MEET
APURVA NARAYAN
DESHPANDE
A woman who turned doubt into courage,
and the sea into her calling.
Born in Pune, with no maritime background -
Apurva chose a path few women dare to.
A childhood dreams of doing something different
led her to the ocean.
Hi, I am Apurva Narayan Deshpande, born and brought up in Pune. I did my pre sea from Tolani Maritime Institute, Pune. As a kid, all I knew was I want to pursue something DIFFERENT. With little to no knowledge and no maritime background, I relied on the internet to get to know the depths of this career chain. Thankyou, Google haha. Knowing the level of difficulty of the industry, the man to woman ratio, the sacrifices I will have to make for my career- my parents believed in me and so did I.
Every person that makes a life altering decision of career at sea is special. Though as a woman, as soon as I joined my first ship, the biggest challenge was my own mind itself. How will I survive in the middle of the ocean working with 20 stranger men? Will they be skeptical? Will I belong? Once I conquered my own mind, half of the battle was done. Since then, genuine effort at understanding my role and working towards it has brought me where I am today. Since then, I am proud of myself everyday.
Women entering a male dominated industry is building a rock solid foundation of any workplace "balance" Diverse teams of both men and women lead to better understanding of the work force, better decision making and innovation.
I have sailed on product tankers as a cadet and I currently sail on LPG tankers as an officer.
The best quality to have to thrive at sea is willing to learn. Life onboard is monotonous, the cyclic days and nights month after month is exhausting. At the same time knowledge is abundant. Not settling in my role and being keen to know more about the ship that I sail on keeps life interesting for me. To balance my personal life, I always make sure I make time for my family every day for 15 minutes, I save up my internet to talk to my friends on a weekly basis- really keeps me sane.
I did my first contract in the company and working with MOLMI is a valuable experience I am thankful for. For anyone considering a career in shipping with MOL, I would highly recommend taking the leap. From my experience, MOL offers endless opportunities and a very supportive and safe work environment.
MOL nurtures every seafarer in the company. I admire the way the company focuses on skill development through their training programs. This portrays MOLs commitment towards every individual.
