January 3, 2025 • 26 mins
What if your passion could lead you to an extraordinary career, bridging cultures and inspiring change? Join us for a captivating conversation with Bhroovi Gupta, a dynamic product designer whose journey from Mumbai to New York City offers insights into the world of design and the power of following one's true calling. Bhroovi shares her evolution from a graphic design enthusiast to a leader in UX design, exploring her path through the vibrant advertising scene of Kansas City and prestigious institutions like Parsons and Cornell. Her experiences at Roku and Google reveal the significance of UX in creating user-friendly and privacy-focused products, blending creativity with responsibility.
Bhroovi's story is a testament to the importance of aligning career paths with personal passions, especially in a world where societal norms can often dictate one's choices. She reflects on the challenges and inspirations of being a trailblazer in design, emphasizing the need for daily creativity and inspiration. Through her personal anecdotes and community service experiences in India, Bhroovi illustrates the beauty of finding a passion-driven path and the role of mentorship and community in fostering a supportive environment. Her advice to aspiring designers is clear: pursue what truly excites you to avoid burnout and achieve fulfillment.
Our episode wraps up with a heartfelt expression of gratitude to the many contributors and supporters who made this enlightening conversation possible. Bhroovi acknowledges the collaborative efforts of organizations like Google, Roku, and the district Rotary International, along with the Almonte Library for their support. Her journey not only inspires a new generation of designers but also encourages fresh conversations and cultural exchanges, bridging gaps and fostering a global community of passionate individuals. Tune in and be inspired by Bhroovi's remarkable journey and the lessons she has learned along the way.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brian Triger (00:30):
Welcome to the Rotary Spark podcast.
I'm your host, brian Schreiger,and with me today is Bhroovi
Gupta, a product designer basedin New York City, currently
leading the UX efforts in theprivacy and integrity space at
Roku, and also works as a UXproduction designer for the
search team at Google.
(00:51):
Thanks for joining us, Bhroovi.
Bhroovi Gupta (00:55):
Hi Brian.
Thank you so much for invitingme.
Brian Triger (00:58):
It's my pleasure Tell us a little bit about your
journey.
Bhroovi Gupta (01:05):
Yeah, absolutely so.
First off, thank you forconnecting with me.
I think it was.
It was great to hear from you.
I do have a very personalityheavy website, if you can say so
.
I love to put all parts of youknow, colors and excitement on
my website, and and I'm so gladthat that came across my little
(01:26):
donut is the same reason as you.
I'm also always hungry all thetime, and so that definitely
helps with you know, just theselittle tiny elements to be able
to put to the website.
My journey has been pretty Idon't know what to say a pretty
up and down journey, but I'mreally glad where I'm at at this
(01:46):
moment.
I originally came to the UnitedStates in 2018 from Mumbai,
india, and I wanted to pursue acareer in graphic design
originally, and so myundergraduate degree at KU was
visual communication graphicdesign, studied there and had a
wonderful time at the university.
I cannot say more about howamazing KU was, and that entire
(02:11):
four years of my journey hasreally played a very, very big
role in you know where am I attoday, and so I had an amazing
time at KU.
I graduated and I worked in theadvertising community in Kansas
City.
They have so many amazingcompanies there and it's
definitely a hub for advertising.
(02:32):
And I worked at I was able towork at BML, vinar and Native
Digital and, you know, be ableto work with amazing projects.
I worked at Intel when I was atVML by NR when I was at Native
Digital, there was Blue MountainResort, one of the resorts in
Pennsylvania most people go forskiing and I was able to rebrand
(02:54):
their logo and their brandingand everything from scratch.
But, yeah, I was able to workwith amazing places at that as
well.
And then I wanted to shift mycareer towards product design,
since that was something thatwas really catching my interest
during those years, and Ithought let's take a leap and
(03:15):
try to go to New York City andthat's where my degree happened.
For my master's degree inproduct design, it was a dual
degree.
For my master's degree inproduct design, it was a dual
degree which was with theParsons School of Design and
Cornell Tech, and that was anexperience on its own.
I was going to class in a boatwhen I was going to the
(03:35):
Roosevelt Island, where theCornell Tech campus is, and I
was also going taking the busand the subway and the train to
the Parsons School of Design.
So my weeks were split in halfand it was just a fantastic
experience being able to workwith so many different kinds of
people and you know people fromall sorts of backgrounds.
(03:57):
At Parsons, I worked with suchamazing mentors and professors
and everyone was fabulous atwhat they did.
You know, parsons is very, veryreputed at what they do and you
know it was just a very, verygood opportunity for me to be
able to connect with all thesepeople.
And then at Cornell Tech, I wasworking with MBAs and with, you
(04:19):
know, the New York Tech Citylike New York City Tech
landscape and you know startupsand founders and just to be able
to tap into an Ivy Leaguenetwork when it comes to alumni
was really, really helpful forme and that happened and that
was amazing as well.
And then I started freelancing.
For a while I was working witha company called One Terra.
