She’s the reason I could dream at all,” Arantxa says. “Everything I’ve achieved began with her”
SHILLONG, May 11: Arantxa Sangma never imagined she would one day study at IIM Bangalore. Growing up in Tura, Meghalaya, the name “IIM” didn’t come up often. But one person quietly built that path for her — it was Arantxa’s mother.
Raised by a single mother, Arantxa saw early on what strength and sacrifice looked like.
In a matrilineal society where the youngest daughter is expected to stay back and care for the family, her decision to leave home for education was not an easy one. “But my mother never held me back,” Arantxa says. “She understood my reasons and stood by me every step of the way.”
Money was tight, but education was never up for compromise. “She always made sure I had the opportunities she never had,” Arantxa says. “She often put her own needs aside to make sure I could study without worry.”
Her mother’s support gave Arantxa the confidence to step out of her small town and take on unfamiliar challenges. But when she arrived at IIM Bangalore, the shift was overwhelming.
“Everyone seemed more confident, more prepared,” she recalls. “There were moments I wondered if I really belonged there.”
In those moments of doubt, she often tended to return to her mother’s lessons, “She taught me to take one step at a time, to keep showing up, and to focus on what I could do — not what others were doing,” Arantxa says.
Slowly, she found her rhythm, her voice, and her place in one of India’s toughest academic environments.
Her decision to pursue an MBA took shape during her time at Deloitte, where she worked closely with business leaders.
“I realised there was so much more I wanted to understand — how decisions are made, how organisations function,” she says. But the roots of her ambition were planted much earlier — by a mother who believed in her before she believed in herself.
Today, Arantxa hopes to return to Tura someday and build ventures that create jobs and support women. But for now, her story is a quiet celebration of the woman who made it all possible. “She’s the reason I could dream at all,” Arantxa says. “Everything I’ve achieved began with her.”
