Live and let live, says co-founder of edtech startup Learning Matters

Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at edtech startup Learning Matters, Saraswathy Ramamoorthy has worked exclusively and extensively in the education domain for over 20 years.

The holder of two MS degrees, one in child development, and another in special education, from Purdue University, US, founded the Bengaluru-based startup with Gowri Mahesh and Ramamoorthy G, in 2016.

Saraswathy's expertise lies in early-childhood education. She started her career managing pre-school classrooms and training teachers. A proficient writer and editor, Saraswathy has also worked in print curriculum development and production at KinderCare Education, an education company in the US. Additionally, at Pearson, India, she managed the end-to-end development and delivery of digital assets and textbooks.

As the CMO of Learning Matters, Saraswathy ensures that the organisation's passion and mission to make high-quality training and edtech products accessible and affordable to teachers and students in semi-urban and rural India is effectively translated into meaningful action with respect to customer outreach, branding, and marketing strategy. 

YS Weekender recently caught up with Saraswathy to ask her questions from the Proust Questionnaire. The Proust Questionnaire is about one’s personality. It has its origins in a parlour game popularised by Marcel Proust, the French essayist, who believed that in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature.

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Here are Saraswathy's responses:

YS Weekender (YSW): What is your idea of perfect happiness? 

Saraswathy Ramamoorthy (SR): Happiness is transient and can be found in many things. Two of my top ones - being left undisturbed with filter coffee and a good book; and laughter with loved ones.

YSW: What is your greatest fear?

SR: Losing a child

YSW: What is the trait you most deplore in others? 

SR: Passing judgements on others. Especially when one hardly knows them!

YSW: Which living person do you most admire?

SR: My co-founder and "sister from another mister," Gowri Mahesh.

YSW: What is your greatest extravagance? 

SR: Read 'extravagance' as 'obsession': junk jewellery.

YSW: What is your current state of mind? 

SR: Peaceful.

YSW: What do you consider the most overrated virtue? 

SR: Cleanliness! Women are judged way too much over cleanliness.

YSW: On what occasion do you lie? 

SR: When I am taking the Proust questionnaire! 

YSW: What do you most dislike about your appearance?

SR: Nothing. I love how I look :)

YSW: Which living person do you most despise? 

SR: Donald Trump for the extreme divisiveness and hatred he has sown.

YSW: What is the quality you most like in a man? 

SR: Being sensitive and attuned to the needs of others.

YSW: Which words or phrases do you most overuse? 

SR: Seriously!

YSW: What or who is the greatest love of your life?

SR: My family.

YSW: Which talent would you most like to have?

SR: Multitasking.

YSW: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? 

SR: Not being as confident in my younger years as I am now!

YSW: What do you consider your greatest achievement? 

SR: Having co-founded Learning Matters.

YSW: If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? 

SR: A dog. They give so much and are happy with so little.

YSW: Where would you most like to live? 

SR: Close to family and friends.

YSW: What is your most treasured possession? 

SR: My friends.

YSW: What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? 

SR: Loneliness.

YSW: What is your favourite occupation? 

SR: Teaching very young children.

YSW: What is your most marked characteristic? 

SR: My inability to mask my emotions.

YSW: What do you most value in your friends? 

SR: Unconditional love and support; lack of judgment.

YSW: Who are your favourite writers? 

SR: J K Rowling for having created the Harry Potter world in which I lose myelf, over and over again.

YSW: Who is your hero of fiction? 

SR: Hermione from the Harry Potter series.

YSW: Who are your heroes in real life?

SR: For various reasons - my mother, my mother-in-law, and my co-founder, Gowri.

YSW: What is it that you most dislike? 

SR: Lack of empathy.

YSW: What is your greatest regret?

SR: Not having grabbed more opportunities to take up leadership roles when I was younger.

YSW: How would you like to die? 

SR: Peacefully and preferably, painlessly!

YSW: What is your favourite journey? 

SR: The ones I take when reading fiction :)

YSW: What is your motto? 

SR: Live and let live.