(04:41):
They're a startup in LA.
It's founded by a lovely personand he does a really good job
to be able to work with you know, different kinds of people
within the LA community, and Idid that for a while.
And then I started Roku and, asyou know, I'm at Roku right now
.
I head their privacy andintegrity UX efforts, and it's
(05:05):
been a fantastic journey so far.
Google actually just happenedto be a part of you know what I
was doing during the day I wasat Roku, but then Google, just
like, they actually reached outto me and you know they wanted
to use my skills, my OCD, whenit comes to design files, and
(05:27):
they wanted to bring me on as aproduction designer because my
skills of being able to clean upfiles and have very specific
and detailed oriented workflowswas something that caught their
eye, and so I do that for themnow and, yeah, it's been amazing
.
Brian Triger (05:45):
That's an impressive story.
Can you tell us a little bitmore about what happens?
Maybe not specifically in theorganization out of respect for
any type of confidentialityagreements, but can you give us
a little bit of insight as tonot only a little bit more about
(06:06):
what UX and or product designis, but also how it integrates
into any privacy and integrityspace for an organization?
Bhroovi Gupta (06:18):
Absolutely so.
Product design as an umbrella isjust a group of people sit
together.
One of them is going to be adesigner, one of them is a
product manager, one of them isa UX writer, and these three
people will come together withthe help of an engineer and come
together and think about afeature, a feature in an
(06:41):
existing product that would makethe job of the user easier and
that can be in any way possiblein any section of the product
possible.
So currently at Roku, I workedon the OS systems, which is the
TV itself, and I work in thesettings section, so I'm working
(07:02):
on how to make that experiencebetter for the users, and
privacy and integrity just is avery big part of that, because
we as a company have access to alot of the information of the
users and we want to be verymindful of how that information
is being used, but also how muchthat the user knows.
(07:25):
The user definitely needs to bevery well aware of their
choices and how you know theircommunication with us matters,
and so a lot of my job is tomake that happen in a very
seamless way and be able to havemy users know exactly what
they're signing up for and alsotheir rights and just the way
(07:48):
that they can use their productsin the best optimized way
possible.
Brian Triger (07:52):
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the way that I'm
visualizing this is you'rereally a lot of the times
putting yourself into the shoesof the customer and or end user
and understanding what they mayor may not miss, and I'll kind
of relay this back to you know,a rotary principle or question
(08:13):
of asking yourself, you know, isit fair to all concerned, or at
least approaching that ideal?
Would that be kind of a correctway to look at some of the
responsibilities?
Bhroovi Gupta (08:25):
Oh, 100%, approaching that ideal.
Would that be kind of a correctway to look at some of the
responsibilities?
Oh, 100%, I think.
Product design itself, the wayI see it is, it's in two parts
it's UX and UI.
Ui is user interface, whichmeans how a product looks, how a
feature looks, how a websitelooks, how a mobile app looks,
and user experience is theexperience that a user has while
(08:47):
using the product, and so a lotof that is thinking from the
user's eye, putting yourself inthe user's shoes and think about
how they are going to perceivethe solution that you're putting
out to them, and a lot of thatis what product design is.
Brian Triger (09:05):
Thank you for the insight, especially you know,
individually putting out to them, and a lot of that is what
product design is.
Thank you for the insight,especially you know individually
.
I'm at the very beginning ofthe process of learning some of
what you do, so it's reallyfascinating to see kind of how
some of the higher levelcomponents move around in that
space Out of curiosity.
(09:25):
When you moved here from Mumbai, can you tell us a little bit
about maybe any of the cultureshock or barriers and or
opportunities to maybe havingsuch a unique experience and
making the choice to make thatleap into a completely different
(09:47):
place?
Bhroovi Gupta (09:49):
For sure, and I can actually answer your
question in two parts.
It's funny you actually spokeabout culture shock because when
I came to the United States formy undergraduate degree, I went
to Kansas, which was a muchsmaller town than Mumbai, which
I'm originally from, city thatfelt a little more like home
(10:11):
because I was used to thebustling crowds and you know a
very busy city and so I don'tthink I was there was a culture
shock of you know how peoplelive their lifestyles.
I think it was more of a shockthat I was the first ever person
in my degree from India whocame for design, and when I took
(10:33):
some time to understand that,what came across was that a lot
of the people from India they goin.
They come into the UnitedStates to do their degrees or
their education in fields ofmedical, like to be a doctor, or
in the fields of tech, asengineers or you know, even in
(10:54):
you know, just sciences ingeneral, and a lot of STEM
majors have a high population ofpeople from India.
But when it comes to design,that is something that is more
of a creative field and therewere not a lot of people coming
in, so it was actually a veryinteresting experience for my
professors as well, because Iwas the first from my country
(11:18):
and everyone was very excited.
They also felt that, you know,we should have this more, and I
tried my best to, you know, talka lot about KU back at home as
well, so that it could inspiresome of my friends and everyone
else who was interested indesign and would like to pursue
an education in america.
