From Chemical Engineering and Ragging to Kendal’s Head of Operations: Suzana John's Journey!

In this episode of The Dollar Diaries, Suzana John — Head of Operations at Kendal — shares her unconventional path from studying chemical engineering in India to building a career in marketing and startups. She recounts early co-founding experience with an immersive reading app during university, the challenges of ragging and adapting to campus culture, and how hands-on startup work quickly pushed her into leadership and marketing roles. Suzana emphasizes that practical, self-taught skills (design tools, social platforms) propelled her pivot more than formal courses or degrees.Suzana digs into marketing craft and startup life: she highlights the importance of analytical thinking for performance marketing, the value of sales and people skills for entrepreneurs, and the need to pick co-founders carefully. She explains Kendal’s product as an AI-powered WhatsApp CRM that automates lead qualification and saves hours for real estate teams. She also discusses content strategy and personal branding—advocating for experimentation, posting authentic stories, and using tools like Canva and custom GPTs to scale content creation.On wellbeing and long-term goals, Suzana is candid about burnout and the steps she took to recover (time off, strict boundaries). She stresses time and health as key measures of success and plans to return to the creator-economy space with AI-enabled products. She also intends to learn coding to become more technically self-sufficient and believes consistent habits, accountability, and small daily actions build momentum for both career and personal growth.