Meet Surbhi Singhal - The Voice of Change at She For Change
This is our effort to bring you the stories of our community members which hopefully will feel much more relatable to you and inspire you to start your Changemaking journey.
We asked our community members to share their stories with us - because we believe that a woman doesn’t have to be the CEO to be able to share her story with the world. You don’t have to be a public figure for your story and your journey to inspire millions.
This is our effort to bring you the stories of our community members which hopefully will feel much more relatable to you. Because every day there are millions of women making a difference in society at large without the world celebrating or acknowledging their contributions.
Hi Surbhi, We are excited to know about your journey (in relation to your career as a Research Scholar) so far, can you share it with us and our community?
I am pursuing a PhD in Psychology at the University of Delhi. My beliefs, ideologies, and childhood experiences have profoundly influenced who I am now and where I am now. As a child, I always wanted to contribute to the welfare of society and help others. I have always wondered what would be the best way to accomplish this. So, I embarked on self-discovery by exploring multiple career paths. Subjects like Biology, Psychology and Chemistry were of great interest to me. As a student, I identified myself as an aspiring doctor, but I wasn't sure whether I wanted to become one. With some valuable guidance, I began pursuing my graduation in "Microbiology" from the University of Delhi. On-campus, I was secretly reading books on Psychology in the library, with topics such as Cognition, Behavioral Learning, Relationships, Parenting, and Personality (to name a few). These topics ignited my interest in learning more about Human Behavior and helped me realize my passion for Psychology. Eventually, I changed my major from Microbiology to Psychology after coming to this revelation, a turning point in my career. I enrolled as a post-graduate student in Applied Psychology at Gautam Buddha University. I worked harder than before to acquire more and more knowledge about this field. For my academic excellence, I owe to my hard work and commitment to Psychology. At my university, I was awarded the Gold Medal in Applied Psychology, one of the most significant achievements in my career life. I was always convinced about my teaching skills, and I combined them with the research aptitude that led me to become a Research Scholar. I have also been granted a Junior Research Fellowship to pursue my doctoral research work. I aspire to broaden the horizons of my knowledge through consistent learning and impart this knowledge to the world.
Surbhi Singhal, Research Scholar (Development, Personality & Social Psychology) - University of Delhi
We all have our fair share of struggles, roadblocks and hardships in our path towards our goals and dreams - can you share a few of such personal/professional hiccups/failures in your life that you have braved?
Seemingly, a life without hardships and struggles is perhaps no life. My career journey has been a roller coaster ride for me. I perceive that a lack of purpose and clarity in my career interests somewhat hindered my career growth. I changed my career interests thrice in the entire journey so far and every transition brought some challenges in life. Firstly, when I dropped out of the preparation for Medical exams and pursued graduation in Microbiology, I disappointed my parents because they expected me to be a doctor. Secondly, when I experienced a sense of disconnection from the subjects that I learned during graduation brought a sense of great confusion, fear and anxiety regarding my career choice. And finally, when I got my calling in Psychology and decided to switch from Microbiology to Psychology for my Master's, it came as another self-realization that I had limited choices to apply for the course because I had come from a different field. I couldn't get into one of the best universities but nonetheless, I knew that hard work would take me where I aspire to be. Sometimes, it feels that had I been more aware of my career interests from the beginning, I would have been in a better place now in terms of better learning opportunities and more practical exposure. But I guess, we all have our right timings in life. I am on the path to becoming an academician in my life right now, and I hope I continue to explore my field in abundance and impart this knowledge to others. So far, I have learnt that 'Experiments with life' always bring failures, lessons, and motivation to pursue success. I credit my professional success to my hard work, persistence, confidence, open-mindedness, and willingness to take a leap of faith no matter what comes my way.
By now you've met and chatted and known a couple of your fellow community members, how do you feel about this community of She For Change & how do you see yourself collaborating and co-creating with them?
I feel exhilarated to be a part of the She For Change community for it added novelty and brought the opportunity to learn more from others in my life. I am excited to connect with a variety of people-practitioners, students, and entrepreneurs through this community and to learn from their experiences. I believe that by working with so many intellectually gifted, enthusiastic, and ambitious individuals, I will be able to fulfil my desire to work to make a positive change in our society.