Teaching English and being a fashion designer sounds like a strange combination till you meet Rakesh Roshan, who is currently in Colombia working with the secretary of education teaching students English and Indian culture. He is also the founder of Elite Fashion Fraternity.
He is a ‘foreign member’, functioning as an Indian cultural ambassador. Explaining the term, the 27-year-old says, “Every year, the government of Colombia spends a lot of money on education and it invites people from across the world to help them educate the students of the country in different foreign languages and cultures. Such invitees are called ‘foreign members’. As part of the team this year, my job is to teach students English and also about the different cultural elements of India — food, festivals, clothes, etc.,” he says.
When asked about how he got the opportunity to represent the country as a cultural ambassador, Rakesh says, “As a fashion entrepreneur, I felt I was limiting myself to Hyderabad and I wanted to move not just out of the city, but also out of the country for the international exposure I needed in fashion. I was searching the internet and landed on a page which invited people from across the world to help the Colombian government educate the kids about their country.”
He also says that he wanted to learn and gain experience in working with international designers, understand their work. Hence, he moved out of Hyderabad. Talking about his Hyderabadi connection, the designer says, “I have lived most of my life in Hyderabad and I have my family in the city. I did my schooling from Hyderabad Public School after which I joined St. Mary’s College. Later on, my interest towards fashion got me admission into Hamstech.”
