A seemingly average girl Sunita surprised her teachers when she wrote a touching and well-thought-out letter expressing her gratitude on the auspicious occasion of the Guru Purnima celebration. Her teachers identified her spark and encouraged her to focus on her language skills.

A little boy Saeed Rashed AlMheiri who is just four years 218 days from AbuDhabi, UAE, became the youngest author to publish a book. This exceptional talent is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Both examples indicate that the Children reflect their unique skills, which need to be identified and encourage them to excel higher. Similarly, all children are different and unique in their ways. Their power of imagination and expression is often unheard and unseen when they are made to undergo the typical pedagogy. They need to be given proper guidance, exposure and encouragement that allows them to explore different skills. If the parents and the teachers can identify the innate abilities of the children, then it will unravel the unique potential hidden deep within these young generations.

Helping to unearth their true potential, Anupama Dalmia, Founder and Chief Mentor of Beyond The Box, has emerged as a successful talent master who has helped scores of children discover their hidden potential to become excellent writers. Identifying the uniqueness of their imaginative thinking and honing their expression skills through writing, Beyond the Box (BTB) offers a perfect platform that further discovers, encourages, and develops their writing skills.

Unleashing the Inner Magic

Life is a never-ending journey of self-discovery. Anupama has a unique eye for spotting talent in people and kids; she believes kids should be allowed to explore different skills and identify their core expertise. She reveals, “A casual attempt at exploring mentoring in May 2017 was a life-changing experience for me. Urged by some friends, I conducted a 3-day creative writing summer workshop for 25 kids. During the span of those three days, I realized that kids are unwittingly forced to imagine and express themselves by adults in conformist ways, which curbs their imagination. An instant connection was established between the kids and me, and creativity and happiness thrived.

That is when I decided to provide children with an environment where they can express themselves without being judged and bloom to their full potential at their own comfortable pace. It led to regular classes, and soon, I was invited by schools, communities, and corporates to conduct workshops on creative writing and communication. When horizons started expanding in this space, it was time to streamline it, and that is how ‘Beyond the Box’ took birth in January 2019.”

Exhilarating Inspirations

Crediting the concept of this unique literary venture, Anupama mentions, “Impact was and is our inspiration. Being able to spread light and joy through the medium of creativity is what keeps us going. Seeing kids shine as writers and blow our minds with their creative thoughts inspires us to keep growing as a business. We constantly strive to create unique and interesting opportunities and events to keep the children excited and showcase their talent to a larger audience.” She believes that the overwhelming response and the satisfaction in the parents about their kids’ ability to write so well is a fulfilling experience. She feels this is a unique experience.

Growing from Challenges

Anupama remembers her early days when she found it tough to make her parents understand their children’s skills. She says, “Making parents understand our ethos was always the biggest challenge in the initial years, apart from the usual challenges that any small enterprise faces. In our country, creative writing is often looked at with an academic lens, and we are so used to curriculum-based learning that a child-led and open-ended approach to learning does not click for many. I have had parents ask me in the initial years – “Do kids learn playfully without rules and hard deadlines?” or “Do you think kids will be serious if you do not give regular homework and follow a structure while teaching?”. We overcame this challenge by simply being what we wanted to be. When parents started noticing the positive changes in enrolled kids, word started spreading, and soon enough, we earned the credibility and trust of everyone.”

The Expert Choice

Looking at the steadily growing popularity of BTB, Anupama has received wide acceptance and appreciation from many people. She says, “All BTB associates admire our uniqueness, fairness, honesty and passion. Parents love the bond I share with all the kids and feel happy to see the young ones open up with us. It is our honour and privilege to be in their comfortable space. “

Standing Tall

The speciality of the literary venture Anupama has developed over the past few years has made her unique as it is not a typical teaching institute. But it is the platform that discovers the hidden talent in young children. She says, “We believe learning is fun when you make it fun. Our mission is to help children and budding writers unbox the joy of writing and develop a love for the written word.”

She adds that their vision is to empower children by encouraging them to own their thoughts and expression. BTB constantly strives not just to nurture kids’ creative writing skills but to give them the stimulus to become more perceptive, observant, and thoughtful individuals. With its all-embracing approach and unconventional methodologies and initiatives, in every session, BTB creates magic using 26 letters of the English alphabet! “It is time we tell the kids that they do not have to be in or out of the box, but they need to look beyond these boxes and focus within,” she quips.

Guiding Pointers

Anupama is an individual with passion and expertise who aids in detecting young talent. She advises young professionals looking forward to the industry to be open-minded and develop observation skills. She says that you can guide the essential spark of imagination and expression by developing the ability to identify them properly. Be very gentle, patient and kind while communicating and teaching the children.

• Always be ready to reinvent yourself as an enterprise. COVID showed us that enterprise resilience is extremely important to build, and our creativity will help us stay afloat during tough times.
• Stick to what your brand always stands for. Just because other businesses in your line of work are doing something that works for them, you do not have to do it if it does not match your core ethos.
• If done right, social media marketing can help you immensely in branding and growth. Take your time to learn more about this and incorporate it into your marketing strategies.

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