Meet Meena Thiruvengadam

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Meena Thiruvengadam a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Meena, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

Like most people, I’ve had to become resilient. Working in a volatile media industry, I’ve had to pivot professionally multiple times. I’ve been laid off. I’ve been rejected. I’ve faced obstacles that felt insurmountable. In hindsight, each of these situations offered a chance to practice resilience.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m a journalist, traveler and entrepreneur. I am the founder of TravelwithMeena.com, a thoughtful traveler’s guide to the world. I launched Travel with Meena because I’ve been able to make travel a way of life for myself, and I hope to help other people do the same. I review hotels, cruises and airlines, create destination guides and share stories from the road. I’m also a co-author of Lonely Planet guidebooks to Iceland and New York City and a contributor to publications including Travel + Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler and The Washington Post. Watch for Lonely Planet Chicago in January, and subscribe to my newsletter to follow along with my adventures.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1) Learning how to write. Being able to clearly communicate a point of view, make a persuasive argument or articulate what someone else can’t articulate for themselves can’t is a superpower. And fewer people are capable of efficiently communicating messages than I ever could have imagined.

2) Keeping in touch. I’ve always thought of my career as a long game where pieces of the puzzle would get clearer in hindsight. Now, 20 years into my media career I see how people from various chapters of my life have become key characters for other chapters. My life, professionally and personally, is richer because I’ve worked to maintain these connections over time.

3) Don’t sacrifice yourself for a job that isn’t worth it. I’ve seen many people make sacrifices for employers that eventually did them wrong. Don’t give a boss more loyalty than you’re getting from them.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

I’ve been lucky to develop a broad network of journalism mentors over the years. These people filled in the gaps in my education and taught me how to build a career I hadn’t realized could be an option for me. They taught me how to be a journalist, how to manage my money, how to become part of a community, how to build a rewarding life for myself and so much more. Workplaces may not be family, but there are definitely families in journalism. I’m so grateful for mine.

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