Desi Today Magazine
By Surbhi Gogia
Meet social enterprise and interpretation/translation business leader Harsh Thakkar who was named one of this year’s RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrants
Many of us often blame our weaknesses on destiny and learn to live with them. Whereas weaknesses are essential part of our lives and are means to grow individually. In his book The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence, Josh Waitzkin, world-renowned master of both chess and Tai-Chi, says, “Growth comes at the point of resistance. We learn by pushing ourselves and finding what really lies at the outer reaches of our abilities.”
There are great inspiring stories of leaders who made their weaknesses their strengths and brought positive changes in the world. The story of Harsh Thakkar, a Surrey-based resident is one such example. Back in India Harsh grew up as a shy person who found it hard to converse with people. But life had other plans for him. He landed in Victoria from Mumbai as an international student in 2001 to pursue a course in hospitality industry. Networking and introducing himself to people was biggest road block in his career growth. But instead of accepting what he had, Harsh decided to counter his shortcomings. He took up a public speaking course from Toast Masters to work on his skills. And there was no looking back.
He made language his biggest asset. He ran for campus elections, spoke in the parliament on behalf of international students and now oversees a team of interpreters and translators who help new immigrants access language services. Harsh is currently head of DIVERSEcity Interpretation and Translation Services in Surrey, B.C. He was recently named as one of RBC’ Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award winners. Harsh has made it his mission to support those who encounter language as a barrier in their success.
While discussing his journey from a student who wanted to pursue a career in tourism and hospitality to someone who became passionate about languages, Harsh says, “I was always passionate about working with people. I got an opportunity to work with Vancouver Marathon as assistant manager. Every year more than 50,000 people came to participate in the marathon and I got the opportunity to connect with so many cultures and languages which in turn inspired me to work in the language industry.”
Harsh initially started in the sign language industry where he managed 3 call centres for 7 years. “After that, I entered DIVERSEcity. Here I was given the opportunity to combine translation, interpretation and sign language services under one profile.” He oversees a team of more than 300 interpreters and translators who help clients communicate, especially in the health care and court systems, in more than 88 languages. Under his leadership, he has grown the business to include rare languages, Indigenous languages and even American Sign Language (ASL). “We are proud to be a designated provider for provincial and municipal government interpretation and translation needs,” he says. And the kicker is that it’s all for a good cause. DIVERSEcity Interpretation and Translation Services is a social enterprise, certified by Buy Social Canada. That means its profits go toward the good works done by its parent charitable organization, DIVERSEcity Community Resource Society, which helps immigrants, refugees and vulnerable populations.
While discussing the importance of language services, Harsh says, it is hard to learn and adopt a foreign language for many new immigrants. Language can become an obstacle and can keep the newcomers feeling left out. “Language should never be an obstacle for anyone in a country as diverse as Canada,” Harsh says. Therefore organizations like DIVERSEcity offer support to both organizations and the individuals to get connected to each other. “We want to ensure no one is left out of the conversation. We understand that culturally savvy organizations want to be inclusive and overcome language barriers with newcomers and diverse communities. That’s where our services come in. We connect people and organizations, helping them communicate across cultures and languages,” he says.
Knowing his work is helping immigrants, is poignant for Harsh, who faced his own challenges, juggling his business studies with being a peer mentor, while trying to gain work experience, even though international students were then limited in their ability to work off campus. “This also made it more difficult to secure work experience points to later qualify under the skilled immigration category,” he says. “This motivated me to run for campus student representative. After winning the election, I went to the Parliament of Canada to speak about allowing international students to work off campus.”
Harsh is thrilled the rules have improved since then. “It’s important to stay positive in the face of challenges. The most important attribute that helped me achieve my goals is my personal drive and ‘can-do’ attitude and maintain enthusiasm even when things get tough.” And the same lesson he now wants to share with international students finding it extremely stressful to survive during the pandemic. “At some point, every international student does go through stress about job and uncertainty of what the future may look like. But it is important for them to realize that they are blessed to be in Canada where support is available on each step. They just need to go out and look for the right resources.”
Harsh also manages DIVERSEcity’s CELPIP Language Testing Centre, and says he wants to continue to grow in his current role and take every opportunity to support newcomers to Canada, including mentoring international students in his personal time.
“As immigrants, we are surrounded by a lot of challenges, but don’t let those stop you from moving forward,” he advises. “A positive mindset is what’s going to allow you to succeed in your goals in Canada,” he says. “Honestly, we are so blessed to be in a country where people care about each other, so all you have to do is go out there and talk with people.”
And if they speak a different language, Harsh and his team can help you with that!
(With inputs from RBC’s news release)
