My decade long journey has been amazing and fulfilling: Shobha Rana

Emcee Shobha Rana recently completed a decade in the industry. In her 10 year long journey, Rana has been part of some top events and has won many awards and accolades for her work.

In an interview with everything experiential, Rana spoke about the defining moments of her decade long journey and more.

Here are some edited excerpts from the interview:

How has your journey been professionally working as an emcee for the last 10 years? 

My journey has been pretty amazing and fulfilling. The only reason I’d look back is to see how far I have come, and I think I have managed to create a significant spot for myself in this very competitive industry. This is my 10th year into the business. When I started emceeing in 2008, I didn’t even know a profession such as this existed.

My first job happened in a fluke and it created a ripple effect which is still continuing to spread. I come from a very humble background of an army family. In my growing years, studies and sports were the only things talked about at home. Being raised with two younger brothers, I was like just one of them. When I did my first event, I was told to take off my spectacles. I didn’t even know how to put on lenses. I have worked very hard each day, most of the things I do on stage are self-taught. I have tried and failed and dusted myself up to try again. I feel blessed to have survived.

How has this profession fuelled the dreams you had?

 Well my profession has become my career now. It didn’t start like this though. The career path I had thought for myself was very straight. I was studying computers. My bachelors and Masters degrees are in computers from Delhi. I was placed with three companies through campus placement. It was a no brainer that I was going to join the IT industry. But in between I had started hosting events and I found my home and passion in it. Each profession has its own set of challenges! However, I’m very proud of the rollercoaster journey I had through all these years. 

Does it take a lot to make a trademark for yourself and to be able to work with the leading names in the industry?

Well not only in India, across the world with brands from across the world. All of my work associations have worked beautifully for me. The kind of exposure you get being an Emcee is unparalleled. My job is very interesting in a way that I get to work with a wide variety of brands. One day I’m talking at a top telecom brand event, the next day I land into hosting a banking event, the other day I’m hosting for an FMCG brand etc. One day I’m hosting a strictly formal corporate launch, the other day I fit into a jazzy Bollywood evening. It is a vast plethora of industries that I have had a chance to associate with. All these businesses have different practices and hence the people working with them are different in their attitudes and perspectives. It’s interesting to meet them, gaze their expectation, deliver a good event and get a repeat job.

Would you call your work challenging?

As challenging as my job is, it comes with a lot of perks. One of the perks is that I get a lot of time for myself. I’m not working 9-5pm 5-6 days a week. After spending almost, a decade in this business, now I can choose what kind of event I want to take up, when I need to a break etc. I have picked up on yoga recently and I’m very dedicated to the practice. I love to travel, go on hiking trips, pick up random courses every once in a while - like last summer I picked up belly dancing. The classes were so much fun. I also like to do adventurous activities. My latest favourite is surfing. I did a 4-day beginner course in Sri Lanka on my last vacation. Besides, I like to read and spend time with my family and friends.

I love my work so much that it’s really hard to think of a drawback. I don’t think there’s any. Just that your dates are held with the agencies in advance, and if you get something urgent for that particular day you have to turn it down irrespective of the degree of its importance. Also there are days you get sick, you don’t feel at your best, your body or mind isn’t functioning as it should, you can’t predict things like these right. But you have a job that has to be delivered because the show must go on. 

What is the scope of making a career in a profession like this one in the events industry?

The scope is pretty vast now that there’s social media and various other learning platforms and tools. Information is so readily accessible. Emceeing is a big umbrella, under which now come so many kinds of emceeing. There’s sports emceeing with talents individually dedicated to each of the sports, there’s entertainment emceeing, corporate emceeing opportunities, language specific emceeing, TV shows, online shows, social space and private events are a huge game now.