'Women need to believe in themselves more, they are nature’s best miracles'

At the 5th edition of e4m PR & Corp Comm Women Achievers Summit 2024, an amazing set of panellists discussed “Celebrating women-led businesses and their unique contributions to the industry”. The panellists include Aakriti Bhargava, Co-Founder at Wizikey, Anindita Mookerjee Sinha, Head GCC Client Communication, EY, Garima Sharma Nijhawan, Founder, Oathenticity, moderated by Ritika Upmanyu, exchange4media. 

Starting the discussion, Ritika set the tone by asking all the panellists to share their journey from the time they entered the industry to now founding their own companies or reaching leadership positions. 

Garmina describes her two decades’ journey in the industry and the transformations she observed, “I’ve been in the industry for 18 years now and over the years, I’ve witnessed some truly dynamic trends. For me, Othenticity is the oath of authentic living. It’s easy to blame toxic work cultures, but I believe the real power lies within us. That’s why I founded Othenticity—to help women like me reconnect with their true selves. Today, I host The Wiki Podcast, where I invite women leaders to share their journeys. This is not a PR initiative; it’s about training, teaching, and upskilling. At its heart, Othenticity is bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots and empowering more women to   embrace their true potential.”

Aakriti strongly defined her journey, “My journey has been very interesting, fantastic, hard, and very amazing. It’s been a 15-year journey as an entrepreneur. It is very, very, very hard, and it is very, very, very, very, very fun and rewarding and it is full of learning. I think that is the journey you will have, in any form or shape. You will grow through the years, and with every passing day, you will become a better version of yourself. That becomes even more fulfilling when you know that you are serving a lot of people who depend on you for their lifeline. You will believe in yourself more, you will believe in people more, and every day, you will realize that you are Nature’s Best Miracle.”

Anindita shared some observations from her journey, “Life is still easy for you who want to be an entrepreneur now. In our times, whether you were an entrepreneur or a leader, it was very difficult. Unfortunately, for all the ladies here, while we’ll give some rosy pictures as well, life is still tough. There is still a huge gender bias.”

She shared an example and continued, “Now, whether we are capable, more than capable, or even the best entrepreneurs and CEOs in the world are our moms, the mothers, are the true example. They run each and every vertical of a business, from HR to facilities to finance. So, if they can do it, any woman can do it. They are running the best business, and we can also run the best business and any woman can. They should be the people we look up to first and not outside.”

Moving on, Anindita shared the differences she found in the leadership styles of men and women by narrating an unbiased instance from her journey, “My first manager was a man, and when I started my career, I often heard him say, ‘I don’t understand why you all apply for the job and get it.’ He would repeatedly make statements like, ‘Both of you earning means killing the livelihood of another family. Another man should have been in your place’. He used to say this to every woman who secured a job under him.” 

Mookerjee remarked that the first jolt she received from such remarks actually gave her more strength to deal with them.

Then, Akriti highlighted some of the drawbacks that appear in a woman's journey because of an individual biased perspective. “There are biases that exist in the system of women supporting women.  I started a PR measurement platform where 50% of my team is in technology. I began this journey four year ago and now have 150 customers. Yet, when I attend meetings with my co-founder, I sometimes notice people directing their conversations only to him, even though I handle business development for the company. I wouldn't say this is entirely about men; rather, it's sometimes just an individual's perspective,” she asserted.

“Women possess certain innate qualities, and one of the most significant is a high EQ—emotional quotient—which enables us to effectively lead teams, businesses, and departments,” Anindita highlights, sharing how uniquely they contribute to the industry.

Sharma beautifully concluded the discussion by sharing some strong points about women and how young female leaders should build themselves, “Women were naturally blessed to be multitaskers. We are naturally blessed to be Gora or Kali; we can channelize whatever energy we want. This is a land that honours the mother, a land that takes the name of their lady first. So, let’s bring that back into the boardrooms, lead like a lady, be unapologetic, show up like a leader, work hard for it, work on yourself but never be apologetic about where you are and who you are.