On one of my first days at aikyam space, I approached Sumi to update her about work. Noticing that I was intentionally keeping my voice low, she said, “Oh no, don’t whisper in the office. Talk, laugh, you are free to express yourself here.” She repeated this every time anyone tried to take up less space.
Sumi comes across as someone who means everything she says with striking genuineness. “I do not know who I am if I am not reading and writing,” I remember her saying a few months ago on our first call. A reader since the age of 6, she found in books, starting from the illustrated version of Grimm’s fairy tales, a world that continues to amaze her. Her writing journey began a few years later when she published her first poem in a UAE-based children’s magazine called Young Times.
The years of change
However, when a young Sumi completed her high school from Salalah and relocated to India, her career plans were as far away from literature as possible. She was a first-year Bachelor’s student of Chemistry when she came across the course structure of the next two years. With horror, she realised that she would no longer have literature to seek respite from. Wasting no time, the 18-year-old did the unthinkable - cancelled her admission, put her foot down before her family, and made her way into a literature course. And that is where Sumi Thomas begins her journey - professionally and personally.
Having spent most of her life until then in Salalah, Sumi’s ideas of India were far from rooted in reality. A stranger in her own land, she slowly learned what it is like to be an Indian living in India and started lending her ear to political discourses. Those three years set the stage for the politically vocal woman she would grow up to be.
Battling Hurdles and Chasing Dreams
She joined a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism where she dived head-first into the field of media. A couple of notable experiences followed, including a 5-year-long stint as the Senior Sub Editor at The Week and freelancing at the Times of India. At a time women professionals were fewer in the media industry, Sumi founded DropCap Media in 2010, and was later a Partner at Slow Claps Media (2018). She ran a print magazine in Kochi, Via Kochi, an endeavour she describes as “the kind of journalism I love doing.” She explains, “The journalism I fell in love with in college was a gulf apart from the reality I plunged into as a professional. Addressing inequity could be a taboo or a necessity, depending on whether the culprits were giving us ads or not.”
Things were rougher during her rollercoaster-like entrepreneurship journey. Doing a million things on her own, Sumi navigated her path in a male-dominated sector. She says, “Everything from networking to working overtime is a challenge for women in the media and branding field. Networking mostly involved a bunch of men packing themselves into a bar. And many times, women would lose out on opportunities simply by not being present in spaces where decisions were being made.” Now, Sumi has gathered all of the resources and advice she has up her sleeve and supports women entrepreneurs by talking them through challenges, and guiding them to people and resources that can help them, and advocate for them. “I have made plenty of mistakes, so why not let others learn from them?” she says, shrugging.
Sumi's creative expressions; a page from Via Kochi, the magazine she ran; and a magazine stand sporting copies of Via Kochi
Storytelling For Good
It was at a time when Sumi was in search of something that suited her values of compassion, fairness and justice, and connecting people that she stumbled upon aikyam through Shemeer. Although she had volunteered at Make A Difference and was a founding member at Tree for Life, technology for good was an entirely alien concept to her. At aikyam, Sumi documents changemaker journeys, helps non-profit organisations think through their discoverability and visibility requirements, and mentors other storytellers.
“The real value of the social impact sector was very vague to me when I joined aikyam. Now, I have a clearer picture of the tremendous impact made by non-profits in India. Millions of underprivileged people, particularly in rural India, would fall through the cracks if it were not for these organisations,” she says.
For her, the best parts of working with aikyam is the calmness the space exudes and the opportunity to help others. “Every day, I step into the office with a sense of purpose. Writing, to me, is best employed when it is intended to create a change, and at aikyam, I have the opportunity to facilitate that dream. Moreover, I was always afraid to try new tech, but at aikyam, Shemeer encourages people to keep trying things out. I ended up learning the Website module in Frappe and the content management system, Ghost. I use ERPNext for operational stuff. Now, I am the ambassador for ‘if I can pick it up, so can you.’.,” Sumi shares her experience.
Sumi says that if she could change anything in the world, she would “squeeze patriarchy out of women.” She envisions a world where words on paper translate to tangible change. I am sure that one day, some of the changes in the world will come from words she has penned.
Sumi Thomas is a writer and former journalist who leverages communication skills to help changemakers and non-profit organisations tell their stories better. She holds space for changemaker journeys at aikyam space, and is part of the Season 12 cohort of Anita’s Attic. You can read her poetry and personal essays here and connect with her here.
