"Never stop learning. Life always teaches us, and any roadblock is a lesson to make you come out stronger."
At 55, Sameer Lalka is still living by that line, currently deep into a Masterclass in AI, decades after his last classroom.
Born in Hubli, Karnataka, into a big joint family running a cotton business, Sameer was always the curious one. As a kid, he'd break his toys just to understand how they worked, then rebuild them.
That same curiosity carried him to a Mechanical Engineering degree in 1991, followed by Computer Science in 1992, and never really stopped from there. Over the years, while working, he kept adding to that foundation: materials management, international business, Six Sigma and Lean manufacturing, digital marketing from ICTRD (Government of India), AI from NSIC, and eventually a certified Independent Director credential from IICA.
His path hasn't been about chasing a single career. Today, Sameer works as an Independent Director and Independent Consultant, helping established companies and startups untangle their bottlenecks. He's also a trusted India representative for global companies looking to source, license, or white-label manufacturing out of India.
Pandemic and lockdown gave him the time to pick up digital marketing, and later AI. When his son started his own venture, he made Sameer an offer that reshaped his next chapter entirely: don't work for anyone else, build this with me instead.
His biggest setback was deeply personal, the breakup of his joint family. But Sameer describes it not as a fall, but as "an arrow pulled back from the bow and hurled into the sky." With a family of six to look after, his parents, his wife, and two kids, his focus sharpened: give them the best education and the independence to build their own lives. That period, difficult as it was, left him mentally and emotionally stronger than before.
His parents gave him the freedom to pursue whatever he wanted. His wife stood by him, rock solid, through every turbulence. And though he says he never had a hero figure until 2020, his son changed that, Sameer speaks of him with visible pride, admiring who he's become and everything he's achieved.
His biggest life lesson: whatever happens to you happens for good. Every roadblock, in hindsight, becomes a lesson that makes you come out stronger.
Now more sorted in his work-life rhythm, Sameer picks consulting work where he's genuinely relevant, and spends the rest of his time supporting his son's business wherever it's needed.
Looking ahead, Sameer isn't chasing more, he's content. If remembered for anything, he simply wants it to be this: that this was a project completed by Sameer Lalka. Success, he says, would just be the icing on the cake.
Born in Hubli, Karnataka, into a big joint family running a cotton business, Sameer was always the curious one. As a kid, he'd break his toys just to understand how they worked, then rebuild them.
That same curiosity carried him to a Mechanical Engineering degree in 1991, followed by Computer Science in 1992, and never really stopped from there. Over the years, while working, he kept adding to that foundation: materials management, international business, Six Sigma and Lean manufacturing, digital marketing from ICTRD (Government of India), AI from NSIC, and eventually a certified Independent Director credential from IICA.
His path hasn't been about chasing a single career. Today, Sameer works as an Independent Director and Independent Consultant, helping established companies and startups untangle their bottlenecks. He's also a trusted India representative for global companies looking to source, license, or white-label manufacturing out of India.
Pandemic and lockdown gave him the time to pick up digital marketing, and later AI. When his son started his own venture, he made Sameer an offer that reshaped his next chapter entirely: don't work for anyone else, build this with me instead.
His biggest setback was deeply personal, the breakup of his joint family. But Sameer describes it not as a fall, but as "an arrow pulled back from the bow and hurled into the sky." With a family of six to look after, his parents, his wife, and two kids, his focus sharpened: give them the best education and the independence to build their own lives. That period, difficult as it was, left him mentally and emotionally stronger than before.
His parents gave him the freedom to pursue whatever he wanted. His wife stood by him, rock solid, through every turbulence. And though he says he never had a hero figure until 2020, his son changed that, Sameer speaks of him with visible pride, admiring who he's become and everything he's achieved.
His biggest life lesson: whatever happens to you happens for good. Every roadblock, in hindsight, becomes a lesson that makes you come out stronger.
Now more sorted in his work-life rhythm, Sameer picks consulting work where he's genuinely relevant, and spends the rest of his time supporting his son's business wherever it's needed.
Looking ahead, Sameer isn't chasing more, he's content. If remembered for anything, he simply wants it to be this: that this was a project completed by Sameer Lalka. Success, he says, would just be the icing on the cake.
This story was told by Sameer Lalka and published with their permission by the What's Your Story editorial team.
