My Awesome 2019

I was updating a cousin about the idea my friends and I have been toying with concerning career re-launchers when my 12 year old nephew suddenly said, ‘Aunty Darsh, you are such a feminist’, my initial reaction was ‘No, I am not!’ but when I asked my husband the next day if he thought I was a feminist and he went like ‘Ya, you are so into women empowerment these days. Women this, women that’ Technically they bring two different definitions but I quickly asked him if it was a bad thing and he said ‘Nope’ (he hesitated)

Being the typical me, I mulled over the conversations, overanalysed, did some overthinking, did post mortem and it dawned upon me that why I reacted that way to my nephew’s statement is because I don’t like to be stereotyped and pigeon holed but I also realized that yes I have been involved in many women centric events and activities of which have given birth to a new passion of mine which is women empowerment. According to Google, women's empowerment is the process in which women elaborate and recreate what it is that they can be, do, and accomplish in a circumstance that they previously were denied. But what I am planning to focus on is to specifically educate women to be fellow cheerleaders and not detractors.

Growing up in a household filled with girls and having many awesome girlfriends somehow have made me more open to any women related interventions rather than being overwhelmed by them. I have been blessed with no oppressions/suppressions from the men in my life but have sadly faced criticisms and backlashes from fellow women which have made me resolved to change that one step at a time.

Looking back at 2019, my heart is bursting with gratitude with the opportunities given to meet some incredible brilliant and awesome people. In January 2019 I met YB Hannah Yeoh who launched HanaWomen Hub, a quaint no frills open concept working space created exclusively for women startups or women owned businesses. It also offers the space for in-house collaborative workshops/events/activities. The co-founder, Angie Chin a woman with strong entrepreneurial spirit and I were brainstorming over ideas for the launch and we obviously wanted something cost free and simple and that’s when we decided to get YB to hit a non-stick pan with a spatula! She did it with gusto and a deep chuckle and the emcee explained that it was a symbol to dispel the notion that a woman’s place is only in the kitchen. In her speech, YB urged women to work and contribute to the Nation’s GDP and there I met many successful women entrepreneurs apart from Angie herself who in essence are every day women but with the extra oomph to make it in life.

I was part of the crew for two other events by HanaWomen; Be Superwoman Walk 2019 on September 7 an event that congregated Women from all walks of life to celebrate sisterhood as well as women’s achievements in conjunction with Malaysia National Day and Malaysia Day which included a bazaar selling Preloved/Eco Friendly & Social Impact Products & Services.

Next was KL Women Meet 2019 which took place on November 7. An inaugural event which hosted 4 panel sessions, and 10 sharing session by experts in the entrepreneurship industry. The guest of honour was YAB, Tun Jeanne Abdullah, Chairman of Tropical Rainforest Conservation and Research Centre. Besides being the emcee for the day, I had the opportunity to moderate a half an hour session entitled 'How Social Enterprises and Entrepreneurship impact the world?' The panelists were: Rosemary Tan (Senior Member of the Entrepreneur Organisation) , Yuet Kim Lim (CEO & Co-founder of Picha Eats) Zahirah Zulkifly (Director, Education Ecosystem Engagement, Teach for Malaysia) and Arividya Arimuthu (Senior Director of Digital Economy and International Relations, Ministry of Entrepreneurship)

Despite the short panel session, I learned a lot about social entrepreneurship which centred very much around bringing positive impact to everyone and it was an absolute honour to be talking to these trailblazers. It was an inspiring day to be amongst the people, especially women of calibre and great resilience to make it big in the entrepreneurship industry.

Angie and I are also involved in a project of which I am unable to share more details as yet but through the project, I met our nation’s Jazz Queen, Dato Sheila Majid and had the honour to spend 4 hours talking to this woman of enigma and all I could think of is Oh My God, I am sitting right next to Sheila Majid! I got to meet YB Hannah again but this time it was at the parliament which was an exciting experience itself. The key take away from these engagements is to always believe in yourself

At work, I organised a panel session entitled Sisterhood in Business in conjunction with the International Sisters Day on August 4 showcasing sisters who are in the business together. Since we needed a theme, we interviewed sisters who are in the saree, Hinduism books and Indian Arts and Culture business. We had a panel session where I asked them questions just like Oprah but Oprah in saree and after talking to these poised-looking-I-got-it-all-under-control ladies, it was evident that just like everyone else, they have issues too but the passion they have towards their cause has somewhat formed an armour around them to propel forward while realising the fact that there is no such thing as balance and it's okay to seek help.