Um, my experience at ku wasjust as, as I could not say more
(11:42):
about how amazing ku was.
Brian Triger (11:44):
So, um, that was just a very good foundation that
I had there I love that you hadthat relationship because you
know varied perspectives acrossthe board of people and their
level of appreciation, know seethe pros and cons and are kind
of more objective, a little bitneutral.
(12:05):
And then you know, on the otherend of the spectrum you just
have this kind of warmness inyour heart and like really deep
(12:26):
feeling associated to howconnected you are to KU.
How connected you are to KU.
So I it's inspiring for mebecause sometimes you know I get
into that.
You know alternative,anti-institution mindset that
you know has a mixture ofignorance and you know anecdotal
experience and stuff like that.
So when I connect with someonelike you I just realized, wait,
(12:48):
you know, my isolated experienceisn't everything and there are
people that are really lovingthe networks that they're
building with some of theseamazing educational
organizations.
So thank you for that.
Bhroovi Gupta (13:02):
Absolutely, and I think I will give the full
credit to the marketingcommunications at KU.
I worked with them as a studentdesigner the first semester
itself that I I came in and Iworked with them till the end of
my degree.
So for four years that was myonly job and and the fact that I
was able to go from a studentdesigner to get promoted every
(13:23):
semester and get to a pointwhere I was handling projects
which were like total projects,like full projects that you know
any adult was, I think thetrust that they put in me and
you know the mentorship that Igot during that time really
helped me understand how muchefforts were put in.
(13:44):
You know, making the studentsfeel at home.
K did a very good job of doingthat and and their, their
organization or theirorientations, their events,
everything they put so much intomaking the students feel that
they were, that this was theplace for them, that they were
supported, and that just made melook at the other side as well
(14:06):
and and, yeah, I think I willgive my full credit for my love
to kuU to them.
Brian Triger (14:11):
That's fantastic.
So do you have?
Do you have any tips on anyonewho's taking either the same or
a similar journey than than youtook, Like?
Are there any pointers that,let's say, you were able to give
to your past self?
Bhroovi Gupta (14:26):
So the first thing I would say is this
wouldn't be for my past selfCause I was insane about design.
I was absolutely crazy about it.
But I would definitely saysomeone who is thinking about
pursuing a career in designDesign is not like engineering,
it's not like the medical field,it's not like any other field,
(14:47):
where you are given tasks andyou have to do it because that's
your job.
Design requires you to bepassionate about what you do
every single day, because youhave to bring in ideas from your
own brain.
You have to wake up one morningand every morning actually and
come up with new things thatwould inspire other people, and
that is only possible, and it isonly possible for you to do
(15:11):
your job well when you feel verypassionately about it.
So you're not passionate aboutdesign, pick another career,
because you will only burn outand not enjoy what you're doing.
And that's my biggest advice toanyone not just design, do what
you really like and and follow.
Follow a path that you wouldwant to follow for the rest of
(15:32):
your life, or even 20 years fromnow, because it really is going
to be a majority of your timeduring your life.
Eight hours a week sorry.
Eight hours a day is whatyou're doing and your job, and
if you don't like it, you'regonna you're gonna hate yourself
.
So that is my one advice is toall the students who are
thinking about getting intodesign be very, be very, very
(15:53):
sure, because it is not as easyas it looks, but it will get a
little easy if you like itthat's, that's great, um, but I
I resonate with that.
Brian Triger (16:05):
Uh, you know I have my off days, but if I'm not
and I'm not perfect, I neverwill be but if I'm not
legitimately inspired by otherpeople who are designing things,
or if I'm not, let's say I'm inthe engagement community,
engagement space and I'm not,you know, thrilled to some
(16:26):
extent or really excited about acomment or an emoji reaction.
Excited about a comment or anemoji reaction, and I'm kind of
thinking about it more than justan impulse drive of imagining
what the experience is like foranother individual.
If that ever disappears, thenI'm going to push myself out of
the way, because I think that inorder to drive through all of
(16:49):
the data and to pursue anythingwithin the design space, at
least based on my experience,you're really like, as you said,
just to completely agree withyou.
I think that you need thatpassion in order to push forward
.
Otherwise, you're just kind ofmarking something on a checklist
(17:09):
and you're kind of sitting in achair that could be occupied by
someone who's really excitedand is going to actually drive
the cause forward.
Bhroovi Gupta (17:18):
Exactly you said.
You said it absolutelycorrectly, I think I, as I
mentioned, you know most of thepeople from back home would come
for um to pursue a medicalfield or, like you know, going
to tech jobs, and that itselfmade me be surrounded with a lot
of people from those places.
So I didn't have a lot offriends in design.
(17:39):
I had a lot of friends who wereengineers.
I had a lot of friends who werestudying to be a doctor, and in
most cases they were doing itbecause their parents told them
to pursue that career.
