Keshari 1

Suyash Keshari
October 27, 2015
CNS 220
Illustrated Genogram Summary
The Career Genogram Survey provided me an interesting insight into the careers
of my relatives. There seems to be a career trend towards family business and
enterprise which all male members from my mothers side of family undertook, and all
male members except my father from his side took on a business career. Both my
paternal and maternal grandfathers were entrepreneurs which started their own
businesses; cotton manufacturing and sales (paternal grandfather) and timber sales and
transportation (maternal grandfather). Moreover evaluating the two enterprises and
ideas, there also seems to be a trend in sales and marketing. In terms of occupation for
women, all seem to be homemakers, with my sister Kavya, being the only exception. My
sister is the first working woman in the family, working as a corporate lawyer. My father
(Indra Keshari) is the only male member to have pursued something other than
business (government). This shows that I may have inherited the business and
entrepreneurial mindset from my grandfathers and my uncles, and the political aspects
from my father. This may be indicative on my major choice as I am a Political Science
Major and have Entrepreneurship as one of my minors.
Both my maternal grandparents went to college whereas my paternal
grandparents only attended till middle school. While my mother and her sibblings had
the same level of education (undergraduate), my fathers sisters finished high school,

Keshari 2

and his brothers finished college while he was the first one to attend graduate schooling
and that too in a different state, far from home. Since my father stayed away from his
own family and discovered a whole new set of opportunities amongst hardships of the
city life, he had always encouraged me to explore and helped me build this attitude to
study abroad. His undergraduate shift from Bihar (East India) to New Delhi (North India)
resonates with my overseas shift from India to United States.
Even though there seems to be a lot of similarity between the two sides of my
family as well as between their careers and my major choices, I see a different future for
myself; heading toward something which I am passionate about. This assumption is for
three main reasons. Firstly, my father pursued the world of governance as he had been
very interested in history and politics and always wanted to bring about a change. This
deviated from the path that his father and siblings took, that of business, marketing and
sales. Secondly, my sisters interest in law stemmed from a very early age, deviating
from the homemaker stamp and entirely different from business and governance.
Thirdly my passion has always been in outdoors and wildlife. The entrepreneurial skills
from the lineage does play a role on this as I have always wanted to start a company of
my own, connected to the outdoors, my motivation is to bring about a change in the
world (politics) and my weapon is entirely new and different to the family a camera. I
also happen to be the first person in my family to have studies abroad.
The career genogram helped in uncovering some very interesting similarities
between the career choices and skill sets of my family members and I. It made me more
aware, both about my family and self. The most important finding was that the careers

Keshari 3

in the lineage do reflect on my interest of business and politics yet does not set the
future paths in stone and thus they remain relatively flexible.