Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future

The International Women’s day was commemorated by the World Trade Center Chennai with a panel discussion on “Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World”. This programme was done in association with the Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry Tamil Nadu Social Service Council and World Trade Center Metro Manilla. The panelists were – Ms. Neerja Malik - Author and Inspirational Speaker; Cancer Conqueror & Counsellor; Council Member, WICCI TN SSC; Ms. Anindita Sinha - Head of Corporate Communications, L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad); Ms. Pamela Pascual - President & CEO, WTC Metro Manila and Ms. Manasi Prasad - Director, Indian Music Experience Museum, Bengaluru. Ms. Uma Reddy, Advisor, World Trade Center moderated the session.
Ms. Pamela Pascual explained how she and her organization was able to contribute to the community during the pandemic. She explained how WTC Metro Manilla, a prominent event and exhibition hub was majorly affected and the first action from their side was to take care of welfare of the employees. WTC Metro Manilla was also operated as a healthcare facility during this time serving over a 1000 patients. WTC Metro Manilla was in continuous conversation with the government to find ways to resurrect the most pandemic affected sectors like - hospitality, tourism, travel etc.

Ms. Manasi Prasad briefed on how art and music has influenced the community in the pandemic times. She explained how the Indian Music Experience Museum was set up. The pandemic had affected the people to people connect. She has been leading a team largely consisting of women and together they did over 35 online concerts, art workshops, talks etc. for children. Ms. Manasi observed that due to the pandemic, their audience has expanded. She believes that both in art and the corporate world the key to success is create, communicate and collaborate.

Ms. Neerja Malik started with her life story which was filled with hardships and misfortunes but how she found a way to tackle them with a positive attitude. She believes that whatever the problem is, a solution exists. She opined that sharing each other’s problems and having an empathetic outlook towards your peers will also have a positive effect on you. She also explained how exercise, and interaction with nature would help uplift one's spirits.

Ms. Anindita Sharma mentioned that the pandemic has taught us to stay strong together and be resilient. Her organization made sure they could reach out to their employees in case they needed medical support or rations. She explained how she was able to help a community of senior citizens, she made sure that her household workforce never got any pay cuts. She briefed on how India is doing surprisingly well during the pandemic, thanks to policies like Aatmanirbhar Bharat. India now ranks 63rd in Ease of Doing Business. She feels it could be a good practice if every woman leader could take another woman under her wing and teach her how to upskill herself and grow in life.

Dr. Bose Nair, Vice President and Mr. Vivek George Manager, World Trade Center Bengaluru, Kochi and Chennai also spoke.