WATERTOWN, MA–Anita Teig, owner of Alanita Travel, grew up with a great desire to travel. She recognized how much of the world she wanted to see and how much she yearned to make a voyage of her life.
Leaving her hometown, Chennai, and expanding her wings to unfamiliar horizons, she came to Boston. Balancing two jobs at once, she worked day and night to make a name for herself. By day, Ms. Teig worked diligently for her passengers who were looking for cheap fares to India. By night, she worked in a restaurant. She soon laid out her plans for her future and the vision of her business. Over time her business grew more successful.
Today, Alanita Travel provides customers with over 70,000 airline tickets a year and has flourishingly held up 4 offices continentally and within the country. In addition to this thriving business, Ms. Teig has a vision of founding a charity hospital in India for the poor.
Currently, she is involved in her family charity, The Rani Roberts Memorial Corporation, supplying many families and babies in India with food and nutritional support.
Here is a Q/A with Ms. Teig:
INDIA New England News: Please tell our readers about your work and what you enjoy most about it?
Anita Teig: My work is blended with managing, maintaining, and overseeing all operations of our 4 offices which are Watertown, Dallas, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Everyday rises with a new challenge to face and overcome. With this, there is no greater joy than the satisfaction I get once all has come to a level of peace and control.
Communication is my middle name. And with this, I’m able to help my 4 offices all be successful in their own way. What I enjoy most about my work is being able to look back and see how far I’ve come to build my dream. Coming up with solutions to the many problems that do arise on a day to day basis is what fulfills me the most and with that, I can say I do truly enjoy my work.
INE: To what charitable, community and professional groups do you belong and why?
AT: I actually run two charities of my own: Babies Need Food Foundation and Food For Needy Families. In which both help families and infants in India be provided supplements of food, nutrition, and health care.
This was important to me as I grew up noticing all these families and children suffering from not enough food for their stomachs, not enough to give them energy or even live to a certain age. And this broke my heart. It’s always important for me to give back to my home country and to be able to help anyone in need.
INE: What are your hobbies and interests?
AT: My hobbies involve tennis which I’ve played for many years and my other main interest is travel. I thoroughly enjoy seeing the world, new countries, trying new food and experiencing an entirely new culture.
In what way you feel you have most positively influenced or served the local community or your company/organization and professional field?
I feel I’ve most positively influenced or served my company by developing more job opportunities. This is throughout my business. In India and the United States.
INE: What is the most pressing issue that you believe women are facing today?
AT: The most pressing issue that I believe women are facing today and have been for quite a while now is Equality. This may sound cliche and all. But repetition is the only way people will actually understand that this is a serious matter to lots of women around the world trying to make a name for themselves. And for what? To only be shut down because we’re females and don’t have mutual cognition, strength or brain power as men?
There has been in fact many things proven that women can do that man can’t. These matters might seem so irrelevant and so simple to sweep away but as a woman who has built a dream that was destined from a young age with the dedication, power, and motivation right there should show that any woman in this world has a chance to build a name for herself just cause “inequality” stands in the way, means nothing in the eyes of hard work.
Another pressing issue is the pay between men and women, women are very capable of doing the same level work as men, so why don’t we get paid for it? Not smart enough? Not hardworking enough? Those are all excuses to probably just cut costs. Our mental, physical and emotional capabilities should always be considered at par with men, money, and work.
INE: What is your rare talent that people don’t know about?
AT: I’ll have to ask my husband…*laughs*
INE: What are your favorite books?
AT: Sidney Sheldon is the author of my favorite books which is a genre of thriller and crime fiction.
INE: What are your favorite quotes that motivate you or make you smile?
AL: “There are no escalators – there are only staircases to success. There is no substitute for hard work”-Lilly Singh
“You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist”- Indira Gandhi
INE: Who inspires you the most?
AT: Indira Gandhi- The first female Prime Minister of India. This itself says a lot. A powerful, successful Independent woman that I look up to. Such courage, handwork and knowledgeably every female strives to cultivate within. To lead, and to dedicate your life to your country is something I try to accomplish with my business and to be able to lead with such passion and integrity. She was no feminist but she believed that women could do anything!
INE: Who is the one person you would like to meet and why?
AT: Composer, keyboardist, pianist, and a music producer named Yanni. He plays a variety of music such as jazz, classical, instrumental and soft rock. I find his music out of this world and always bringing me a sense of peace. But Yanni himself is what he plays. Soulful and peaceful. I want to meet him so I could, myself, learn and understand how he keeps his composure, his peace, and his calmness. It’s inspiring, just listening to his music gives me a perception of how he lives his life in such tranquility. And to try to find some meaning of it all so I could use such an understanding in my life.
INE: What are the core values that you try to live by?
AT: Dedication- Without a dream, I would never have been determined to compete with my competitors, nevertheless grow a company, successful to this day! And dedication is not just the big aspects we look at through a small light. It can be the smallest of things that can help dedicate ourselves to a project/business or an idea.
Trust- Without trust, I cannot communicate, and without communication, no work can be done successfully. This goes for my personal life too. It’s hard to count on somebody you can’t trust, hard to keep things at a balance. Trust can be beautiful or ugly. The inability to relay on a project/idea/business plan or even a person can lead to ugly trust and it’s always best to be careful with who you put matters in the hands of. The beauty of it is dependability and responsibility I can provide and the respect I can express. If my work life and personal life have people I can trust then I’m a happy woman.
Hard work- Dedication too, is hard work. Lots of things are handwork. If I slacked, I would never believe that I’m doing a good job. And me knowing that makes me determined to build what I’ve started. I respect people who understand the meaning of hard work. With hard work, we earn, with harder work, we’re building a fortune, a future, and a path.