In India we have amazing parents, but we also have a little bit
of pressure when it comes tochoosing a career and it's sort
(17:59):
of a stereotype where only anengineer, a doctor or a lawyer
is going to be successful andall other fields are sort of in
the middle.
And so in most cases, you know,if a boy from India is doing
engineering, it's pretty, pretty, pretty positive to say that
his dad or his mom told him todo so, and so I found that lack
(18:22):
of passion and it was sort ofsad to see as well in some cases
, where they would go and theywould do their job and they
would come back and theycouldn't wait for it to be 5 pm.
And that just I couldn't seemyself doing that.
I couldn't imagine myself, youknow, dreading every weekday and
you know waiting for theweekend.
(18:42):
I think I would burn myself outreally quickly if I did so.
Brian Triger (18:49):
Wow.
So I mean that all of this hasbeen inspiring and I feel like
you know whether my attitudeisn't adjusted or I'm around the
wrong people.
This level of inspiration, atleast for me, based on where I
am, is rare because you know attimes, whether it's internal and
(19:09):
or external, there's a lot ofobligation, but I think that as
I bump into people like you thatare inspired and passionate, I
remind myself that there areother people out there and also
for the people who aren't asinspired and passionate, maybe
there's opportunities for peopleto pivot and to become
(19:31):
passionate about new endeavors.
So just, I don't know.
At the very least, thank youfor kind of being a light in
that way and just sharing somehope for even our little
community out in District 5750.
Bhroovi Gupta (19:48):
Absolutely, and I totally agree.
It's never too late.
I'm pretty sure, just like how,from graphic design, I decided
to go into product design.
They're both still in design,but I pivoted very quickly and I
am young.
But, like, I know for sure as afact that even if I am 67 years
old and if I don't enjoy whatI'm doing anymore, I will not
(20:12):
think twice to pivot and shiftand take that risk, because
that's the only thing that'sgoing to make me want to keep
going.
Brian Triger (20:21):
I like that a lot.
So I'm going to circle back toone thing that we mentioned.
You said that you had somerotary exposure when you were a
kid.
You mentioned, I believe, thatyour father was in rotary at
some point out in Mumbai.
Bhroovi Gupta (20:36):
Yes, he was, he was a part of.
So my father is a doctor, he'san oral surgeon, and so a lot of
his friends, um, they formed agroup and then they, they used
to go to these rotary events and, um, sometimes he would take me
along with him, and so therewas, there was these little
events that we would do whereit's like either a cleanup drive
(20:57):
in the in the community orplanting little plants.
And I remember I was like,probably in school, I was like
in the seventh or the eighthgrade or even maybe the fifth
grade, but I remember very, verycorrectly, because a lot of my
friends would also go with me,and it was just a very cute
(21:17):
experience, to say the least.
Like it just made me feel likeI was doing something outside of
school, and at that point Ididn't realize what I was doing,
but I was giving back.
And the fact that I was able togive back again now by talking
to you and be able to share myjourney with other people when
you reached out, that was one ofthe reasons why, you know, I
(21:38):
was very excited for thisopportunity because, as you
mentioned, there is definitely agap between school and now and
there was not a lot ofopportunities I had where I
could connect with the Rotary,and so this is great.
Brian Triger (21:53):
I love that you mentioned that.
They're definitely.
And again, it may be regionaland I only have about a year and
a half of experience, so again,this may be limited, but
there's definitely a gap betweenindividuals jumping out from
Rotaract and maybe people intheir mid-30s and forties, at
least within our districtspecifically.
(22:14):
And, uh, I'm excited about someobjectives in the future to
maybe make some changes, and Ithink it starts with new
conversations and new activitiesand embracing, uh, the
interconnected nature of theplanet.
Not even branding thatinitiative, Like you know, I
think that and personally andprofessionally, I think DEI is
(22:36):
important and a variety of otherterminology that's attached to
the idea of having a biggerpicture view.
But, regardless of how we wantto frame and package those
initiatives, I think thatthey're all important in just
seeing how every single humanbeing on this planet and maybe
in the future other planets areinterconnected and that, as we
(23:01):
kind of branch out, things justcontinue to get better.
Bhroovi Gupta (23:06):
Absolutely.
Brian Triger (23:25):
So well, thank you for everything with or really
any excuse to connect with youtied to your personal journey
and your profession, and alsoyour community relationships,
because I've enjoyed this quitea bit and I really want to honor
and respect the fact that thiswill inevitably lead to not only
(23:49):
inspiration but hope for anentire district, and I just
truly want to thank you for thisexperience.
Bhroovi Gupta (23:57):
Absolutely.
Thank you so much for invitingme today.
It was wonderful to be able totalk about my journey and, and,
uh, I would love to share withanyone who's listening.
Please don't hesitate to reachout, I, you can find me on
LinkedIn, you can find me onInstagram and, you know, in in
anywhere, basically on mywebsite.
Um, but please reach out if youever have questions about
(24:20):
design.
I am a full nerd when it comesto design and would love to
blabber about it for hours andhours and, um, and yeah,
definitely reach out if you haveany questions.
