“My ultimate goal is to help professional immigrants reduce their transition time when they move to Canada. I want to use my digital and visual communication skills to achieve that, and I will,” says Anasuya Kesavan, a communications specialist, writer and former journalist.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

BURNABY – Anasuya Kesavan is a communications specialist, writer and former journalist who has worked in India, Bahrain and Dubai. She is an avid gardener, dedicated mom of two girls and an amateur photographer, who now lives in Port Moody after immigrating to Canada.

Kesavan has a very interesting and inspiring story. She moved to Canada in 2015 to support her older daughter, Sreedevi, a student of molecular biology and biochemistry at SFU, but ended up enrolling herself as a communications student to further bolster her work experience in PR and journalism in India and in the Middle East.

A mother of two and a new immigrant, Kesavan’s grit and hard work has helped her land a spot on the Dean’s Honour Roll. She graduated from SFU during a summer convocation, and her daughter Sreedevi will convocate in October.

A volunteer for a competitive Canadian water polo club – Pacific Storm, Kesavan is inspired by an ambition to master the art of digital and visual communications. She graduated in Communications from the Simon Fraser University in Canada in 2019. This is her third degree. She also holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics and graduated with Honours in Sociology from the University of Delhi.

DESIBUZZCanada caught up with the busy body for some Q&As. Here is our conversation with Anasuya Kesavan.

DESIBUZZCanada: Tell us about your journey to Canada and your life prior to coming to Canada?

Anasuya Kesavan: I first came to Canada in 2013 to drop my daughter at SFU. She is graduating this year in Oct. I landed in Toronto, flew to Calgary and from there drove to Vancouver. I liked the people and the place and when I got my PR in 2014, I decided to make Vancouver my home.

I moved to Vancouver in 2015 with my younger daughter. I left a very well settled life behind in Dubai where I was working with an education management group called Innoventures Education. I was looking after the communications for 4 high schools and 13 nurseries.

Prior to Dubai, I was working as a journalist in Bahrain. It’s a very small island with a very close-knit but large expatriate community. As a community reporter, I was writing about the people and their lives and everyone was very welcoming. I loved my work and the community. I also got to interview many interesting people – educationists, CEOs, entrepreneurs, Crown Prince scholars and also the farmers and laborers. I wrote several breaking stories, Unfortunately, with the advent of the Arab Spring, my husband’s bank closed it’s Bahrain office and centralized its functions in Dubai and we had to move.

Prior to Bahrain, I was heading the corporate communications division of the British Council West India in Mumbai. This was one of the most exciting times in my life. As the communications head for U.K.’s international organization for cultural relations and educational opportunities, I got to lead on publicity for various national events and also few celebrities, most notably British cosmologist Stephen Hawking, Nobel laureate Paul Nurse, British author William Dalrymple.

My family is from Kerala but I was born in Kolkata and grew up in Delhi. The best part of my working career has been in Mumbai. As I have some connection to all of India – North, South, East, and West of India, I like to say that I’m from India and not from a particular state.

I am fluent in Hindi and Malayalam, can speak Tamil and can respond to Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi and Bengali.

DC:  Why did you decide to go for Communications degree at SFU?

AK: I have a Masters degree is in Sociology but my career has been largely in Corporate Communications and journalism. When I arrived in Canada I was finding it very difficult to find a job that suited my skills and talent. I must have applied to over 50  jobs in about 4 months but did not even get a reject letter. Moreover, coming from a traditional media background I had a strong desire to update my skills to the modern techniques and requirements in this field.

In between, I got hired by Shoppers as a Supervisor. I thought it was a good opportunity to know the community and get Canadian work experience. However, when the store opened I was only given a cashier’s job. When asked the management said I was overqualified and they were afraid that I would leave. It was not at all motivating to work under an 18-year old who had just finished high school and had zero work experience.

After a lot of introspection, I decided to go back to school. My initial choice was to study at BCIT but it is not easy to find confidence to take up 4-5 courses in a semester after being out of school for over 20 years. I chose SFU because – they have a strong Communications program and an equally strong Coop program. I was determined that I will go back to a career that I enjoy and prove myself to be good at it.

Coop seemed to be the best way to enter the job market and showcase my skills in the Canadian market. It would also help me hit two birds in one stone – get a Canadian education and Canadian work experience. Both are required to get through the HR algorithms.

DC: How has it been joining your daughter as a co-student at SFU?

AK: It has been the most fantastic experience and probably the best decision I have ever made in my life. Given a choice, I would go back any day. It’s thrilling to sit in a class that you like and study for the joy of it. Unlike my previous experiences at university, SFU offered me the flexibility to choose the courses that I was interested in, gave several assessment and study options, and provided access to learning resources literally on your finger tips. Coop helped me tremendously and made me wish I was 20 again so that I had enough time to explore and specialise in what I love.

Sreedevi is from the Science faculty and has completely different routines and study methods. Yet, she was pushing me to try different things, get around the university and figuring our online systems. With their mom having similar study routines, mid-terms, assessments and exams, the atmosphere at home was different. I also have a younger daughter who was in elementary school at that time. The three girls at home had similar challenges – all of us were students – and all of us were pitching in the cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping and other house work. We did not have a TV or cable for 3.5 years and we did not miss it even once

DC: What do you want to do with your new skills as a Honours graduate from SFU Communications program?

AK: I had only one goal to become proficient in digital and visual communications. I have immersed myself in these areas as much as I can. My work profile is now very different from what it used to be. It includes social media and web content management. However, this is a very dynamic field and there is only one mantra – to constantly learn and try new things so that we can fail faster to succeed sooner.

DC: Is there still some dreams-goals that you want to conquer?

AK: Of course. My ultimate goal is to help professional immigrants reduce their transition time when they move to Canada. I want to use my digital and visual communication skills to achieve that, and I will. Watch this space