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Growing up in a small city, Rachita never felt comfortable with the constant ‘caste’ criticism. The visible casteism that her fellow students were subjected to was deeply unsettling and violated her core being. How Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras were superior or inferior to one another was a dialogue she could never relate to. Rachita sees beauty in difference and celebrates what makes each individual unique.
When she was 13, she became determined to make a personal change that would express the fact that she did not agree with the discrimination or looking down on one another based on the status quo. As a result, when asked to complete registration for the 9th grade, she removed her last name ‘Sharma’ and just registered herself as ‘Rachita’. While a small protest at the time, Rachita found strength and purpose in her decision. Her parents were not so thrilled that she had outsmarted the system with a clever way to officially remove her last name.
People in Rachita’s circle mentioned how she has a last name that holds tremendous amounts of gravity. They were utterly puzzled as to why she would forgo this great “honour”?
Today, Rachita takes the extra step to determine airline specific procedures for booking flights under the right name, including ‘Rachita Rachita’, Rachita LNU (Last name Unavailable) and FNU (First Name Unavailable) Rachita. At 13, she was just determined not to be given preferential treatment on the grounds of a last name that was just given to her. At ‘Empowering A Billion Women Conference 2020’ in Austin, Texas, she shared this story.
Rachita has always been passionate about serving as a voice for those who don’t have one. Her life’s mission is to be an agent of change by providing young women more opportunities and a better path for achieving their full potential. Girl Power Talk is her vision in action:
The startup Girl Power Talk strives to inspire the most capable young leaders with persistence, empathy, and confidence. It empowers young women (and men) with merit-based opportunities to grow and achieve their full potential. The aim is to develop girls in India to become global leaders. The team of Girl Power Talk is relentlessly committed to education, gender equality, and integrating the strengths of specially abled communities.
Girl Power Talk celebrates the diversity and the creative potential of the brightest young minds, and provides a nurturing culture of learning and mentorship. The culture instills young people with exceptional soft-skills, technical knowledge, and purpose in life. Further, Girl Power Talk is an emerging media platform that voices the opinions and narratives of young women across the country. #GirlPowerTalk
As a technology company, we steward how companies and individuals represent their true identity on the internet. The team of Girl Power Talk creates and promotes top digital assets that accelerate the growth of brand equity. Our agile team consults on digital transformation and provides comprehensive reputation management services. When a high profile individual or an organization faces a crisis, legal, or PR issues on the internet, Girl Power Talk specializes in mitigating the impact of the defamatory content and creating a positive narrative.
“One girl empowers another. Let’s change lives together: one girl, one woman and one human being at a time.”
As a key leader & CEO of a start-up in Girl Power Talk, Rachita is responsible or involved in almost everything. While at times the demands of operating and building a company can be a challenge, she has learned to put her energy where it matters the most. For her that is creating a strong vision and having true alignment amongst the growing team. To do that, one has to genuinely care about someone and invest the time to develop a real friendship. Naturally, this special bond is built on a foundation of mutual trust. Girl Power Talk doesn’t just hire people that fit a particular job role, but rather identify through interviews the ones that actually share in our company values. We then empower each leader to do their best work and contribute in ways that transcend the barriers set by their traditional course of study. Girl Power Talk recognizes the importance of gender equality and seeks to attract those with extraordinary potential. India is a country with a disproportionately large young population. Naturally, this presents both advantages and disadvantages. Regretfully, the demographic dividend results in bright young adults struggling to find meaningful work opportunities. Because they are so easily replaceable, few graduates receive offers from an entrepreneurial culture or one that invests in their personal development. We hire, nurture and help these young people to build confidence and interpersonal skills.
Girl Power Talk collaborates to discuss and then implement their creative ideas. We change lives one person at a time. This is the true mission of Girl Power Talk. Additionally, we hold workshops in villages for primary school students. The interaction motivates young girls to pursue studying and follow their dreams for a better life. There is a strong belief that this mindset and guidance received at a young age supports how girls pursue their ambitions. We also hire young women from colleges across India, and start by providing them remote opportunities to contribute and interact with our global team. This interaction helps us better identify who may be a long-term fit for joining the company full-time.
This organization is committed to featuring other impactful organizations and how they are making the world a better place. Girl Power Talk proactively reaches out to women business owners and leaders to learn about their challenges and support them. Our Instagram and social media highlight stories of strong women around India, while building a global community to engage more people, celebrate the success of women and support our relentless commitment to developing girls to become tomorrow’s leaders.
As a woman who is committed to paying forward opportunities, Rachita has an abundance mentality in sharing all that she has learned for others to benefit from her mistakes. She is dedicated to changing the trajectory and opportunity set for the brightest young minds in India for decades to come. She stands by what is right and is not afraid of questioning the wrong decisions or established practices of society. Rachita has learned that failing and mistakes happen. Through trial and error, one must always move forward. Emphasizing on persistence and never giving up on the dreams of all those who are Girl Power Talk, she recognizes that her end goals are a life’s work and it starts with feeling humbled to be at the beginning of this journey. She dreams of building a better world, one where purpose and profit are harmonized. Rachita’s aim is to curate an ecosystem where ideas, appreciation, inspiration, optimism, and equality are the standard. Girl Power Talk is where the seeds of future dreams are sown.
Girl Power Talk is a global vision. Given the demographic dividend, India is foundational to our vision. Having said that, it is just the base and start of an expansive global mission. We are patiently expanding the organization internationally and have a team of full time, part time, remote and independent workers, most importantly all doing what they love. Central to this is the excitement about building an exemplary culture, one where young innovative leaders grow and adapt our vision to their local country.
Girl Power Talk is now developing a unique fellowship program for young leaders in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, and the Philippines. Selected candidates will travel to India and experience our special culture. Successful fellows may then return home with other tenured Indian team members to expand Girl Power Talk locally in their home county.
Girl Power Talk never takes the immense personal and professional joy received on a daily basis for granted. There are several other countries with strong and vibrant young people that we are interested in. A great building requires an ineffable foundation.
This video shares some real life experiences of lives that have been impacted through Girl Power Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw5HvCuFGdA
read more...
This post has published with none or minimal editorial intervention. 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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Dear Women’s Web Community Member,
You may have wondered at our being on the quieter side during the last couple of months. Thank you for your patience, and we wanted to come back to you with a detailed note on what’s been happening at our end of things.
When we first began Women’s Web, as a blog from one woman’s desk along with a few like-minded souls, little could we have imagined the heights that it would soar to. Over the years, Women’s Web has published over 20000 stories (almost all by women), empowered countless women with the ideas, community and resources to chase their dreams, employed hundreds of women in core and project-based roles, and in the process, emerged as the OG women’s community in India. It has also inspired many others to build communities of a similar nature, all enabling women (and other-underrepresented groups) in their own ways.
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