Our event started off with Lamp lighting symbolizing abundance, prosperity, and knowledge in the spirit of all women.
Gunalan, an active member of our Dance & Music club called Bendigo beats, welcomed us with a nice song setting the tone for the program.
Our CEO, Jonah Stephen, shared a few words and talked about what it means to be a creator and how consumerism can be harmful.
“The most important thing as a CONTRIBUTOR is to seek and pursue to be a CREATOR and not a mere CONSUMER. When women can know, understand, educate, practice, and lead to become CREATORs, they can conquer the world. When they tend to be the consumers of the world, they are conveniently stereo-typed and side-tracked.”
Our Director, Ronita Stephen, recited a poem that she had penned, capturing the essence of our theme– “Conquer from within.” Emphasizing on women taking a balanced approach towards personal and professional commitments. Being one of the founders of this forum, she facilitates a stress-free workplace by persuading the team to learn, play and have fun at work.
Anuradha and Helen, our fellow RADA members, also shared their poems about women empowerment and conquering from within.
Dr. Jothi Clara, Director-Nursing & Quality; Gleneagles Global Hospitals, our well-wisher and part of our extended family, also took part and expressed how women & men can work together to make great difference in healthcare in India.
Savitha Kesav Jagadeesan, Senior Partner, Kochhar & CO., joined us and wished us luck in our future endeavours. She also expressed how Carisma solutions is keeping up with the times and is creating women-friendly policies – Maternity leave, POSH, and hybrid work model.
Our pillar of strength – Pooja Tattia Kothari, Client Manager, also talked about her experience being a working mother and how the current hybrid model has helped her balance motherhood and, at the same time – not give up on her dreams.
Our Chief guest Archana Stalin shared her inspirational and quite radical life story – Engineer to an organic farmer. Being the rebel that she is, she never gave up on her dreams and became an entrepreneur. Most people give up after the 1st try, but not her. After her first business venture failed, she joined an NGO that helped various entrepreneurs and started her new business venture – “myHarvestFarms”.
Archana Stalin started myHarvest Farms in 2018 along with her husband Stalin Kalidoss. They named it Vembu Farms, which would evolve into a community of organic farmers and consumers.
The company’s turnover in the first year (2018-19) was Rs 8 lakh. It jumped to Rs 44 lakh in the second year and shot up to Rs 1 crore during the last year.
The speech ended with her educating us on the importance of the food we eat and shared her mantras of life of being a “continuous learner,” “celebrating failures,” and “connecting with people.”
This was followed by the digital release of the “RADA Annual Yearbook 2022”, which is a curated compilation of contributions from RADA members, well-wishers, male colleagues & our beloved clients.
This year we also presented the first RADA Annual award to Archana Stalin in recognition of her distinguished contribution to society as an inspiring social entrepreneur and commendable work towards organic farming & preserving biodiversity. Importantly, maintaining a healthy work-life balance – a core value of RADA.
The session concluded with a vote of thanks by Ms. Ronita Stephen.
