“Kabhi Khushi, Always Alyssa”

Alyssa Rajagopal’s favourite film has a title that could almost have been borrowed from her own outlook on life. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham means “Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes Sorrow”, and somewhere between those two poles sits a young woman who has decided that whichever season arrives, she intends to keep moving forward with a big heart, a strong faith and, preferably, plenty of laughter.

Alyssa grew up in Chatsworth and later Malvern in a large family filled with different personalities. Her parents divorced when she was young, with her mother taking on much of the day-to-day responsibility while her father remained part of her support system. It was not necessarily the simplest family story, but simplicity is not what Alyssa took from it. She took connection. Family remained important, relationships were maintained, and both parents left her with an instruction she still carries with her.

Become better than we were. Learn from our mistakes. Keep building.

There is something refreshingly hopeful about that. It does not require pretending that difficult things never happened. Alyssa herself says life has not always been easy, but she is proud of the way she has handled the challenges that came her way. She believes that experiences arrive for “a season and a reason”, and that conviction has given her a rather useful ability to look beyond whatever is happening today.

Perhaps that explains the happiness too.

Ask her friends to describe her and you will not receive a restrained character reference. They talk about the “biggest heart”, a funny and bubbly personality, and someone who can make it very difficult to sit beside her without eventually talking or laughing.

Behind the fun is a very clear sense of purpose. Alyssa has wanted to help people for as long as she can remember. At one stage, she imagined doing that through medicine. Law eventually provided another route to the same destination. She began her legal studies at Regenesys Business School before transferring to UNISA, where she is currently completing her LLB.

Her role as a Legal Assistant at CEO gives that ambition a practical home while she studies. She found the vacancy online and was drawn to the fact that CEO’s work connects directly with the goal she has carried for years. People arrive with problems.

Employers need guidance and representation. Legal processes need to be handled carefully. Somewhere in that machinery, there is an opportunity to make someone’s situation a little easier.

Alyssa also likes order, which may sound amusing alongside a personality her friends describe as bubbly and never dull. Yet the two qualities work well together. She appreciates the structured way CEO operates and the professional support it gives members at the CCMA and Bargaining Councils. There is room for warmth without sacrificing precision, and for personality without losing sight of the work that needs to be done.

Her future is already quite vivid in her imagination. There is meaningful progress in her career, travel and new places, a home filled with personal touches, people she loves nearby and a relationship built around trust and laughter. It is less a shopping list of achievements than a picture of how she wants life to feel. Full. Balanced. Happy.

There will undoubtedly be a soundtrack. Alyssa loves Amapiano, Gqom and gospel, and dancing is one of her favourite ways to spend her free time. She likes hiking and anything with a little thrill attached, too, although food is clearly capable of stopping the adventure temporarily. Mutton curry and rice, crab curry and, by her own admission, almost anything else will do. “Big foodie” appears to be a title she accepts without objection.

At the centre of everything is her faith. Asked what she could never do without, Alyssa does not hesitate. Jesus. It is the constant she returns to through both halves of that favourite film title, the happiness and the sorrow.

Perhaps that is what makes Alyssa’s story interesting at such an early stage of her career. She is not waiting for life to become perfect before deciding to enjoy it, help people or chase what comes next. She already understands that there will be good chapters and difficult ones. The important part is who you become while living through both.

And if there can be some dancing, curry and laughter along the way, even better.