To the Bravest Person I Know

Ayesha Chenoy is currently CEO and founder of one of India's largest independent digital advertising agencies, RepIndia. The agency has launched brands like Burger King and Gap on digital, and works with P&G, Canon, Suzuki Motorcycles, FabIndia, JSW, Tata Trusts, Adani Group, etc. Prior to this, Ayesha had started India's first-ever Wine Investment Fund and the first-ever dating website where only women could send friend requests.

She studied economics at Cambridge University, where in 2001 she was awarded the Adam Smith Prize for Economics, previously awarded to Amartya Sen. Post that she went to the London School of Economics. She moved back to India in 2009 after a long career as an investment banker. Her only dream is to write.

To the Bravest Person I Know is a book on poems that help us deal with difficult challenges we face in life. It explores mental health situations/issues like depression, anxiety, and other insecurities to help overcome them.

"Through her work, she hopes readers understand that they are not alone in their struggles and it is not difficult to navigate life on your own terms." - The Hindu


From growing up with dysfunctional families to coming of age, from dealing with heartbreak, pain and grief to learning to accept and forgive, To, the Bravest Person I Know is your guide through every difficult situation. It is modern therapy delivered to you through a series of poems and a letter in verse that runs as a footnote from the beginning to the end of the book.

The poems explore the whole construct of 'normal', of that which was created to make people feel less normal if they don't fit in, to make them feel 'abnormal'. The book tells us that depression is normal, as is fear; feeling insecure is normal, as is hurting people. And bravery is about facing all of this-it's about facing everything life
throws at you every day.

To, the Bravest Person I Know cuts through rainbows and self-righteous dross to provide a vaccine of truth, liberating and reminding us that we are all in a tunnel, and that it's normal to feel like we may never get out. But there is light at the end of it.

Ayesha Chenoy's debut book, To The Bravest Person I know, is therapeutic.Through her work, she hopes readers understand that they are not alone in their struggles and it is not difficult to navigate life on your own terms.Most would reverberate with young people struggling with relationships in the digital age, while some reflect universal experiences.The title, addressed to the reader as a letter, the books aims to help people fight the feeling that they are not good enough and that they are more than their mistakes and brave for trying hard.In "To the Bravest Person I Know", Ayesha Chenoy addresses a host of these emotions and questions the construct of being 'normal'.The book questions the premise of being 'normal', and tells the reader that their negative emotions, from fear and anxiety to insecurity and jealousy are absolutely valid, particularly useful in the Indian context where people are often encouraged to suppress and dismiss these emotions in favour of a generic and spurious 'positivity'.