Nagina Bains
An educator, career mentor, writer and entrepreneur whose work brings together psychology, communication, management, education and the arts.
A career is rarely a straight line.
Nagina Bains' professional journey has moved across education, communication, media, management, leadership and the arts. That range has shaped the way she approaches students and their choices today.
Rather than viewing education as a sequence of examinations, courses and applications, her approach begins with understanding the individual behind them: their interests, abilities, questions, ambitions and the possibilities available to them.
That perspective became the foundation for Testler, a platform built around thoughtful educational and career guidance rather than a one-size-fits-all model.
The biggest challenge today is not a lack of opportunities, but a lack of personalised guidance. Every child has a unique potential, and career counselling must be treated as a structured roadmap not a last-minute decision.
Different disciplines. One broader perspective.
Her academic background spans psychology, sociology and communication, creating a foundation that sits naturally at the intersection of people, society and communication.
Psychology
A background in psychology brings an understanding of behaviour, individual differences and the ways people make choices.
Sociology
A Master's in Sociology adds a wider view of people, communities, institutions and the social context in which decisions are made.
Communication
Her postgraduate training in Mass Communication developed another important part of her work: understanding how ideas, stories and people connect.
Experience across industries and disciplines.
Before and alongside education, Nagina's professional experience has included media, communications, hospitality, international tourism, management and entrepreneurship.
Writing and journalism
Her writing experience has included work with leading newspapers, developing an understanding of education, society, lifestyle, culture and public conversations.
Professional & business experience
Her career has included work across areas such as hospitality, communications, international tourism and management, bringing commercial and organisational experience into her later work.
Guidance and mentoring
Education became a natural extension of her experience with people, communication and career development, eventually leading to the creation of Testler.
Leadership and networks
Through leadership and community work, including her association with CII's Indian Women Network, she has worked around questions of entrepreneurship, inclusion, empowerment and professional development.
Work beyond the classroom.
Her work has also extended into professional networks, entrepreneurship, community initiatives and cultural projects.
Nagina Bains served as Chairperson of the CII Indian Women Network's Tricity Chapter for 2022–23, working around entrepreneurship, empowerment and inclusion.
Her professional work has included entrepreneurship and management across multiple sectors, informing her understanding of careers beyond conventional academic pathways.
Through cultural and community initiatives, she has continued to work at the intersection of education, ideas, people and creative expression.
Education can happen outside a classroom too.
Nagina Bains is a co-founder of Elsewhere Foundation, a cultural initiative conceived in memory of playwright and author Swadesh Deepak.
The foundation brings together performances, art workshops, talks, book readings, heritage walks and other cultural experiences, creating opportunities for audiences to encounter different forms of art and ideas.
For Nagina, this work reflects another dimension of education: the idea that exposure to people, stories, art and different ways of seeing the world can expand how we understand ourselves and others.
“When we bring pathbreaking art and artists to the audiences, it will also be an education for us.”
Bringing the pieces together.
Testler brings together the different strands of Nagina's experience: understanding people, communicating clearly, navigating professional environments and thinking about what comes next.
The result is an education consultancy built around the belief that students need more than information. They need context, honest conversations and a clearer way to connect their present choices with their future possibilities.
That means looking beyond a test score or a university name and understanding the student as a whole.
Start with the student.
Nagina's approach to guidance is built around understanding before advising. The objective is not to prescribe a standard path, but to help students make sense of the options in front of them.
Listen
Understand what the student is interested in, what they are considering and what questions they are actually trying to answer.
Question
Look beneath obvious choices and assumptions to understand the reasoning behind academic and career decisions.
Connect
Connect interests, academic choices, testing, experiences and longer-term possibilities into a clearer picture.
Guide
Turn that understanding into practical next steps that students and families can actually act on.