Brian Triger (24:31):
So and I'll put the spelling in the comments,
also in the transcript as wellit's broovycom, it's B-H, as in
hotel R, as in Romeo O, as inOscar O, as in Oscar V, as in
Victor I, as in Indiacom, andwe'll go ahead and give any and
(24:53):
all of the social media links toanyone who wants to reach out
to Bruvy directly.
I want to take this opportunitynot only to thank you, bruvy,
but also the Almonte Library forsharing the space to record
this podcast, our districtRotary International and any of
the organizations that have beendirectly or indirectly
(25:14):
connected, thanks to Google,roku KU and any other
organizations that haven't beenmentioned right now but were
throughout this episode.
Have a great night, everyone.
I hope that everyone's having ahappy new year and we'll see
you next week.
Thank you.
Welcome to the Rotary Spark podcast.
I'm your host, brian Schreiger,and with me today is Bhroovi
Gupta, a product designer basedin New York City, currently
leading the UX efforts in theprivacy and integrity space at
Roku, and also works as a UXproduction designer for the
search team at Google.
(00:51):
Thanks for joining us, Bhroovi.
Bhroovi Gupta (00:55):
Hi Brian.
Thank you so much for invitingme.
Brian Triger (00:58):
It's my pleasure Tell us a little bit about your
journey.
Bhroovi Gupta (01:05):
Yeah, absolutely so.
First off, thank you forconnecting with me.
I think it was.
It was great to hear from you.
I do have a very personalityheavy website, if you can say so
.
I love to put all parts of youknow, colors and excitement on
my website, and and I'm so gladthat that came across my little
(01:26):
donut is the same reason as you.
I'm also always hungry all thetime, and so that definitely
helps with you know, just theselittle tiny elements to be able
to put to the website.
My journey has been pretty Idon't know what to say a pretty
up and down journey, but I'mreally glad where I'm at at this
(01:46):
moment.
I originally came to the UnitedStates in 2018 from Mumbai,
india, and I wanted to pursue acareer in graphic design
originally, and so myundergraduate degree at KU was
visual communication graphicdesign, studied there and had a
wonderful time at the university.
I cannot say more about howamazing KU was, and that entire
(02:11):
four years of my journey hasreally played a very, very big
role in you know where am I attoday, and so I had an amazing
time at KU.
I graduated and I worked in theadvertising community in Kansas
City.
They have so many amazingcompanies there and it's
definitely a hub for advertising.
(02:32):
And I worked at I was able towork at BML, vinar and Native
Digital and, you know, be ableto work with amazing projects.
I worked at Intel when I was atVML by NR when I was at Native
Digital, there was Blue MountainResort, one of the resorts in
Pennsylvania most people go forskiing and I was able to rebrand
(02:54):
their logo and their brandingand everything from scratch.
But, yeah, I was able to workwith amazing places at that as
well.
And then I wanted to shift mycareer towards product design,
since that was something thatwas really catching my interest
during those years, and Ithought let's take a leap and
(03:15):
try to go to New York City andthat's where my degree happened.
For my master's degree inproduct design, it was a dual
degree.
For my master's degree inproduct design, it was a dual
degree which was with theParsons School of Design and
Cornell Tech, and that was anexperience on its own.
I was going to class in a boatwhen I was going to the
(03:35):
Roosevelt Island, where theCornell Tech campus is, and I
was also going taking the busand the subway and the train to
the Parsons School of Design.
So my weeks were split in halfand it was just a fantastic
experience being able to workwith so many different kinds of
people and you know people fromall sorts of backgrounds.
(03:57):
At Parsons, I worked with suchamazing mentors and professors
and everyone was fabulous atwhat they did.
You know, parsons is very, veryreputed at what they do and you
know it was just a very, verygood opportunity for me to be
able to connect with all thesepeople.
And then at Cornell Tech, I wasworking with MBAs and with, you
(04:19):
know, the New York Tech Citylike New York City Tech
landscape and you know startupsand founders and just to be able
to tap into an Ivy Leaguenetwork when it comes to alumni
was really, really helpful forme and that happened and that
was amazing as well.
And then I started freelancing.
For a while I was working witha company called One Terra.
(04:41):
They're a startup in LA.
It's founded by a lovely personand he does a really good job
to be able to work with you know, different kinds of people
within the LA community, and Idid that for a while.
And then I started Roku and, asyou know, I'm at Roku right now
.
I head their privacy andintegrity UX efforts, and it's
(05:05):
been a fantastic journey so far.
Google actually just happenedto be a part of you know what I
was doing during the day I wasat Roku, but then Google, just
like, they actually reached outto me and you know they wanted
to use my skills, my OCD, whenit comes to design files, and
(05:27):
they wanted to bring me on as aproduction designer because my
skills of being able to clean upfiles and have very specific
and detailed oriented workflowswas something that caught their
eye, and so I do that for themnow and, yeah, it's been amazing
.
Brian Triger (05:45):
That's an impressive story.
