Pooja Misal

Pooja Misal is indeed a misal for many women who envision a change in the landscape of education sector in India. Feministaa got an opportunity to introduce you to her vision, challenges, inspiration and story.

She talked candidly about how she has been the ‘first’ for her family in a lot of terms – being the first one to graduate without failing, the first person to study abroad and come back with good grades and the first person to take a dive in such a vast field.

Her father who was a very ambitious person, she believes. He entered politics at a very young age and did very well for the social welfare of the people. She followed his footsteps to give life to an Educational Foundation in the name of Satish Misal  Educational Foundation (SMEF).

After an MBA from Cardiff Business School, she went ahead to explore the plains of Pune, the hotbed of educational institutions.  The city was largely surrounded by Engineering and Medical colleges and that’s where her research began. She wanted to create a space for students who were looking for a creative outlet. She could understand the dearth of quality education in the field of architecture and design and this gave birth to The Brick Group of Institutes.

The  youngest educationist of India, Pooja Misal believes in an education model which aspires students to think out of the box and not just stick to the syllabus.

BRICK believes in a student-friendly environment where students learn while doing projects and hands-on training.

On speaking of management of work life and personal life, she talked of how she spends her one week in Pune and next week in Mumbai where her husband lives. It’s been a year and she has been managing both the lives perfectly well.

She suggests that one should not invest time in telling people that they are capable of living their dreams but let the work speak for itself. She believes that sooner or later people are going realise that it’s not because of a woman’s family money, but her capability and ambition which she gets closer to her dreams.

Pooja Misal is currently pursuing her PHD in Education and spearheading a model of architectural and design education for the progressive India.

Feministaa hopes she continues to inspire million of women who dream of providing path-breaking education to the young generation.