From Tech to Treat: How This Marketing Leader’s Unconventional Career Path Led to Success
When most people think about career transitions, they rarely imagine moving from software engineering to professional baking, and then to marketing leadership. But that’s exactly Leya Lakshmanan’s path, proving that career journeys don’t have to follow a straight line to lead to success.
Currently heading the marketing division at Embitel Technologies, a Volkswagen Group company, Leya’s story challenges conventional wisdom about career breaks and professional pivots. “I worked as a software engineer for around eight years,” she shares. “Then I moved out into different professions – I became a baker and ran a cloud kitchen. I even sold my art at galleries.”
What makes Leya’s journey particularly inspiring is her fearless approach to exploring diverse interests while maintaining professional growth. At Embitel, she leads a dynamic marketing team focused on business development through inbound lead generation, managing everything from corporate communications to trade show presentations. Her team recently designed an innovative experience center at their office, bringing together her creative background with corporate marketing needs.
The Power of Embracing Change
Her story offers valuable insights for professionals considering career transitions or returning to work after a break. Her seven-year career pause, initially taken for maternity reasons, became a period of creative exploration and skill development. Despite hearing discouraging comments about long career gaps, she turned her hobbies into professional ventures.
“Do not even listen to what people around you are saying,” Leya advises, particularly addressing women looking to restart their careers. “Most times, you’ll hear negative comments about not being able to get back into the workforce. But there is nothing stopping you – you can be whatever you want to be.”
Key Lessons from Leya’s Journey:
- Skill Diversification: Don’t be afraid to explore different fields. Each experience adds unique value to your professional toolkit.
- Continuous Learning: Take advantage of online courses and upskilling opportunities, many of which are free or cost-effective.
- Strategic Planning: Have a clear target job in mind rather than settling for any available position.
- Leverage Your Experience: Career breaks often build valuable soft skills that others might not possess.
Beyond the Corporate Hustle
What sets Leya apart is her balanced perspective on success. While excelling in her corporate role, she maintains a strong stance against the prevalent hustle culture. “I’m not someone who supports that hustle culture because I strongly feel that it costs us our personal well-being,” she emphasizes. “I would always focus on mine and my family’s holistic well-being at all times.”
As a mother of two daughters, Leya finds her most powerful moments not just in achieving business targets but in witnessing the impact of her parenting. “When I see my kids make thoughtful gestures, something I would have never expected from a 10-year-old, I feel like I’ve been a powerful influence in their life,” she shares.
Vision for a Better World
Leya’s perspective on making the world better reveals her depth of thinking. She advocates for embracing diversity beyond just workplace initiatives. “For a better world, I wish people would understand that diverse perspectives, talent, beliefs, ideas – all these should be celebrated in various realms of life,” she reflects.
Currently mentoring through Prayana, Leya works to break myths surrounding women returning to the workforce. She emphasizes that taking a career break shouldn’t be seen as a disadvantage but rather as an opportunity to develop unique skills and perspectives.
The Future of Work
At Embitel, she finds herself at the intersection of emerging technologies like Gen AI, virtual reality, and autonomous vehicles. Her role allows her to witness technological innovation firsthand and communicate these developments to the world. “Being able to see it firsthand fills me with a different kind of excitement,” she says, “because I’m also a marketer, and I would be able to talk about all this work happening in front of me to the external world.”
Leya’s journey demonstrates that success doesn’t always follow a traditional path. Her story encourages professionals to embrace their diverse interests, prioritize personal well-being, and approach career transitions with confidence. In a world increasingly focused on specialization, her multifaceted career path shows that sometimes the most rewarding journeys are the ones that dare to be different.
Her message is clear: Whether you’re considering a career change, returning to work after a break, or simply feeling stuck in your current role, remember that with strategic planning and continuous learning, you can reshape your professional journey at any point in your life.
You can listen to the full podcast on our YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/-TyGNL7Al7U
-Staff Reporter
