Question: Can you tell us about yourself? 

Answer: I am Palakh. I am 19 years old. I think. I’m a student, a social entrepreneur, and a content creator. I am a youth change maker and India’s 20 under 20. I love to do a lot of things because I’m passionate about a lot of things. And I think creating change is all about creating change in every way. 

Question: You have brought about a lot of change. I see you’re the CEO and world record holder. So, you’ve gone from being a normal girl to a versatile girl this year, and you’re now a future entrepreneur, a big dynamic woman. So, what are your thoughts on the matter? What influences you to transform this versatility into a dynamic personality?

Answer: I think I don’t know. It just happened during the pandemic that I thought I would explore a lot of things. And before the pandemic, I was just a normal student who was way too much focused on marks. I used to just study. I was a huge nerd. So I really didn’t do anything other than studies before the pandemic. But during the pandemic, there was this very standard moment that happened where I overheard a conversation between my mom and my domestic health. She was shying away from a conversation about periods. And I thought, you know what, all of this is such natural processes that we are not talking about because there is a stigma attached to it. 

So that’s why I opened Break.the.Ice and that’s why I started exploring everything else. And gradually I came on LinkedIn and I started creating content. So I think everything happened within the last year and a half. You know, during the pandemic I just thought why not get out of my comfort zone and try to do something other than just studying. Because I had that time where I really had to do nothing. Online classes were there. But honestly you want that exposure in the time that we were in. 

Question: So, what was your motivation when you first tried to become a CEO as a young woman?

Answer: I think it was that incident only when I overheard that conversation. I think that was the first motivation because otherwise I’m a big introvert, I don’t interact with too many people. I think it has changed now. But I was a huge introvert earlier and I never thought that I could even talk about normal topics, let alone taboo topics. So I think all the motivation came from that one incident when I thought that I really need to step up and do something because I’ve always wanted to create change. But because I was an introvert, I never really stepped out of my comfort zone. 

I said Dakha jayega (Will see), when I grow up I’ll see if I can create any change. But through that moment I realized maybe this is the way I can create change. I think all of it is the motivation behind it.

Question: So the changes you have brought out, is there something that you have brought the change inside yourself also in terms of using the learning process? 

Answer: Yes, I think transitioning from an introvert to maybe an Ambivert, I won’t say I’m an extrovert, I’m not. I need my own kids to just recharge my social battery. But I think one of the biggest changes has been just enhancing my communication with people. And I absolutely loved that I did that because before that I was a very under confident person, a huge introvert. And because of Craig TIAs, because of all the other things that I went into, I interacted with so many people that I tried to learn from everyone who I met. So I think it has helped me a lot. 

Question: That’s fantastic that your learning is so dynamic, given how far you’ve come and how well you’re doing now. So, what motivated you to be an environmentalist and raise awareness about the problems? So, what motivates you to alter this transition?

Answer: So it’s very interesting that when I said that I always wanted to create change, I always thought I’d create change in terms of the environment because I was someone who I have been and I am still very passionate about the environment. I think it gets neglected and even if people talk about it, there is nothing that has been done. 

Even if we talk about climate change, we don’t do anything at a personal level. So I thought that, you know, I’ve also integrated it within breakthroughs because again, it is a taboo topic, climate change. And environment is also a taboo topic because again, we aren’t doing anything about it. So that wasn’t really a transition. 

Honestly, I’ve always been passionate about the environment. In my school, the only thing I really did outside of studies, like I was mentioning, was going for environment protests and being a part of the environment club of my school. So I think that has constantly been something that I was very passionate about. And I thought why not take that forward through Break.the.ice as well as outside Break.the.ice at my own personal level. 

Question: That’s really wonderful. I’m curious about your hidden talents that you don’t share on social media?

Answer: This is a very interesting question. I think a hidden talent, which no one really knows, is that I can play the Hawaiian guitar. When I tell that to people, even when I meet them, all of them are like what is a Hawaiian guitar? So Hawaiian guitar is the Indian instrumental form of the normal guitar, the aqueous guitar. And I can play that. So, yes, that’s something that nobody knows on LinkedIn about me. Because again, if you tell people, they expect you to play it. But it is something that I’m very passionate about and I want to keep it as a closed talent for myself. 

