theory. So in a nutshell I am someone who is in awe and wonder of the world we live in and I want to consume as much of these wonders in my time on earth.
This helps as I customize innovative Podcasts for brands, saying a new story every single time.
Q4- What is your ‘Success Mantra’?
Answer– There is no magic beans, no magic word or no godfather waiting to give you success and fame and wealth. There are good people, great relationships and blessings of family and god that help anyone who wants to make it on their own. The success is always sweeter when you know you have worked hard, changed your perspective and re-looked at a situation or problem and went to bed knowing you had a good day. This is my measurement of success. Identifying what you are good at, being passionate about what you do are the first rungs in the ladder to success.
Q5- What advice would you like to give to people who aspire to become like you?
Answer– Each and every one of us are unique creations and start by loving and accepting your uniqueness. You don’t need to be like me, just be the best version of you!
However if you want to become an author, research or live through the topic you want to talk about as people will only connect with your material when you speak in an original voice which is genuine and represents your true self.
Q6- What are the difficulties did you faced writing your first book and how did you overcome them?
Answer– The Pandemic brought the best and the worst in people, humanity in general and my life was no less effected. My husband and I relocated from Mumbai to Bangalore in the middle of the pandemic, to stay closer to our families. As the Pandemic got worse, health conditions, quarantine lifestyle, sudden increase in unexpected quarters of work all added to the mania of day to day life. However I would say the discipline of writing a few pages everyday saved me. This and my music rehearsals kept me positive and motivated to smile everyday through it all. 
Q7- What is your future goal?
Answer– Well, all I had planned was to live and dwell in the book – P for Podcast for a while as with re-reading the book every single time I found something new I had tried and was waiting to improve my skill as a Podcaster. However the writer in me has lofty plans and I am in the midst of working for scripts for a web series along with planning a fiction book on a young Entrepreneur and I am definitely interested in writing a short story collection for children inspired by my super fun and smart nephews and nieces.
I will share more in the coming months.
Image Courtesy: Bhargavi Swami
Anyone can find her book ‘P for Podcast’ on the below link: https://www.amazon.in/dp/9390791588/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=p+for+podcast&qid=1623137437&sr=8-1
