Former investment banker-turned-entrepreneur-turned-author, Ayesha Chenoy, connected with words at a different level. With quotes and micro poems making a mark on her life she decided to pick up the pen herself and the result was To The Bravest Person I know. The founder of RepIndia a digital marketing agency takes us through her debut read. Excerpts:
What encouraged you to write To The Bravest Person I know?
Many times, whether it was when things were hard during my banking career, or when I was building RepIndia while I was pregnant, I would come across a book or someone’s words that helped me make sense of my struggles. And when the lockdown happened, I started an Instagram account with quotes and micro poems and very soon had 30 k followers from around this world who said my words helped them. So out came this book which was like therapy for me. And I hoped it to be therapy for many others, who struggled with isolation, with their own demons, with a strange world.
You have been an entrepreneur giving life to many functional ideas. Was writing a book on your to-do list?
Well, I wanted to be a writer far before I became an entrepreneur, I actually quit investment banking in London to write.
Why did you choose the medium of poetry?
It’s not just poetry, but a lot of quotes. And it’s all tied together by a letter with illustrations. I believe that with our very busy lives, we often need something short and powerful and visual, a few words but with so much meaning.
Tell us about the book in brief.
From dysfunctional families to coming of age, from dealing with heartbreak and grief to learning forgives, To the Bravest Person I Know is modern therapy delivered through a series of poems and a letter that threads through the book. The book submits that fear is normal, as is feeling insecure; depression is normal, as is hurting people. And bravery is about facing it all. It’s about facing everything life throws at you every day. It also cuts through the rainbows and self-righteous dross to provide a vaccine of truth, liberating and reminding us that we are all in a tunnel and that it is normal to feel like we may never get out - but there is light at the end of it. It grapples with our myriad emotions and questions the construct of being ‘normal’.
What’s next after this?
Another book - but this time a novel!