A versatile woman, Sushmita has done it all- from journalism to advertising to social work, working for sanitation and water conservation, and organizing story-telling festivals. She ensures that she completes every task that she undertakes with her determination and confidence.

Sushmita Singha is the co-founder of Udaipur Tales- a storytelling festival now in its fourth edition. She also works in the fields of water conservation and sanitation.

Sushmita currently lives in Udaipur. She was born in Danapur Cantt in Patna, Bihar and brought up in many places due to the transferable nature of her father’s job who was in the Military Engineering Service.

Sushmita recalls that there was an atmosphere of studies in her home with books all around. However, there was also a strong inclination towards sports too. Sushmita says she was not good at studies and was raised among boys as she had three elder brothers and three smaller cousins who were boys. She says she used to always indulge in fights like boys and her mother was never happy about that. Her elder brother however encouraged her to be strong physically, and she remembers she started riding bikes and scooters from a young age.

Sushmita spent the major part of her school days at Lucknow. She says she formed strong friendships there and is still in touch with several of her friends from Lucknow.

Sushmita shares that a turning point in her life came when her family moved to Kanpur. As it was the middle of the academic session and her scores were also not that good, the school principal refused to promote her to the 10th class and asked her to repeat her 9th grade. This hurt her and she became serious about studies from then onwards. As a result, she even earned a National Scholarship. She went on to do her graduation in English Literature and was a merit-holder in M.A. Always an active girl, she was her college premier and also became the vice-president in the student union of her university.

Sushmita shares that she started giving tuitions when she was in college and even started a coaching institute. She says she learnt how to be self-dependent and says that she has never asked for money from anyone right from when she was a college student.

A conflict arose between her and her father as she wanted to become a journalist whereas her father wanted her to go for the IAS. She, however, was adamant and joined the Hindustan Times as a reporter when its Patna edition started. After some time, she developed an interest in advertising and formed an ad-agency in Patna which, she proudly claims, went on to become one of the topmost advertising companies of Bihar.

When she had been working as a journalist, she had received threats, and later when things became more difficult for her in Bihar, she moved to Delhi. There she joined Lintas and worked there for some time.

Sushmita says she had also always liked to do social work and had even joined a Leadership Training Scheme in her school when she just in class 6th and had done a lot of social work like teaching small students and working for the mentally retarded.

Later, she joined the prominent NGO, Sulabh International and went on to head it. She says she had a wonderful and satisfying stint at Sulabh. Later, she was asked by someone in the government to work for sanitation projects in Afghanistan which had just come out of the rule of the Taliban. It was a big challenge going to Afghanistan in such disturbed circumstances but despite opposition from her father, she went there. She says it was an unforgettable time of her life as there was constant danger there as they had to face threats to their lives and there were missile attacks on their hotel. But, with the help of some of the locals, she was able to complete her project and came back safely.

After coming back from Afghanistan, she quit Sulabh International and started her foundation. She also joined the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry and became the Secretary General of the organization.

Later, she quit the chamber and decided to work full time for her foundation. She fondly remembers the time when they were looking for a base for their foundation and when she landed in Udaipur with her co-founder, she instantly liked the place and set up her base here.

Sushmita shares that the idea of Udaipur Tales came into her mind when once they were deliberating about doing something different. After some research, they found that it was a big thing and was already being done at several places around the world and so they started the festival in 2017 which has seen four editions so far.

Sushmita is highly happy and satisfied with the journey of Udaipur Tales so far. She says that it has been a great experience meeting up with versatile storytellers from all around the world. Sushmita feels that oral storytelling is very effective as it connects the listener to the storyteller emotionally.

When asked about her role models, Sushmita says she considers Mahashweta Devi, the famous author from West Bengal and Maharani Gayatri Devi as her role models. She says that though coming from diverse extremes, she likes the two women for their confidence, truthfulness, poise and style.

Sushmita’s success mantra is hard work and confidence. She says we should learn, unlearn, relearn, and never stop before reaching the end.

Currently, Sushmita, through her foundation, is working to promote water conservation and sanitation in government schools.

Giving her opinion about which is more important-education or experience, Sushmita opines that though education is important, she believes that experience is far more important in life. She thinks nothing can beat experience.

Sushmita’s message for everyone is that struggles will always be there but you should never give up. She believes that if your intent is good, you will definitely get success, and by success she means ultimate satisfaction and not materialistic things like money.