As a career re-launcher, I am registered with Talent Corp and I was given the opportunity to join a career comeback workshop called She Returns, a collaboration between TalentCorp and Standard Chartered Global Business Services (SC GBS) on July 15. SC GBS is passionate about achieving gender balance in the workforce, especially in the banking industry. The workshop focused on up skilling and preparing us to return to the workforce. The agenda included a sharing from SC GBS leaders on topics surrounding women and technology in the shared services industry. This one day program opened up a whole vista on how we career re-launchers should view the job market.

I was also privileged to participate in a career comeback by PwC on November 21 where their work culture, interview tips and personal stories of hiring women returnees were shared. On November 28, it was a session on LinkedIn with Ryan Ng who gave invaluable insights on how to make full use of the platform to achieve our profesional goals. We enlisted his help again to give another round of session for women who were unable to attend the first round. He happily obliged.

The biggest impact for the year is definitely joining the Lean In Career Comeback Program in August . 9 weeks of masterclass, networking sessions and mentorship are definitely something I would cherished because the experience itself is steeped with so much of wisdom. Special mention to Hanie who incorporated the idea of enough-ness, negotiable and non negotiable within us I would also say that my thought process has changed dramatically (for the better) through this intervention and the fact I gained 19 new girlfriends who are my cheerleaders. If I were to write about each of them, it would take weeks but they know how much I treasure their friendship. My mentor Mawarni is the best sounding board ever, always listening to understand and then giving her input without imposing. Though not my mentor, AJ is the true example of a cheerleader who always has something nice and motivating to say to all of us all the time.

Leveraging on LinkedIn platform to re-launch our career is emphasised throughout the program and I am glad through LinkedIn I met Marcella Lucas the CEO of Leadwomen and her dynamic team. Leadwomen is an organization committed to supporting women’s career goals and aspirations to serve on corporate boards. I was given to opportunity to do a voluntary stint at their annual conference, It’s NOT OK?! 2019 which aimed to put the spotlight on harassment, bullying and discrimination at the workplace! It was an eye opening experience.

I also had the chance to meet Mr Rajkumar, the co founder of CnetG Asia which is a leading and award winning Executive Search firm who is also a supporter of women empowerment and women career re-launchers who exhibits high level of empathy for women in my shoes.

Meera Anand was the other person I was privileged to meet who advocates the importance of being visible in networking sessions and also on LinkedIn. She went out of the way to meet me and my friends to share some tips and tricks to get back out there.

Inspired by the Lean In team which is made up of highly successful young women who ran the program on voluntary basis, I signed up as a volunteer for the annual Lean In Unconference whose theme for the year is “Experiencing Breakthrough: Hear It, See It, Be It !” on November 30. It was a delightful experience meeting so many people passionate about the women cause including the new CEO of PNB Mr.Jalil Rasheed who did the closing note as a Male Champion. He quoted Madeleine Albright ‘There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women’ that was the second time I was hearing the quote as the first time was uttered at the PwC and Talent Corp session

Sangeeta from the Lean in Team has left an indelible mark by her strong yet calm presence who shares the same fiery passion to help women out there to re-launch their careers.

Meeting these wonderful people and sharing ideas and acquiring wisdom were an exhilarating experience for me which only further substantiate the point that learning is a continuous process and I enjoy engaging with people. This also espouses my personal brand value which is to connect the dots. I would have to thank the gorgeous ladies of Metamorfosa for insisting that we each should have a brand proposition.

So in conclusion I would like thank you so much for crossing paths with me and I hope I have brought some happiness into your life as you have in mine. Here’s wishing all of you a super duper great New Year!

Author Mark Twain once said that the two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you figure out why and I suppose now I know why. I want to join the cause of helping women lift each other up in any small (or big way) I can and if that means I will be called a feminist, so what? Time to have a chat with that nephew of mine.