For People To Believe In You, Believe In Yourself: Carrie Rich, WE Connect

Taking the story of women’s entrepreneurial journey ahead, Lakshya Jeevan Jagriti, an NGO working for women empowerment organized an event WE Connect on June 9, Saturday at the American Center, New Delhi. Carrie Rich, CEO of Global Good Fund was the Guest of Honour. The event had two panel discussions.

 Panel 1

The first panel discussion was centered around the topic 'Women Leadership: Team dynamics and groups. It was moderated by Esha Verma, founder of Avance' Enigma'. The panelists who participated were,  Carrie Rich- CEO Global Good Fund Washington DC, Dr Neeti Rustagi- Faculty member at Community Medicines, Jodhpur, Anand Kumar- Consultant, Principal Policy, Dr Shashi Singh Chaudhary - Director of Consortium of Women Entrepreneur in India (CWEI), Aanchal Andrews- Founder and CEO, Skill Maker Consultancy Private  Ltd and Swati Maliwal, the current Chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women.

“I find that women do a great job in their homes but people do not realize it. Thus, there is a need to communicate with them and they should be trained to become professionals”, Carrie Rich

Dr Shashi Singh, the Chairperson of Consortium of women entrepreneurs of India said,“Leaders should promote more leaders because people have latent talents and inbuilt strengths in them”.

Swati Maliwal, the current chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women said, "Each woman is a leader in herself. But it is difficult for women to live their heart. Leadership is about power and power is a state of mind which needs to be developed”.

Panel 2

The second panel discussion on Women Entrepreneurs: Roadblocks and Solutions was moderated by Nidhi Jain Seth. Nidhi is the founder of Pinnacle Rewards and Recognition Private limited and an author. The panelists were,  Aanchal Saini- Founder of Rent It Bae, Summaiya Afreen- Director and Co-founder, Lakshya Jeevan Jagriti, Sumita Mehra- Founder of Space Symphony, Veena Gupta- Women Safety Expert and Security Professional and the first Indian Female Bouncer,  Mehrunisssa. The panel discussion took an interesting form as all the panelists spoke of the roadblock they faced and the solution to them.

On Importance of Money

While entrepreneurship is mostly imagined with money and business, Nidhi has an entirely different take. She says,“Money doesn’t matter that much, the process of earning makes the difference”.

On Roadblocks

Summaiya Afreen, the Co-founder, and Director of Lakshya Jeevan Jagriti said,“My roadblock was my own mindset. I was not confident about my decisions and I wasn’t a good at networking. However, mentoring is a solution to it as one can share everything with a mentor which they may feel uncomfortable to share with their team members or family”.

Sumita Mehra an interior architect said, “It’s the passion that takes you a long way forward”.

Veena Gupta, who works in the field of risk and security solutions, and is trained in hand to hand combat for the past 23 years, said, “Roadblocks are the social stereotypes and we are its creators. A person should have the attitude of a rebel and this attitude has made me what I’m today”. She cited physical and mental strength as the solution to the problem. “You must think because thinking leads to words, words lead to actions, actions lead to behavior and behavior is what has made Veena Gupta," she added.

Aanchal Saini is the founder, CEO of Rent It Bae shared how she left her successful legal career midway.

Finally, Carrie Rich put forth her view on the solution of various roadblocks. She says solutions can be found in conversations. She also said, "It is difficult for people to believe in you and for that, you should believe in yourself first."

At the event, a fellowship was given to Malika by Lakshya Jeevan Jagriti. Malika is a housewife learning IT skills under the same foundation.

Udisha Srivastav is an intern with SheThePeople.Tv