If you like to teach and you like to dress well, there are not too many ways you can combine your interests. Teachers are expected to be dowdy. And, sexist though it undoubtedly is, the fashionably dressed woman is often assumed to be dumb. Sapna Gupta, chief consultant of the Air-Hostess Academy, however found a way to do both.

“As a child, I was good in studies,” says Gupta. “But I was always conscious of my demeanour and the way I conducted myself. In college, people used to compliment me on the way I carried myself in a traditional saree as well as in Western attire.

“But as a youngster, I was inclined towards teaching. I wanted to do something creative and different, something that involved active interaction with the younger generation. Teaching was the best option and I thought I must explore it. I joined as a lecturer in hospitality, travel and tourism in South Delhi Polytechnic and was simultaneously a guest faculty in other institutes. I liked my job immensely.

“I was chosen as the best faculty at my college and that remains my fondest memory of those days. I shared excellent rapport with my students and they showed immense faith in me. I always tried to live up to their expectations. I was like a friend, philosopher and guide to them.

“Very often my students would come to me for advice on how to go about preparing for airline jobs. I tried my best to help them out. I rented a small one-room apartment. It was not meant to be a business. It was just to help my students. Initially, the thought of converting it into an enterprise didn’t even cross my mind. But word spread fast and there was no way but to start functioning professionally. To begin with, I had three students. In less than two years, more than 100 were attending my classes.

“The turning point came when I launched Air-Hostess Academy in 1997. This was an institute dedicated to the training and grooming of students for the airline industry. It gave me the freedom to expand my reach to more and more aspirants who wanted to make it big in the service industry.

“When we started, the major obstacle was the lack of funds. I wanted to do so much for my institute that I invested almost all my money. But there was need for more. I never compromised on anything related to the training of my students, be it infrastructure, in-flight training or faculty.

“Everything needs huge investments. So, collecting funds was a major hassle. But I didn’t lose heart at any point. The pace of growth for the Academy in the initial years was obviously slow. But it was steady. Starting with only three students, today, the Academy has 18 branches in nine cities in India.

“Once we started this institute, there was no looking back. With hard work and sincerity, we kept moving closer and closer to our mission of becoming the No. 1 in training manpower for the entire service industry. We also benefited from the word-of-mouth publicity of our students who were satisfied with our training and our efforts in getting them placed in the top airlines and hotels. I feel that, more than establishing a business, it was a challenge to establish a reputation for ourselves, given the fact that we were the first to ready a candidate for an airline job. Today the industry recognises the Academy as a quality-conscious, credible and reliable training institute.

“We are innovating and thinking up new ideas to improve our training methods. The aviation industry is moving fast and standards are exacting. You have to keep pace all the time or else you get left out. So, there’s a lot of work to be done.

“My aim is to make the Academy one of the best in the world. At present, foreign airlines conduct their training abroad. Hopefully, they will use our facilities very soon. I want to expand the Academy and make it the best training institute, not only in India, but also internationally.

“We have no competition as yet. But the demand for aviation training courses is huge. One institute can’t cater to all. In the near future we are sure to have more courses. And that will augur well for the Indian aviation sector.”

Regardless of competition, Gupta is sure that she will still produce the hostess with the mostest.

As told to Prithvijit Mitra in Calcutta