15 Years and Still Going Strong: Dr. Anupama Kapadia Inspiring Women in Science Communication

“Back your people and they will back you!”—perpetuating this mantra, Dr. Anupama Kapadia has been one of the strong and steady pillars of Enago—a global editing and publication services provider. With having completed 15 years of rich and multifaceted roles in science communication, Anupama has been at the helm of actively mentoring and training budding academic professionals in the editing and writing fields.

Amalgamating Science and Language – The Beginning

Anupama’s juggling act between having a healthy fear of not doing well academically and yet leading a team to win district-level awards in sports made her pursue physical therapy despite scoring enough to get a medical seat. She deems herself fortunate to have been born in a nuclear family with a working father and a stay-at-home mother, who supported and encouraged her at every step she took. Their belief in her made her both independent and sensible at the same time.

Further unfurling her love for science and medicine as well as kickstarting her career as a physical therapist immediately after graduating from Seth G.S. Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai, she started looking for better career options on realizing that her post-graduate aspirations of being a sports or trauma rehabilitation expert may not be fulfilled. A casual discussion with a senior, who was then in science communication and journalism, propelled her to look at medical editing as a career. To quote her, “What was an experiment then became something she absolutely loved!”

Her passion for the English language and her love for science can be traced back to her school and college days, where she was always the go-to person for everything English. This stands true even today, where she builds, leads, and mentors science communication professionals with zest like no one else. Her trait of being independent and academically inclined seems to have been instilled in her right from childhood.

Milestones to Cherish – The Journey

As she completes 15 years in STEM, her journey should instill a great sense of pride and inspiration for women in STEM to aspire and accomplish milestones in a field that was once a male-dominant arena. Embarking her journey as an Associate Medical Editor, Anupama is now the Head of the Quality & Training Division at Enago, Operations Head for Special Projects, Editor-in-Chief at Enago Academy, and Business Head of the Publication Support vertical.

In this journey, she has crossed several milestones beyond her niche expertise. A medical professional, an editor, a leader, a manager, a daughter, a wife, a mother—there is no stone unturned. She is the epitome of how work-life balance is maintained. Despite her achievement with over 30+ accolades individually, she feels most satisfied and fulfilled when she sees the teams she has built from scratch mature beautifully. Consequently, her leadership skills have been acknowledged when she received the “Best Leader” award issued by Enago in 2018. Not limiting to her individual growth, she also led the “Project Management” team to win the “Best Team” award in the same year.

Bridging the Gender Gap – Both Luck and Hard Work!

Recalling her days when she joined Crimson Interactive (parent company of Enago), what was especially endearing for her was that 2 out of 3 bosses were women! It just instantly assured her that there will be equal and unbiased opportunities for everyone in the organization. What makes her prouder is that among the teams that she nurtured and the colleagues that she worked with, the gender ratio never really tilted either way significantly. This says a lot about working cohesively and with different styles. This also makes her extremely sensitive towards diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI). She is also currently working on a couple of projects to propagate DEI globally.

Leading the Pack to Success!

Anupama’s association with the teams doesn’t stop with their inception. She creates, nurtures, and guides her managers and teams to reach new heights. At Enago, she is a strong driving force for all teams including Quality & Training, Editing for Client Success, Enago Academy, Publication Support, and many more. From overseeing tasks to identifying and acknowledging the effort of all her team members makes her a leader everyone aspires to work with and become. Her perceptive inputs and constant encouragement push her teams to strive harder and accomplish more and not limit to defined roles.

With the mindset of “Never stop learning or trying,” which is vividly displayed in her encounters with her team members, she makes all comfortable in her presence and makes them push their limits to explore the sides they never knew of. Despite all her achievements, she firmly believes and lives by the thought—”Don’t take anything for granted, even Success.” And we believe that’s what makes her the one of the best leaders anybody would want to have and become.

Breathing in the Sunshine! — What Keeps Her Going

Growing up, Anupama has been a voracious reader, but technology did take over her reading time as she switched to watching documentaries or narratives to get through her leisure times. Well, her mind is always on the run. And what makes it even more fun, is that she watches them with her daughter and husband—quality family time! As blazing as her professional skills are, she can set a storm cooking up some delectable dishes, when in mood. On other days, street-food hopping with friends comes to her rescue.

She’s Not Done Yet!

As she completes a decade and a half with sheer dedication and diligence and wearing several hats as time would demand, she’s not done yet. Her future prospects involve very much being ingrained in the scholarly publishing arena. While she feels satisfied with at least 50% of the work that she has done so far, she believes that there’s a lot more to learn in order to grow and add value to the scholarly publishing domain.

Her journey goes beyond these achievements, as she embarks the next phase of her professional life and continues to inspire women in STEM to go and fetch their dreams.