Can you tell us a little bitmore about what happens?
Maybe not specifically in theorganization out of respect for
any type of confidentialityagreements, but can you give us
a little bit of insight as tonot only a little bit more about
(06:06):
what UX and or product designis, but also how it integrates
into any privacy and integrityspace for an organization?
Bhroovi Gupta (06:18):
Absolutely so.
Product design as an umbrella isjust a group of people sit
together.
One of them is going to be adesigner, one of them is a
product manager, one of them isa UX writer, and these three
people will come together withthe help of an engineer and come
together and think about afeature, a feature in an
(06:41):
existing product that would makethe job of the user easier and
that can be in any way possiblein any section of the product
possible.
So currently at Roku, I workedon the OS systems, which is the
TV itself, and I work in thesettings section, so I'm working
(07:02):
on how to make that experiencebetter for the users, and
privacy and integrity just is avery big part of that, because
we as a company have access to alot of the information of the
users and we want to be verymindful of how that information
is being used, but also how muchthat the user knows.
(07:25):
The user definitely needs to bevery well aware of their
choices and how you know theircommunication with us matters,
and so a lot of my job is tomake that happen in a very
seamless way and be able to havemy users know exactly what
they're signing up for and alsotheir rights and just the way
(07:48):
that they can use their productsin the best optimized way
possible.
Brian Triger (07:52):
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the way that I'm
visualizing this is you'rereally a lot of the times
putting yourself into the shoesof the customer and or end user
and understanding what they mayor may not miss, and I'll kind
of relay this back to you know,a rotary principle or question
(08:13):
of asking yourself, you know, isit fair to all concerned, or at
least approaching that ideal?
Would that be kind of a correctway to look at some of the
responsibilities?
Bhroovi Gupta (08:25):
Oh, 100%, approaching that ideal.
Would that be kind of a correctway to look at some of the
responsibilities?
Oh, 100%, I think.
Product design itself, the wayI see it is, it's in two parts
it's UX and UI.
Ui is user interface, whichmeans how a product looks, how a
feature looks, how a websitelooks, how a mobile app looks,
and user experience is theexperience that a user has while
(08:47):
using the product, and so a lotof that is thinking from the
user's eye, putting yourself inthe user's shoes and think about
how they are going to perceivethe solution that you're putting
out to them, and a lot of thatis what product design is.
Brian Triger (09:05):
Thank you for the insight, especially you know,
individually putting out to them, and a lot of that is what
product design is.
Thank you for the insight,especially you know individually
.
I'm at the very beginning ofthe process of learning some of
what you do, so it's reallyfascinating to see kind of how
some of the higher levelcomponents move around in that
space Out of curiosity.
(09:25):
When you moved here from Mumbai, can you tell us a little bit
about maybe any of the cultureshock or barriers and or
opportunities to maybe havingsuch a unique experience and
making the choice to make thatleap into a completely different
(09:47):
place?
Bhroovi Gupta (09:49):
For sure, and I can actually answer your
question in two parts.
It's funny you actually spokeabout culture shock because when
I came to the United States formy undergraduate degree, I went
to Kansas, which was a muchsmaller town than Mumbai, which
I'm originally from, city thatfelt a little more like home
(10:11):
because I was used to thebustling crowds and you know a
very busy city and so I don'tthink I was there was a culture
shock of you know how peoplelive their lifestyles.
I think it was more of a shockthat I was the first ever person
in my degree from India whocame for design, and when I took
(10:33):
some time to understand that,what came across was that a lot
of the people from India they goin.
They come into the UnitedStates to do their degrees or
their education in fields ofmedical, like to be a doctor, or
in the fields of tech, asengineers or you know, even in
(10:54):
you know, just sciences ingeneral, and a lot of STEM
majors have a high population ofpeople from India.
But when it comes to design,that is something that is more
of a creative field and therewere not a lot of people coming
in, so it was actually a veryinteresting experience for my
professors as well, because Iwas the first from my country
(11:18):
and everyone was very excited.
They also felt that, you know,we should have this more, and I
tried my best to, you know, talka lot about KU back at home as
well, so that it could inspiresome of my friends and everyone
else who was interested indesign and would like to pursue
an education in america.
Um, my experience at ku wasjust as, as I could not say more
(11:42):
about how amazing ku was.
Brian Triger (11:44):
So, um, that was just a very good foundation that
I had there I love that you hadthat relationship because you
know varied perspectives acrossthe board of people and their
level of appreciation, know seethe pros and cons and are kind
of more objective, a little bitneutral.
(12:05):
And then you know, on the otherend of the spectrum you just
have this kind of warmness inyour heart and like really deep
(12:26):
feeling associated to howconnected you are to KU.
How connected you are to KU.
So I it's inspiring for mebecause sometimes you know I get
into that.
You know alternative,anti-institution mindset that
you know has a mixture ofignorance and you know anecdotal
experience and stuff like that.
