Getting your MBA while parenting is not impossible when you have your passion that drives you to achieve your dreams . Learn how Deepa managed to pursue here passion being mother of two kids

“I have 2 kids. A girl aged 8 and a boy, aged 5. I took a huge break from career to raise my kids (the break lasted almost 7 years). Last year I enrolled for MBA through exchange program – SPJIMR, Mumbai + IÉSEG, Paris.

I could not uproot my kids for my studies, as it didn’t make sense to move them from their home, just for one year. Hence, I went alone to pursue MBA in Mumbai, leaving my kids under the expert supervision of my mom (she is the only one I trust after myself) and my husband. In January, I have moved to Paris for completing the second leg of the course, leaving my family in India.

So, is it possible to leave behind your family and move to a different country, with a different time zone? Yes, it is! If you are passionate about what you want to achieve in life, you get your answers, in way or the other.

Is it difficult? It makes you miserable at the moment when you are leaving your kids behind while entering into the plane. When you understood that it will take you a while before hugging them again…  But once you realized how strong you are, it makes you go on. So, yes- it is very difficult, but possible.

All my skills such as self-organisation, time management and multi-tasking, that I acquired while raising my family, have proved to be a great boon while doing the course. I had weeks full of deadlines, presentations, tests, group work etc. but still, I had to include the regular, family issues in my schedule. Because you don’t stop being a mom just because of a distance!

Nobody succeeds alone – you need the support system that believes in you and trust your decisions. I have had immense support from my kids’ teachers, who have taken on the part of a surrogate mother for my kids; my friends, who hug my kids once in a while and tell them that they are brave; my kids’ doctor (famous and busy), who told me that my husband can walk in anytime without an appointment, whenever my kids get sick; my father aged 60, who decided to stay alone for one year, so my mom can look after my kids… And countless other people, who have helped me in their own ways to put me where I am today.”

Deepa Singaravelpalani

SPJIMR GMP