Having taken up reading auras as a hobby, she was sceptical about pursuing the unconventional profession as her career. Over time, as she continued reading auras, she realized the difference she was making to her clients’ lives. She says, “My clients were happy with the results. That’s when I decided to give it a trial last year and it took off quite well and I thought – So, let me just get into this further.” She hasn’t looked back since.

We were keen to know the challenges Naqqiya faced in her extremely nonconformist choice of career. “Quite a lot! What I do is very conventional. This is something you have to make people believe in.” She explains. She continues, “Somehow, I didn’t face as many issues as I thought I would. I received a lot of respect.” Her prime challenge came from the treatments rather than non-belief. She firmly believes the challenges existed for herself in her aim to find solutions to each and every varying problem faced by her clients.

When your clients work 9 to 5, it is more than difficult to schedule your work around their schedules. Let alone carve out personal time off. We ask Naqqiya how she tackles this. “You know you will not have a leave on weekends. Most clients will want to see me around 5, 6, even 10 or during the weekends.” Her comfort is the fact that her job never feels like a job. “10 clients a day or 15. I’ll just do it. It doesn’t take a toll on me. That’s the best part.” Now, if only we all felt the same way about our jobs.

From her six years of experience, Naqqiya draws the biggest lesson in seeing to the minutest of details. She says, “Entrepreneurship works on word of mouth. I have to see to it that I don’t make a minor mistake because that’s going to really affect me.” Her professional and perfectionist attitude is well justified by this belief and goes to say a lot about her practice.

On the timeless issue of feeling pressured by the society to marry by a certain age, she says, “For me, for someone to accept the psychic reading part is again a challenge but touch wood, but my parents have been quite supportive of this profession.” She also feels it is the best profession in terms of making adjustments and having a flexible schedule. And what of success, we ask? Does that have a time limit? “Yes. Of course. . I always have a benchmark. If I’ve started today, I need to see myself somewhere 10 years down the line. Otherwise, I feel I have not achieved much. Entrepreneurship means you need to see that you are going somewhere.”

For women who are starting out in their careers or thinking of becoming an entrepreneur, she advices, “Believe that you’re giving your 100% to it. If you are giving your time, once you feel you’ve given everything and you see that it is not working out, you’ll know that you are not on the right track. I don’t think entrepreneurs can take a receding step if they’re on the right track. You will always go up.”

We end our interview on this high note. For all of you, who’ve thought of going off the beaten track but never actually done, take a leaf out of Naqqiya’s book and simply go for it. Success will surely follow.