Meet Ajay Dholakia | Musician, engineer, yoga teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ajay Dholakia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ajay, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
I believe in allocating time for myself, my family and friends, and my work. The proportion of time allocated to each of these aspects of my life changes, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and over decades. I have been fortunate to adjust this allocation to meet the demands of the time, no matter which of the three spheres they came from.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a technologist with over 30 years experience in various IT systems and solutions areas. These days, I am working on Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics solutions. I have been at Lenovo in Morrisville, NC for almost 10 years. Prior to that, I worked at IBM in RTP, NC for 19 years, including 9 years at IBM Research Lab in Zurich, Switzerland. I hold PhD in Electrical & Computer Engineering from NC State University in Raleigh, NC and MBA degree from Henley Business School in England.
With technical as well as business educational grounding, I see myself as a “multi-lingual” technologies, always translating between “languages” of research and development, or technical strategy and implementable products, or technology innovation and business development.
I enjoy working with emerging technologies and focus on creating and leading open-minded, enthusiastic teams that collaborate on challenging projects. Some of these projects have been commercially successful, and others not so much. Some are quite noticeable by end-users, others buried deep inside full solutions. While specific stages of projects have been very challenging, frustrating even, the overall journey has been highly rewarding and fun. So, in the end, I focus on this fun aspect and surround myself with similar-minded colleagues. The rest then just follows.
The same attitude applies to my passion – playing (and also learning and teaching) music. I do that across music genres, styles and settings – Indian classical vocal and instrumental, folk, dance as well as western hip-hop and fusion. I am blessed to know so many talented musicians who never fail to bring “fun” into our gigs and jams, no matter if it’s in my basement or in a pub or on big stages with big audiences.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I like to linger at different venues throughout the day. Mornings will be for some workout, starting with a run on the American Tobacco Trail. Walks or bike rides are other options. Mid-day would be a leisurely lunch, at an Indian buffet or a vibrant cafe like Fount Coffee + Kitchen. Afternoon would takes us to a book store or two, or a music store. Evenings will involve pub / restaurant hopping in area downtowns. Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary and Apex all offer multiple bars and pubs as well as restaurants. My ideal evening involves going to at least 3 locations – a first drink, a second drink with a meal and then a third drink with dessert. Best time is when one can walk from one location to the other, and each of the area cities and towns allow that. I am a musician and love to find live music wherever I can. So, at least one, possibly two of the three locations should have some live music.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Dhruti, my wife, has shared my life journey for the past 32 years, giving me love, encouragement, guidance and support. With her by my side, I have been able to blend the engineer / technologist side of my life with the musician, artist and yoga teacher sides.

Website: https://soulbeatstime.com