A conversation with Aanya Jain: brand communicator, enthusiastic learner, and proud people person.

There is a particular kind of woman who walks into a room and immediately makes it louder, warmer, and more alive.

Aanya Jain is that woman.

She will tell you she is a yapper. She will also tell you she works best under pressure, that she stress eats when things go wrong, that she cried her way through at least one difficult chapter at work before coming back stronger. She says all of this without flinching.

She recently turned 31. She is navigating a new role, a new house, a marriage she clearly adores, and a career she is building with the kind of focused energy that comes from someone who has learned the hard way that showing up matters more than showing out.

ON BEING MANY THINGS AT ONCE

Who is Aanya right now, across all the different lives you are living?

Currently, Aanya is in the midst of understanding a lot of things about herself. I recently turned 31 and it was always very strange to hear that you will have a different perspective, and now that I am going through that change in perspective, there are too many things going on altogether.

At work, I am mostly in my enthusiastic learner mode. And since I have mentioned the change part already: the change on the professional front is such that I do have a more decision maker role as well. I had become so comfortable with my execution mode that it took me a few weeks to accept that I need to be on the other side of the table now. To be honest, it was overwhelming me early on, but now that I have realised it, that road is becoming a little smoother.

When I am at home with my husband and friends and family, I am the most enthusiastic person. Always yapping, having conversations with everyone. I enjoy my time with my husband very much, which also tells me that it is so important to choose a partner that matches your vibe. We are two different personalities yet so similar in choices. We have our independent opinions and we respect that. We love watching movies together, all kinds. We push each other not just professionally but also emotionally and intellectually.

My family and even my in-laws share the same mindset of: do what you want to do. There has never been a restriction from either party. Both families are happy and rooting for me on my success and always being too caring when it comes to my failures or downtime. I have actually been blessed and am very grateful for where I am.

“It is so important to choose a partner that matches your vibe.”

We hear this a lot in our conversations with women in brand roles: the weight of professional life is lighter when the personal foundation is solid. Aanya does not say this as advice. She says it as gratitude. That is a different thing entirely, and it matters.

ON EMOTION VERSUS DATA

What is one belief about how brands build meaningful connections that you now see very differently after doing this work up close?

When I initially started, I learnt the art of observation and converting them into meaningful stories and concepts. It was very important for me to hit the right emotion. Numbers were not something I considered much. It was mostly: what theme am I working on, and what hits the right spot with the audience?

However, with time, and now in a world where there is a plethora of content readily available of all kinds, it has become more data oriented. You have to be different in your content delivery. Human emotions are still the priority, but it should also give you visible data-heavy results.

Today when I write a piece of content, I ask myself: what theme of emotion am I taking, and then how am I different? Why will people like this? Why will people subscribe through my content? What goes viral and what gains subscription numbers is uncertain. There are formats but you never know what hits people, especially the algorithm. But if you hit the right emotion, people will like what you are trying to sell.

“I usually do not think too much about numbers when I am writing. I think about the numbers in my final draft.”

This is the brand communicator’s version of writing from the gut and editing with the head. The sequence matters. Aanya has figured out that you cannot lead with data and follow with soul; it has to be the other way around. The work that connects is written from feeling. The work that performs is edited with clarity.

ON KILLING YOUR DARLINGS

Has there been a moment where you had to choose between something simple that everyone would understand and something nuanced that felt more authentic?

As a creative person, you tend to get attached to your ideas. Even if I had to take the more nuanced approach, I find myself looping back, using my original idea as much as possible and tweaking it the best way I can. This has sometimes meant I was not looking at a wider approach.

Not all original ideas are sellable. And since I am more inclined toward learning how the market works, I have had to be a little less possessive about my ideas. I try to keep those ideas somewhere, use them in future for a personal post or another brand. Sometimes they get lost. That is how it goes.

What guided my choice was understanding the approach and the need of the hour. At the end, it is something that has to go out and serve a purpose. And honestly, it has helped me build a newer perspective in my creative thinking.

Every creative person reading this knows exactly what she means. There is a specific grief in watching a good idea get shelved for something simpler. What Aanya describes is not compromise, it is craft maturity. Knowing when to let go of the version you loved so the work can actually do its job.

