Courage, Identity, and Rise of a Wedding Trailblazer | Reetu Jain | TEDxDTSS College of Law

Quick Overview

Wedding trailblazer Reetu Jain defines courage through the acronym C.O.U.R.A.G.E., emphasizing seeing things differently, observing successful people, believing in oneself, reality checks, adapting, giving back, and self-entertainment, ultimately recounting how she secured her first wedding client by comparing her opportunity to Sachin Tendulkar receiving a chance at age 17, proving that courage is overcoming fear and throwing back the stones people throw at you.

Key Points: Reetu Jain, founder of 'The Wedding Wale', has been in the wedding industry for about 10 years, having successfully executed around 300 weddings, including many celebrity weddings. Jain defines courage using the acrostic C.O.U.R.A.G.E.: C is to 'See things differently', O is 'Observing the people in that industry who are successful', U is 'Believing in yourself', R is 'Have a reality check', A is 'Adapting', G is 'Giving back to the society', and E is 'Entertainment'. Jain faced skepticism from her middle-class Marwari family who expected her to pursue traditional careers like engineering or medicine, requiring courage to pursue wedding planning. She received her company name, 'The Wedding Wale', serendipitously when a maid shouted 'wedding wale aa gaye hain' (The wedding people have arrived) at a potential client's house. Jain secured her first major wedding by drawing a parallel between her situation and Sachin Tendulkar's career start: she told the skeptical uncle, "if BCCI gave him the bat at 17, you can give a chance to a Sachin Tendulkar." She notes that fear often comes from external sources, like family questioning a woman entering a male-dominated industry, or friends pursuing safer careers, but courage means standing your ground. Jain emphasizes that courage comes from believing in oneself and 'throwing the stones right back at those people who put fear in you'.

Context: TEDx speaker Reetu Jain shares her journey as a wedding planner and the founder of 'The Wedding Wale' and 'Wed Venture', detailing the courage required to establish herself in an industry where she was initially underestimated, especially coming from a conservative, middle-class background where wedding planning was not considered a viable profession. She uses her personal narrative, including facing ageism and gender bias from clients, to illustrate her philosophy on overcoming fear and achieving professional success.