Bairavi Sripalan has a lucky dress that she wears as a talisman in big agency pitches. It becomes obvious after seconds in her company though that all Bai’s well-deserved good fortune comes from her effervescent and guilelessly inquisitive personality; it was that vivacity that won her the Ad Club Connector scholarship in 2020 and continues to spur her career upwards three years later.

Bairavi is able to encapsulate her life approach succinctly and alliteratively: parallels, patience, and people-centricity. Because she spent much time ensuring that her career path was the correct one, she’s able to frequently draw parallels between her lived experiences, whether they be as an intuitive barista at Starbucks or as an international mental health volunteer, as a means to confidently connect with senior clients and colleagues alike. That later career start also gives her the patience she needs with herself and others to truly understand all new concepts put in front of her. The people-centric aspect of her personality allows her empathy to step back and consider others’ lived experiences. As a touching example, Bai mentions that when she was a mental health volunteer, she learned never to say goodbye to her patients as goodbye signified desertion from people who had often been left alone.

Bairavi cites the Ad Club scholarship as a lift to her self-confidence at a time when she worried that she’d left her career entry too long and felt hesitant in entering the advertising space. Much like her lucky dress though, it feels that the scholarship serves to adorn a woman who has already carved out a newly envisioned position as Account Executive of Growth at Cossette and will continue to use passion, purpose, personality, patience, parallels, and people-centricity to propel her skyward through the professional stratosphere.