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These women innovators have made a mark in their chosen fields, making a difference with their work. Do find out more about them here.
Women at work are making their mark in India, even if slowly, but steadily. With the odds stacked against them due to their gender, they usually have to deal with patriarchal norms in work spaces, which are traditionally designed for men, struggle with home and family responsibilities while stepping into the field. In such a milieu, it is even more remarkable when they make their mark through innovation – as new ideas may prove to be difficult to sell.
Every year, Women’s Web has a flagship event Breaking Barriers, where some leading entrepreneurs from India as well as emerging stars share their experience with women who can mine from their rich repertoire of experience, make valuable contacts that can help them kickstart and grow their endeavours, as well as find new opportunities and ideas for themselves. This year we celebrate the innovators amidst us, who will share their insights.
This year’s event, happening in 4 cities, brings to you some inspiring speakers. The schedule of #BreakingBarriers 2018 is Mumbai (April 7th), Bangalore (April 21st), Gurugram (April 28th) and Chennai (May 5th).
Here’s more about these women innovators.
Revathi Roy calls herself a serial entrepreneur, pioneering Asia’s first all-women taxi service FORSHE, and India’s first all-women two-wheeler parcel delivery service HeyDeeDee.
@revathi_roy
Founder, Pixights Consulting, Monalisa Dani has a background in market research, which she draws on in her current role in this research and consulting firm that provides solutions to their clients to drive growth opportunities.
LinkedIn
Tanvi Mallya is a Neuropsychologist, and the Founder of Tanvi Mallya’s Elder Care. The organisation helps people put together professional quality care for their elderly loved ones in the comfort of their homes, tailored to individual needs.
@theothermallya
Smita Aggarwal is the Director of Investments at Omidyar Network, which invests in entrepreneurs who are committed to creating social impact in 5 main fields – Education, Emerging Tech, Financial Inclusion, Governance & Citizen Engagement, and Property Rights.
@smitaaggarwal
As a Freelance Writer, Anushree is a feminist who aims to create a difference in the way people think and behave in a world that needs more of like-minded individuals, looking towards a better way of life for all.
@aslytherinstark
Aparna Raman is the Founder and Creative Director at Timbuktoo Young Authors Publishing, which works to bring the voices of the new generation to readers.
Rachel Gojer is an Excellence Optimiser, which means that she helps professionals in business and personal life to be the best version of themselves, so that they can reach their full potential.
As the Founder and CEO of F5Escapes, Malini Gowrishankar has arranged for all women trips to various places, enabling women to experience the great outdoors in a way they might not be able to as members of a travelling family.
Vandana Suri is the Founder of Taxshe, an all women taxi service in Bangalore, providing jobs for women, and endeavouring to make travel by cab safer for women, children, and the elderly.
Writer par excellence of short stories, Lakshmi Priya aims to create a difference in the world, one story at a time. She is also a leadership consultant in her day job.
@priyaram14
Nirmala Menon is the CEO and Founder of Interweave Consulting, which provides solutions and interventions to Indian businesses which are in step with the Indian conditions, and hence work best for them.
@nirmala_menon
Vimala Rajkumari is the Founder and Producer at Vsual Brewery, which creates videos that educate and create social awareness, customised for clients, based on their vision and ideas.
Khyati Gupta Babbar is a Behavioural Researcher at Santulan, an organisation that helps people understand how their behaviour, emotions and body can elevate your career and business.
@gupta_khyati
Ghazal Alagh is the Director at MamaEarth (the first MadeSafe certified brand in Asia), that creates safe, natural, and toxin-free baby products that parents can depend upon for their babies.
@GhazalAlagh
Romita Ghosh is the Founder of MedSamaan, a portal where you can buy excellent quality medical and surgical products and equipment online.
@medsamaan
Blogger, Published Writer and Freelancer, Anupama Jain aims to make a difference to the world with her writing.
@anupamajain
Tisha Srivastav wears many hats – journalist, traveller, media correspondent, and editor at OurStories.
@TishaSrivastav
Supriya Paul is a Co-Founder at Josh Talks, a media platform that covers a wide array of subjects with speakers from every conceivable background, including entrepreneurship, public policy, sports, entertainment and social initiatives.
@supriyapaul93
Pavithra Charan is a Founding Partner at Inception Business Services & Inception Digital, which provide marketing consulting services to brands.
@PavithraCharan
In her role as the Senior Editor & Community Manager at Women's Web, Sandhya Renukamba is fortunate to associate every day with a whole lot of smart and fabulous writers and readers. A doctor read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
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I huffed, puffed and panted up the hill, taking many rest breaks along the way. My calf muscles pained, my heart protested, and my breathing became heavy at one stage.
“Let’s turn back,” my husband remarked. We stood at the foot of Shravanbelagola – one of the most revered Jain pilgrimage centres. “We will not climb the hill,” he continued.
My husband and I were vacationing in Karnataka. It was the month of May, and even at the early hour of 8 am in the morning, the sun scorched our backs. After visiting Bangalore and Mysore, we had made a planned stop at this holy site in the Southern part of the state en route to Hosur. Even while planning our vacation, my husband was very excited at the prospect of visiting this place and the 18 m high statue of Lord Gometeshwara, considered one of the world’s tallest free-standing monolithic statues.
What we hadn’t bargained for was there would be 1001 granite steps that needed to be climbed to have a close-up view of this colossal magic three thousand feet above sea level on a hilltop. It would be an understatement to term it as an arduous climb.
Why is the Social Media trend of young mothers of boys captioning their parenting video “Dear future Daughter-in-Law, you are welcome” deeply problematic and disturbing to me as a young mother of a girl?
I have recently come across a trend on social media started by young mothers of boys who share videos where they teach their sons to be sensitive and understanding and also make them actively participate in household chores.
However, the problematic part of this trend is that such reels or videos are almost always captioned, “To my future daughter-in-law, you are welcome.” I know your intentions are positive, but I would like to point out how you are failing the very purpose you wanted to accomplish by captioning the videos like this.
I know you are hurt—perhaps by a domestic household that lacks empathy, by a partner who either is emotionally unavailable, is a man-child adding to your burden of parenting instead of sharing it, or who is simply backed by overprotective and abusive in-laws who do not understand the tiring journey of a working woman left without any rest as doing the household chores timely is her responsibility only.
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