ON PRESSURE, PROCRASTINATION, AND COMING BACK

Has the pressure to get everything right shown up for you, and if it has, how has it shaped the way you move through work or life?

I work best under pressure.

I am a procrastinator, like most creative people. No matter how much I push myself to sit and write, I will not be able to until it comes from within. And I do not always know when that time comes. But whenever it does, I always surprise myself.

There have been times when I was not able to meet expectations. In those times, I cry, I stress eat. I get stuck, especially when things are not going well. But in a few days, I am able to gear myself up for the next challenge.

I have learnt it the hard way: you get nothing by crying over spilled milk. Cry for a day and a night. It is very important to let it out. Rant about it to everyone you know. But then return. Return as soon as possible. Stop wasting time on repeat. There is a solution to everything; you just need either that or some time to get over it.

Even leaving a toxic company, working for a difficult boss, navigating people with very different mindsets when I look back, those were painful times. Yet they were growing. I learnt a lot of lessons on the way, and I will keep learning them.

“Cry for a day and a night. Then return. Return as soon as possible.”

This comes up in almost every conversation we have with women navigating early and mid career. Not the polished version of resilience, the actual version. The one that includes stress eating and calling every person you know. Aanya is not ashamed of it, and honestly, neither should anyone be.

ON IMPOSTER SYNDROME AND THE SLOW WIN

Has there been a time you felt completely in over your head? What helped you find your footing again?

I have just overcome that phase. When I joined LinkedIn, I was scared. Will I be able to perform? Yes, imposter syndrome hit me. I initially questioned myself a lot with respect to work, the things needed from me. I was overthinking everything.

And I have seen with me: when I reach the peak of overthinking, the next day or sooner I get to know what? I was scared of this? I am not saying the things were small or petty. They required learning, discipline, and the right approach.

My approach is always learning. Do it slowly, especially when I am overthinking. And once I have reached clarity, I do not push myself down for overthinking. I pat my back and am grateful that I did not stop. I keep moving no matter what my speed is. And I believe the speed increases with experience.

The detail here is in what she does not do. She does not perform confidence. She does not pretend she was never afraid. She just keeps moving anyway, slowly if she has to, and trusts that the clarity comes. That is not a brand strategy. That is just a woman being honest about how she gets things done.

ON SELF-DOUBT AND WHO GETS THE RANT

When self-doubt comes up for you at work, what do you usually do with it?

I rant about it to my husband and my best friend. Both of them are very aware of what I am going through, who I am as a person, and they know how to tackle me. They know exactly what to say. It is never the generic ‘oh this happens to everyone.’

The best part is both of them are great listeners. A yapper who has two great listeners. What else do you need?

And my mentor has always helped me realise what I am capable of. I remember it is always her one-liners that hit the right spot. She can shut my self-doubt up in one line. She shows me the real picture like no one’s business.

“A yapper who has two great listeners. What else do you need?”

The support system she describes is built with intention. It is not random. It is people who know her, who will not give her generic reassurance, who will tell her the truth and help her see herself clearly. That is not luck. That is a woman who has invested in the right relationships over time.

ON STARTING

What would you want someone just beginning their journey to worry less about?

Just start. Take that one step and believe in yourself. You have no idea what life has to offer. You need to be passionate about what you want to do, and just start.

Please stop thinking your first paycheck should be a certain number. You will get a chance to do that in the future. You will see that number too. But just start.

“You have no idea what life has to offer. Just start.”

The simplest advice is always the hardest to take. Especially when you are watching everyone else’s journey on a screen and convincing yourself that a late start is a wrong start. It is not. Aanya has lived that. She is proof.

A Note From Decoding Draupadi

What stayed with us after this conversation is something Aanya said almost as a throwaway line: cry for a day and a night, then return.

There is no performance in that. No packaging. Just the honest rhythm of how a woman who loves what she does actually moves through the hard parts.

We built this series for exactly this. Not for the highlight reel. For the real version, the one where you stress eat and then come back anyway.

— End of Interview —

Aanya Jain is a brand communicator and content strategist currently at LinkedIn. This interview was conducted as part of the Decoding Draupadi Brand Manager Series.

More conversations like this one. The real version, not the LinkedIn version. @decodingdraupadi on Instagram.