So when I connect with someonelike you I just realized, wait,
(12:48):
you know, my isolated experienceisn't everything and there are
people that are really lovingthe networks that they're
building with some of theseamazing educational
organizations.
So thank you for that.
Bhroovi Gupta (13:02):
Absolutely, and I think I will give the full
credit to the marketingcommunications at KU.
I worked with them as a studentdesigner the first semester
itself that I I came in and Iworked with them till the end of
my degree.
So for four years that was myonly job and and the fact that I
was able to go from a studentdesigner to get promoted every
(13:23):
semester and get to a pointwhere I was handling projects
which were like total projects,like full projects that you know
any adult was, I think thetrust that they put in me and
you know the mentorship that Igot during that time really
helped me understand how muchefforts were put in.
(13:44):
You know, making the studentsfeel at home.
K did a very good job of doingthat and and their, their
organization or theirorientations, their events,
everything they put so much intomaking the students feel that
they were, that this was theplace for them, that they were
supported, and that just made melook at the other side as well
(14:06):
and and, yeah, I think I willgive my full credit for my love
to kuU to them.
Brian Triger (14:11):
That's fantastic.
So do you have?
Do you have any tips on anyonewho's taking either the same or
a similar journey than than youtook, Like?
Are there any pointers that,let's say, you were able to give
to your past self?
Bhroovi Gupta (14:26):
So the first thing I would say is this
wouldn't be for my past selfCause I was insane about design.
I was absolutely crazy about it.
But I would definitely saysomeone who is thinking about
pursuing a career in designDesign is not like engineering,
it's not like the medical field,it's not like any other field,
(14:47):
where you are given tasks andyou have to do it because that's
your job.
Design requires you to bepassionate about what you do
every single day, because youhave to bring in ideas from your
own brain.
You have to wake up one morningand every morning actually and
come up with new things thatwould inspire other people, and
that is only possible, and it isonly possible for you to do
(15:11):
your job well when you feel verypassionately about it.
So you're not passionate aboutdesign, pick another career,
because you will only burn outand not enjoy what you're doing.
And that's my biggest advice toanyone not just design, do what
you really like and and follow.
Follow a path that you wouldwant to follow for the rest of
(15:32):
your life, or even 20 years fromnow, because it really is going
to be a majority of your timeduring your life.
Eight hours a week sorry.
Eight hours a day is whatyou're doing and your job, and
if you don't like it, you'regonna you're gonna hate yourself
.
So that is my one advice is toall the students who are
thinking about getting intodesign be very, be very, very
(15:53):
sure, because it is not as easyas it looks, but it will get a
little easy if you like itthat's, that's great, um, but I
I resonate with that.
Brian Triger (16:05):
Uh, you know I have my off days, but if I'm not
and I'm not perfect, I neverwill be but if I'm not
legitimately inspired by otherpeople who are designing things,
or if I'm not, let's say I'm inthe engagement community,
engagement space and I'm not,you know, thrilled to some
(16:26):
extent or really excited about acomment or an emoji reaction.
Excited about a comment or anemoji reaction, and I'm kind of
thinking about it more than justan impulse drive of imagining
what the experience is like foranother individual.
If that ever disappears, thenI'm going to push myself out of
the way, because I think that inorder to drive through all of
(16:49):
the data and to pursue anythingwithin the design space, at
least based on my experience,you're really like, as you said,
just to completely agree withyou.
I think that you need thatpassion in order to push forward
.
Otherwise, you're just kind ofmarking something on a checklist
(17:09):
and you're kind of sitting in achair that could be occupied by
someone who's really excitedand is going to actually drive
the cause forward.
Bhroovi Gupta (17:18):
Exactly you said.
You said it absolutelycorrectly, I think I, as I
mentioned, you know most of thepeople from back home would come
for um to pursue a medicalfield or, like you know, going
to tech jobs, and that itselfmade me be surrounded with a lot
of people from those places.
So I didn't have a lot offriends in design.
(17:39):
I had a lot of friends who wereengineers.
I had a lot of friends who werestudying to be a doctor, and in
most cases they were doing itbecause their parents told them
to pursue that career.
In India we have amazing parents, but we also have a little bit
of pressure when it comes tochoosing a career and it's sort
(17:59):
of a stereotype where only anengineer, a doctor or a lawyer
is going to be successful andall other fields are sort of in
the middle.
And so in most cases, you know,if a boy from India is doing
engineering, it's pretty, pretty, pretty positive to say that
his dad or his mom told him todo so, and so I found that lack
(18:22):
of passion and it was sort ofsad to see as well in some cases
, where they would go and theywould do their job and they
would come back and theycouldn't wait for it to be 5 pm.
And that just I couldn't seemyself doing that.
I couldn't imagine myself, youknow, dreading every weekday and
you know waiting for theweekend.
(18:42):
I think I would burn myself outreally quickly if I did so.
Brian Triger (18:49):
Wow.
So I mean that all of this hasbeen inspiring and I feel like
you know whether my attitudeisn't adjusted or I'm around the
wrong people.
