'We are still far from the true spirit of equality'

Mintoak's Rama Tadepalli on mentorship and her love for animals

- Shail Desai

• 'Mentors have to be active listeners and not just offer templated solutions'

Since starting her professional journey in 1995, Rama Tadepalli has worked across 10 industries, from telecommunication and banking to retail. The learning curve was steep and laid the foundation for her entrepreneurial journey with Mintoak, which she co-founded in 2017. But the early days at her first job, as a management trainee, were turbulent. "The culture was bad and people were disrespected. I approached a senior who asked me, are you running away from a situation or running towards an opportunity? He told me that if I wanted to make a change, I would need to do it myself," recalls Tadepalli, 53, chief product officer at fintech company Mintoak.