Emily in India

I don’t know exactly when or why but at least since my early 20s, I’ve dreamed of living internationally for a stint. Maybe it was my dad’s work travel and how cool it seemed to me; maybe it was Jake, who by that time, had lived in South Africa, South Korea, and Italy. Inspiration was all around! I knew enough about myself to know that I probably was not going to pick up and move overseas without being sent by a company (and on their dime) so working internationally seemed the way to go.

The first company I worked for had an international presence and I stated in my goals that I was interested in taking an international rotation in the future. A couple years went by and they began asking for people interested in going to China – I was too junior and not qualified. Soon after, I moved to New Jersey with Bryan, switched jobs, and began working for a firm which also has an international presence. I made it known from the beginning that I would eventually want to move overseas for a short time. An opportunity to go to the UK came up, I was too junior and not experienced enough; an opportunity to go to the Cayman Islands came up but again, I was not anywhere near qualified.

So I worked and worked, moved to California, worked and worked, pandemic hit, worked from home home home. In July 2022, with Covid in the rearview mirror, leadership started announcing that they were looking to send someone to INDIA for 18 to 24 months. I’m not kidding you, I raised my hand immediately. Upon hearing the first announcement, I called my boss and told her I was interested. She excitedly suggested I talk to a couple of colleagues who had been to India for a few weeks at a time, just to get a sense of what Bangalore is like. I set up meetings, had conversations, got even more excited, worked, worked, and worked. One day in August, my boss reached out to see if I was still interested. She had mentioned my name to a partner who was overjoyed that I was interested. That partner went to the partner-in-charge who told her to tell me that if I was interested, to set up a call with him to discuss. On a roll, I set up a call for the next week.

He was thrilled (albeit disbelieving and concerned for Bryan) to hear that I was interested. We discussed that he wanted to send someone at a higher level and with more experience than me but I was not discouraged. We agreed to stay in touch while he waited to see if anyone else was interested. Long story short: they weren’t. And in the meantime, I had convinced him I was the right person to send. I had risen quite quickly in the ranks of the department, had worked in 2 of the 3 work streams established in Bangalore, and my enthusiasm could not be doubted. By mid-January 2023, it was a go. I’d be leaving for Bangalore, India come July.