Nishika de Rosairo has a vision for a more intelligent future, one where shaping young minds begins by equipping them with the same tools and skills that CEOs are exposed to daily. One major difference: she wants this to come before they ever step foot in a corporation.
Born in Zambia and raised in Sri Lanka and New Zealand—currently in the U.S.—de Rosairo grew up surrounded by vastly different cultures, all of which helped shape her experience in business. “Because of my diverse background, I’m able to tap into groups of people with a wide range of perspectives, and this enables me to drive accelerated change and high-impact business results,” said de Rosairo.
Through all her entrepreneurial ventures, de Rosairo has focused on transformation and growth— transforming leaders and students to have the confidence to not only be better versions of themselves, but to do so, consciously through incredible awareness, confidence, and passion.
Starting her career in Human Capital at Deloitte Consulting and then moving on to advise executives of Fortune 500 giants like Salesforce and Cisco, de Rosairo has always been focused on people and impact. The through-line in her trajectory: helping organizations achieve key outcomes by accelerating their people. After 15 years in corporate, de Rosairo founded her eponymous clothing brand, de Rosairo, to focus on elevating the presence of women through the psychology of clothing and how it translates into increased confidence and power.
Shortly after founding her clothing brand, de Rosairo set out to change the landscape of education, via a company called Experiential Insight. “Through Experiential Insight, we have taken executive coaching off its pedestal and we’re offering it to university students, university alumni, and corporations through a personalized, affordable, scalable, and digital model,” she said. “Think of us as a curated digital platform of executive coaches around the globe that deliver live, high-quality, thought-provoking content for the Future of Leadership.”
de Rosairo believes that the “energy that exists between humans becomes meaningful and additive when we feel heard, when we feel our best, and when we feel we belong.” So, why not start enabling university students to have a leg up in the world by teaching them the visionary, emotional, and social skills it would otherwise take them years (if at all) to acquire, she said.
de Rosairo’s theory: “Due to the ever-changing economic models and technology, we have to fundamentally rethink how we prepare our young population to grow into our next generation of leaders who will shape our future.” She believes the starting point for this change is offering augmented forms of learning and development that focus on mindsets, mental blocks, self-awareness, and behaviors that are not tied to traditional degree programs. “I’m not talking about an ‘either/or’ approach, I’m talking about an ‘and’ solution where both forms of development and knowledge acquisition are imperative,” she said.
By allowing executive coaching to non-executives globally, de Rosairo is positioning her clients (universities, corporations, and governments) to be able to glean insights and have experiences that enable them to be hyper-intelligent, or as she calls it, “Hyper Intelligent or HyperQ,” defined as a measurable way to foster visionary, emotional and social intelligence. She believes, that focusing on our future leaders is instrumental to generating meaningful change in the next 10 to 20 years. “As people, we have never been adequately equipped to demonstrate emotional and social intelligence, yet our success is often defined by our ability to exhibit derivatives of these traits,” she said.
Her thirst for entrepreneurship and creating change in the world was fostered by gurus such as Anthony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki, and Richard Branson. “During my teenage years, these men became my ‘godfathers,’ along with key mentors I had in my university years that fuelled a long-lasting new wave of self-awareness and confidence in me that, together with grit and curiosity, contributed to the overall success of my life,” recalled de Rosairo.
Entrepreneurship is not a journey for the faint of heart. For those considering starting a company, de Rosairo has three key pieces of advice:
- While this will likely be one of the most rewarding journeys in both your career and life, it will not be without its blood, sweat, and tears. What we seem to think are overnight success stories usually take seven or more years of heavy lifting before they hit the street in a big way.
- Find your band of entrepreneurs—entrepreneurs who are also in the thick of it that understand the ups and downs, and who will provide perspective when needed.
- Her last piece of advice is for women: If you’re looking to build a venture, and maybe even raise funding down the road, work smart to not become a statistic. Be confident in your idea, be clear about the value proposition, and demonstrate proof of concept. There is no reason why smart women entrepreneurs shouldn’t be able to play equally and also win big.
