Keka Dasgupta

Sleep Optional

While Keka was born in Canada, she grew up living in two different worlds, with a typical western experience at school, and her Indian culture and roots at home.

Always active in the debating society at high school, Keka thought she wanted to go away to school and become a lawyer. But her father died unexpectedly and her plans changed. Instead she went to York University to study psychology and shortly after graduation, got married.

As a volunteer she had gravitated to tasks that involved PR so when an opportunity arose at IKEA, she grabbed it and became their official spokesperson for seven years. From there she went on to work with one of Canada’s leading PR agencies.

Agency life is never 9-5, and when her son was born, Keka decided to launch her own business. Like her mother before her, she wanted to be around for her child. So working in close collaboration with her former colleague, Hester Fuchs, she started Precision Marketing Group Inc."

“As a mompreneur, I’m constantly trying to balance my two my roles. I can be talking to a client one minute, and changing a diaper the next.” When asked what has surprised her the most, Keka laughs and replies “I am amazed at how much I can do without sleep.”

Often it is when her son has gone to bed, that her business day starts and there are times when she has to remind herself that she is doing this for him, so she can spend time with her child.

“In the workplace, you are judged by your position, but I’ve found that in business, it is your reputation that counts. Security comes from your reputation and becoming an expert in what you do.” observes Keka.

Working in close partnership with someone else can be fraught with problems. “We’ve been friends for seven years, and having worked together in the past, we know each other’s quirks and strengths.” explains Keka. “We have a collaborative approach and have built a network of people that we can bring into projects on an as-needed basis.”

And it’s working, with clients such as HomeSense, Tourism Toronto and Goodwill, the business is doing well. Now Keka wrestles with the challenge of when to hire staff. But as she notes, this is a good problem to have.

Her advice for other new entrepreneurs? Always try to learn from others and never underestimate the power of networking. “It’s not about working the room, I’ve found it much better to spend time building individual relationships.”

Recognizing the value of PR, Keka wants to help new entrepreneurs learn PR and marketing skills and is developing educational material to share her expertise. So stay tuned for the next chapter in her business.