When Beauty meets Brains, Brawns & Business

Two decades back when I entered LSR, the first day challenged my rudimentary belief that "Beauty and brains don't exist together". I witnessed a fabulous and amazingly bunch of girls who I admired, learnt from and looked upto in more ways than one.?

And then almost two decades later, as the DEI Head of Tata Consumer Products, I had the same feeling envelope me as a privileged attendee to the International Women's Day celebration by Meta. An event organized with the heart and soul in the right place and with warmth and camaraderie so strong, it will stay in the minds and memories of all the attendees for years to come! Without any defined agenda shared in advance, the event felt like any other confluence of several achievers, but then as the program unfolded, the candidness of every participant, the stories behind the success, the struggle beneath the solutions and the grit below the grace kept every participant hooked, engaged and in awe. Here are some of the things which I learnt and will remember fondly for years to come -?

Neena Gupta - teaching us on how "there is no shame is asking for work, there is shame in asking for money" with her story of using an Instagram post to seek work. The candour with which she replied to every question was the stuff legends are made of! And her parting note on advising women not to waste time on men is what she would advise women strongly against was epic!?

Masaba Gupta - on being honest and frank in her fear of not being successful at all that she does and hence trying more things at the same time! For being superbly graceful about her range of achievements and still being hungry to do more!

Guneet Monga - on teaching us what a woman producer means and does (did break many a myth for me!), that her passion to tell stories led her to this unique role typically never meant for women. On how the first job of an insurance agent taught her to be okay with rejections and that every ten nos will be followed by one yes, and hence taking it positively is the best way forward. To make cold calls without any baggage, to think big, and to dream to make a Titanic and Avatar someday - will be cheering from the sidelines for her everyday!?

Sandhya Devanathan - Had admired you from a distance for your career, but knowing you in person and in the most honest and vulnerable manner increased my respect for you manifold! May you keep creating history for Meta and may women keep seeing the role model in you who will work and have fun in equal measure without any qualms!?

Shraddha Jain (aiyyoShraddha) - Your takes on a professional corporate setup has always been 'time well spent' but to see you first hand bring together an event this powerful as a host was such a wonderful experience.?We will all be doing the "dance" at work as managers for a long time!

And then there was bachi karkaria , who we grew up reading, we had Shraddha Joshi whose story inspired us in 12th fail and is today working on making solo travel for women safe, we had Anaita Shroff Adajania who we all know of revolutionizing fashion in more ways than one but to see her embody humility in ways i couldn't have imagined someone of her stature was quite a revelation. Jovita Mascarenhas telling us about her Shark Tank adventures and how she learnt Hindi for years to ensure her pitch was perfect (beyond of course making a product happen too!), Simran Verma with her story on being a boxer after spending time on a ventilator in her beginning years, Natasha Tuli 's story of running yet another marathon at a time when doctors questioned her ability to walk; each story, each interaction was a powerhouse of the realisation that if we choose to, we can move mountains. That true to the spirit of Durga, Kali and Saraswati, if a woman chooses to find her path, her will will take her places.

The table conversations, individual interactions with Sumeet Singh Aparna Piramal Raje Debleena Majumdar Disha Singh Geetika Mehta Madhura DasGupta Sinha Mansi Jhaveri Moneka Khurana Neha Kant Nonita Kalra Sonal C Holland, MW Sujata Biswas Taniya Biswas Ujjyaini Mitra Lulu Raghavan Gayatri Yadav and many more such inspirational women - all under one roof; thank you for the interactions we had - just listening to your experiences, your insights from real world examples to spirituality to your endeavours to make a difference while managing your own demons - the number of Aha moments we had, it was an experience of a lifetime.?

At Tata Consumer Products , we firmly believe that when everybody moves forward together, nobody is left behind and for me, that day was a consistent reminder of how each of these divas were an embodiment of making a difference to the overall community irrespective of which walk of life they chose to be in... To #thinkbigger than themselves, than the status quo and hence win a larger purpose!?

A warm and special thanks to Meghna Apparao Shweta B. Natasha Jog Francis Jose Manohar Hotchandani Ravi Garg Saugato Bhowmik Shivnath Thukral Vikas Purohit and others for being the most gracious hosts than one could have asked for! And of course Rishi Raj Gupta , you are the mentor, the guide, the Guru who I look upto for zillions of things; you just helped add another such amazing day to that list of my "fan-moments". Look forward to living the idea of #togetherweflourish and leverage our learnings of the day in more ways than one! ?