This level of inspiration, atleast for me, based on where I
am, is rare because you know attimes, whether it's internal and
(19:09):
or external, there's a lot ofobligation, but I think that as
I bump into people like you thatare inspired and passionate, I
remind myself that there areother people out there and also
for the people who aren't asinspired and passionate, maybe
there's opportunities for peopleto pivot and to become
(19:31):
passionate about new endeavors.
So just, I don't know.
At the very least, thank youfor kind of being a light in
that way and just sharing somehope for even our little
community out in District 5750.
Bhroovi Gupta (19:48):
Absolutely, and I totally agree.
It's never too late.
I'm pretty sure, just like how,from graphic design, I decided
to go into product design.
They're both still in design,but I pivoted very quickly and I
am young.
But, like, I know for sure as afact that even if I am 67 years
old and if I don't enjoy whatI'm doing anymore, I will not
(20:12):
think twice to pivot and shiftand take that risk, because
that's the only thing that'sgoing to make me want to keep
going.
Brian Triger (20:21):
I like that a lot.
So I'm going to circle back toone thing that we mentioned.
You said that you had somerotary exposure when you were a
kid.
You mentioned, I believe, thatyour father was in rotary at
some point out in Mumbai.
Bhroovi Gupta (20:36):
Yes, he was, he was a part of.
So my father is a doctor, he'san oral surgeon, and so a lot of
his friends, um, they formed agroup and then they, they used
to go to these rotary events and, um, sometimes he would take me
along with him, and so therewas, there was these little
events that we would do whereit's like either a cleanup drive
(20:57):
in the in the community orplanting little plants.
And I remember I was like,probably in school, I was like
in the seventh or the eighthgrade or even maybe the fifth
grade, but I remember very, verycorrectly, because a lot of my
friends would also go with me,and it was just a very cute
(21:17):
experience, to say the least.
Like it just made me feel likeI was doing something outside of
school, and at that point Ididn't realize what I was doing,
but I was giving back.
And the fact that I was able togive back again now by talking
to you and be able to share myjourney with other people when
you reached out, that was one ofthe reasons why, you know, I
(21:38):
was very excited for thisopportunity because, as you
mentioned, there is definitely agap between school and now and
there was not a lot ofopportunities I had where I
could connect with the Rotary,and so this is great.
Brian Triger (21:53):
I love that you mentioned that.
They're definitely.
And again, it may be regionaland I only have about a year and
a half of experience, so again,this may be limited, but
there's definitely a gap betweenindividuals jumping out from
Rotaract and maybe people intheir mid-30s and forties, at
least within our districtspecifically.
(22:14):
And, uh, I'm excited about someobjectives in the future to
maybe make some changes, and Ithink it starts with new
conversations and new activitiesand embracing, uh, the
interconnected nature of theplanet.
Not even branding thatinitiative, Like you know, I
think that and personally andprofessionally, I think DEI is
(22:36):
important and a variety of otherterminology that's attached to
the idea of having a biggerpicture view.
But, regardless of how we wantto frame and package those
initiatives, I think thatthey're all important in just
seeing how every single humanbeing on this planet and maybe
in the future other planets areinterconnected and that, as we
(23:01):
kind of branch out, things justcontinue to get better.
Bhroovi Gupta (23:06):
Absolutely.
Brian Triger (23:25):
So well, thank you for everything with or really
any excuse to connect with youtied to your personal journey
and your profession, and alsoyour community relationships,
because I've enjoyed this quitea bit and I really want to honor
and respect the fact that thiswill inevitably lead to not only
(23:49):
inspiration but hope for anentire district, and I just
truly want to thank you for thisexperience.
Bhroovi Gupta (23:57):
Absolutely.
Thank you so much for invitingme today.
It was wonderful to be able totalk about my journey and, and,
uh, I would love to share withanyone who's listening.
Please don't hesitate to reachout, I, you can find me on
LinkedIn, you can find me onInstagram and, you know, in in
anywhere, basically on mywebsite.
Um, but please reach out if youever have questions about
(24:20):
design.
I am a full nerd when it comesto design and would love to
blabber about it for hours andhours and, um, and yeah,
definitely reach out if you haveany questions.
Brian Triger (24:31):
So and I'll put the spelling in the comments,
also in the transcript as wellit's broovycom, it's B-H, as in
hotel R, as in Romeo O, as inOscar O, as in Oscar V, as in
Victor I, as in Indiacom, andwe'll go ahead and give any and
(24:53):
all of the social media links toanyone who wants to reach out
to Bruvy directly.
I want to take this opportunitynot only to thank you, bruvy,
but also the Almonte Library forsharing the space to record
this podcast, our districtRotary International and any of
the organizations that have beendirectly or indirectly
(25:14):
connected, thanks to Google,roku KU and any other
organizations that haven't beenmentioned right now but were
throughout this episode.
Have a great night, everyone.
I hope that everyone's having ahappy new year and we'll see
you next week.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!