Anupama and Janani: Founders, Paper Paints and Poetry

1. What is your philosophy of efficient leadership in a corporate setting?

It starts with understanding that a hard worker is not the same as a good leader. Leadership is a quality that comes inherently to some people, but more often than not, it is a skill set that can be developed by working towards it.

Leadership stems from having strong technical understanding of the subject, combined with confidence to make and own decisions, and exceptional people management skills. It is a fine art, managing between projects and people, while also getting work done. But the key is to be confident and to take charge, but also to take ownership of every action.

At PPP, we believe in recognizing and retaining good talent. Something we have also learnt along this journey, is to master the delicate art of delegation. This is our mantra.

2. Given the chance, how would you redefine woman entrepreneurship?

As two women from two very different walks of life, we strongly believe that Women Entrepreneurship does not require redefining. We recognize ourselves as entrepreneurs. We do not see the need to declare our gender as part of our profession. Women are here, we are making it, and we are no different than ‘non-women’ entrepreneurs. We have the same drive to see our dreams come to life, and we work just as hard, if not more, like the rest of the start-up community.

Women Entrepreneurship does not requires redefining. What we need is more avenues to showcase our talent, and more stakeholders to have faith in our ability to drive our company towards success.

3. What is Paper Paints and Poetry all about?

PPP is a publishing and artist showcasing platform. We are an artist collective for writers and artists across the globe, hosting their talents and bringing together like minded souls to connect with each other. The goal is to take on more artists on to our platform and facilitate interaction between artist and customer. We aim to give people a platform to express themselves through words or paint. There are many stories that need to be told, and many voices that need to be heard. PPP is focused on providing a safe place for people to come, express and share their tale, breaking all boundaries.

4. What are your organization’s vision and core values?

There are so many of us walking around with hidden talents, carrying an artist within us, but seldom get the opportunity or the recognition for it. Our platform seeks out such artist and gives them a publishing platform to bridge the gap between art and the masses.

We function under the simple vision – to bring together more and more artist from multiple forte under a singular banner and give them the platform to shine. Even before we started PPP, for Janani and me, our core value has always been ‘credit must be given where credit is due’.

5. What would you choose between following your passion and being practical? Why?

Being practical.

As artists ourselves, passion is the univocal force that drives us forward. But passion can also act as the biggest umbrella to cloud our judgments. During our initial days, we started to understand how only being passionate about our craft will not make us a successful business. Ever since, we have had to make some hard calls to get to where we are today.

As co-founders, we have each had to define our roles in the company, as good-cop (passionate) and bad-cop (practical), to be to make those hard calls. Following one’s passion is truly important, but one must understand the difference planning and performing. Passion is the core strength of a dream, but it can be fulfilled only through practical decis