About Stuti Changle
Stuti Changle, author of the inspirational fiction novel – ON THE OPEN ROAD. The novel draws from her real-life experiences and she desires to inspire her readers to follow their heart and live their dreams!
A minimalist at heart, Stuti finds herself moving farther from the never-ending quest of owning material possessions and a step closer to owning a vast ocean of experiences.
Stuti dreamt of being a storyteller since childhood and one day, she packed a rucksack and left Mumbai, in search of her true self. She met people with extraordinary stories – travelers, entrepreneurs, artists, visionaries and saints, who gave her the revelation to take steps in a new direction.
She sailed to the Andamans, camped with the Indian Jawans in Arunachal Pradesh; scuba-dived in the Indian Ocean, swum with the dolphins in the Mediterranean, danced to Bollywood songs on the streets of Prague, floated free for hours on the beach in the Island of Mallorca. Wishes to travel the world before she dies
Stuti is a post-graduate in management from the prestigious B-school IMI, New Delhi and a graduate in Computer Science and Technology.
In her latest interview with us, author Stuti Changle talked to us about her journey of writing her first novel from being just another corporate employee and what inspired her to take this route.
Ques 1: What made you take the big step of leaping your career from sales to writing?
My debut novel, On The Open Road – Three Lives, Five Cities, and One Startup happened during my stint at a major corporate. I was sipping a Cappuccino and wondering about my next career move. I was making money – a lot of it – but somehow felt empty on the inside. My heart would tell me to pursue my long lost dream of becoming a storyteller whereas my mind would warn me about the risk and its consequences. Finally, I gave in to my heart and with the savings that I had, set out on an expedition around India and Europe. I met travelers, entrepreneurs, investors, saints, artists who inspired me to the core and gave a direction to my life. I hope to inspire the youth with my story – to break free, to make difficult choices, to follow their dreams, to never give up & to discover their true self.
Ques 2: Who are the entrepreneurs who inspired you to write a novel on entrepreneurship?
Every entrepreneur that I have met so far has touched my life in a way or the other. However, I look up to Mr. Ashish Kashyap as a role model & one of my most loved characters Kashyap from the novel is inspired by him. I had never met him in person until the completion of the novel & had drawn most of the inferences from the articles available on the internet. When we finally met, he was thrilled about the idea of my book and encouraged me to pen down more stories that inspire the youth to make a move.
Ques 3: How do emotions play an important role in entrepreneurship according to you?
Emotions do play a very important role in our lives and well as relationships. Entrepreneurship is no different. However, having a control over one’s emotions helps to gain a control over yourself, your plans and the goals. As an entrepreneurial journey is a bumpy ride, full of ups and downs, controlling one’s emotions to one’s advantage proves to be very helpful. You need to persevere to build the dream, it would not happen in a day, and therefore boldly facing the up and downs & having a support system of friends and family to fall back on really helps.
Ques 4: Share your favorite moment in your journey of writing?
The characters evolve as the journey of writing the book nears completion. Surprisingly, in my case, I evolved as a writer with the pace that my characters did. As Myra became confident, fearless and victorious in the end, I also experienced the taste of victory and became more passionate about writing the next story. In fact, I am already at it.
Ques 5: What according to you is the best part of being an entrepreneur?
Every day is a new day. Every day presents itself with enough challenges and opportunities at the same time.
Ques 6: What is the message you want to give to the future readers of your book?
Characters, ordinary or larger than life, relatable or aspirational, are the most crucial part of the story. Readers experience various emotions through the journey of the characters. Readers evolve through the challenges, the struggles and the achievements of the characters. They feel inspired enough to take specific action if they are thrilled by the journey of their favorite character! A bunch of characters who breathe life into the story are significant in case of a fictional story. All the characters are based on people that I have met and therefore are relatable. My readers tell me that my characters inspire them to become a better version of themselves, to make a move, to embrace the difficult and to never give up on one’s dreams. My second novel will inspire my readers with my characters and words yet again.
