Maitreyi Ramakrishnan reveals how she balanced a full-time career and school

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan became an overnight star after she appeared in Mindy Kaling’s hit coming-of-age teenage drama Never Have I Ever on Netflix. Now 22, the actress was just 17 when she landed the lead role after beating out 15,000 applicants.

Ramakrishnan recently spoke at Forbes and Know Your Value’s 30/50 summit in Abu Dhabi. During the conversation, she was asked how she balanced a full-time career and school. Responding to the question, she said, “Sometimes you sacrifice sleep? No, no, no, you don’t do that. I’m gonna say this because it’s just the truth: Work smart, not hard … I don’t want to work so hard in the way that like, you’re working yourself to death and you’re not happy. And you’re just asking yourself: “What am I doing this for in the first place?” Life’s short. So, I try to keep that in mind … I try to stay organized as much as possible, but sometimes C’s get degrees … As long as you are happy with yourself, sometimes it’s OK.”

Talking about the biggest challenge she has ever faced, Ramakrishnan said, “I’d say my biggest difficulty, like I guess off the top of my head, but probably as soon as I leave the stage, I’m gonna say like, ‘No, putting on a sports bra.’ That’s like really hard sometimes…[But] I would say my honest answer, off the top of my head is self-love. Because it’s just like it goes in and out. I’d love to say I’m always super confident and love myself and you know, I got my hype playlists — shout out to Meghan Thee Stallion — but I get mad at myself when I’m like, ‘Oh, great, like, today’s a day that you look in the mirror and you just like hate yourself.’ I love my life. So, that I of think that self-love journey, but I was just have to basically remind myself it is a journey.”