Question: Why did you choose the name “Break.the.Ice” for your startup?

Answer: So I think again because I was talking about taboo topics. I thought I want to name it something that people will want to read about and also because we are literally breaking the ice about taboo topics so that’s the idea behind it. Starting conversations and breaking the ice about things that people don’t talk about. So that’s the name theory behind it. 

Question: What is your motto and what you are planning in the future with it? 

Answer: At present what we’re trying to do is build a platform where people are talking about taboo topics from mental health to menstruation to gender equality to climate change, everything about that and in the future we want to have an app where people come openly, anonymously, talk about all things taboo and also have a space where we can actually help people get mental help. So we are in contact with professional psychologists, we want to bring them on the app and help people who really feel like they need that help to just go on the app, click on get help and get free access to psychologists. So that’s something in the making and we don’t want to have an app in the coming future. 

Question: You’re putting together a new team for this task?

Answer: So please team, is there no so for breakfast? We have over 100 people in the team and all of us have thought of just expanding firstly and then gradually having the app in the next one and a half years. 

Question: So, what makes you tickle in your mind that you want to go and do such a thing?

Answer: I think I always wanted to create change but in terms of maturity, I think it has come very recently. Like I mentioned, I was a huge introvert and I was extremely immature. I’ll be very honest, I really didn’t know too much about anything. And honestly, until the Pandemic happened, I was not on social media, I did not have an Instagram page. LinkedIn, you won’t even imagine as a 17 year old. So it was just during the Pandemic when I had the idea of breakthroughs. I came across LinkedIn and I was like, this is a great platform to get other people’s opinions. And I joined LinkedIn to be that passive person who will read about other people’s ideas, stories, opinions, controversial opinions. I love LinkedIn for that because people are really open about everything. And I came on LinkedIn to be a passive recipient of that information. And then I gradually realized, maybe I want to express myself also. So I think everything happened just a year back. And in terms of maturity, I think I became mature because of the information and the content I was consuming. So I think around seven to eight months now, because before that, honestly, I was way too immature. So I won’t take that credit. 

Question: Do you hold a world record? What is the backstory to it?

Answer: Yes. So basically, when I started heading on Linden, the official world record, UK, the company, they actually reached out to me that they are featuring 111 women on International Women’s Day for the work that they are doing and for the social impact they’re creating. So I actually have a world record with 111 women. I am one of them. We all have created global social impact. So that’s what the world record is all about. It’s a collective world record. And we were actually awarded the world record on International Women’s Day.

Question: You are a 19 years old entrepreneur. Normally at this age people feel peer pressure as well as from parents. What was the influence of your family background on your journey? 

Answer: For me, it is very interesting. My parents never put pressure on me. It’s only me who puts pressure on myself. So for me, everything is very different. I am the one who tells my mom that I haven’t studied, and my mom tells me, take a break now, you’ve studied a lot. So the dynamic at our house and in my situation is completely opposite from a lot of people. And I feel I’m very lucky in that way. 

But again, since I’m putting so much pressure on myself, you’re not that lucky because you’re constantly thinking of improving yourself. Because I’m an extreme perfectionist. So even when I used to study, I would be like, I have to complete this even if the exams are two months later. So I used to put that pressure on myself. So in terms of balancing everything, since I was that person who would do everything beforehand, it was manageable because I was trying to do everything beforehand. If the red line is two weeks later, I have to do it today itself. So I kind of was able to manage everything. 

Question: What motivation or lesson would you like to impart to young people, particularly girls who want to beat the trend? What is the message you want to send from a local to a global level?

Answer: I am constantly smiling. And in terms of the motivation, I think I’ll be very cliche. But I mean, a lot of people say this, but it’s really the only sentence I’ve focused on throughout my life is that the moment I stepped out of my comfort zone, everything happened for me. So I think the motivation would be to just get out of your comfort zone. 

I know we’ve heard this and we’ve seen this in courts, on our phone wallpapers, on our mobile posters, but nobody really does it until they do it. And when they really step out of their comfort zone, you will realize that your knife completely changes for the food. So I think that the only motivation for getting out of your comfort zone is making yourself different from normal people.