Leadership is not just about leading from the front. Sometimes it is also about leading from the back, about taking time and space to let others tell their stories, share their experiences and foster relationships that cannot be strictly quantified. The workshop and discussion on leadership principles on February 4 at The Glenburn Penthouse were testament to the visceral aspects of leadership, co-hosted by Destiny Reflection and the Kolkata International Women’s Club.
An arm of the pan-India organisation, Destiny Foundation, whose mission is to disrupt the cycle of sexual exploitation by educating, employing and empowering women, Destiny Reflection is a social enterprise based in Kolkata. Founded in 2008, Destiny Reflection, “a business with a soul”, employs women who are rescued from red light areas and trafficking networks and equips them to achieve gainful and dignified employment, alongside a vast range of educational, health and life skills.
Kolkata International Women’s Club (KIWC), set up in 2002, provides working and non-working international passport holding women in Kolkata with institutional access to knowledge, social and moral support as well as pathways to various networks through social events and associations with charities and NGOs.
‘I gave up my job to try and help people on the streets’
Catherine Wanjohi spoke about the work done by her organisation LifeBloom in Kenya
The event began with a welcome address by the emcee for the evening, Prema Rajarao, a senior journalist and media professional, who outlined the format of the sessions, before calling upon the first chief speaker of the workshop, Catherine Wanjohi from Nairobi. Wanjohi is the founder and executive director of LifeBloom Services in Kenya, a vocational school that trains vulnerable women below the global poverty line and HIV widows, who are particularly susceptible to economic hardship. LifeBloom adopts survivor-led approaches such as trauma counselling to push women towards healing besides delving into sensitisation and advocacy issues to counter human trafficking.
“I had no idea where Kolkata was, but I said yes to this event right away, because it has given me a platform to talk about leadership and women. I used to be the principal of a high school before I gave up my job to try and help people on the streets. Soon enough, I realised that we have no curriculum to aid women who are sexually exploited, no framework to heal them without stigma or discrimination. That’s where the idea of Life Bloom was born,” said Wanjohi, who elaborated on the support her organisation receives from everyday citizens, “the aunties and the uncles” who act as volunteers, first respondents and whistleblowers.
‘One of the ways we get people to feel at ease and open up is by doing a pedicure’
Next, Anusha Chandrasekharen from Praxis Institute touched upon the technical support required to make vulnerable and voiceless women cut across structural and societal barriers and lead healthy lives. “Social equity and good governance are key if we are to uplift women,” she said.
Following a short break and high tea, the proceedings resumed with Brenda Debor, representing the Kingsland Baptist Church and hailing from Texas, shedding light on the work done by her church in Kolkata. With an active presence in the city since 2007, the church has worked alongside 20 NGOs to help survivors of trafficking and sexual assault overcome their trauma. Debor herself has been visiting Kolkata every year since 2012 and leading teams of her own since 2017. “One of the ways we get people to feel at ease and open up is by doing a pedicure,” said Debor, provoking some light amusement among the audience.
‘Balance in life is all about coordinating our emotional, cognitive and somatic intelligence’
Abha Singhvi explained how the ‘wheel of life’ works
Thereafter, the stage was handed over to Abha Singhvi, the second chief speaker for the evening. A leadership coach, business consultant and adjunct professor at Santa Clara University in California, Singhvi is also the co-founder of Global Women’s Leadership Network (GWLN) and a board member of several organisations working for improving the lives of women around the world.
As part of her session on leadership, Singhvi demonstrated how the “wheel of life” can be used to facilitate introspection, awareness and a vision for professional and personal fulfilment. Premised around the 4Ds — “discover, dream, design and deliver” — Singhvi asked the audience to draw a circle and split it into eight parts. Having done that, she invited them to identify the eight most important aspects of their life, including family, work, finances, recreation, etc., and allocate a score to each one out of 10 (and to do so without much thinking!). Once the scores were assigned, the “wheel of life” became all about creating a balance among the scores to ensure that there is minimal disruption, frustration and chaos. “I’ve tried to compress three days of training into one single session, but I hope all of you present here will take this up in your free time and work on it to find out exactly how you can heighten your well-being. Balance in life is all about coordinating our emotional, cognitive and somatic intelligence so that every human being can live a life of dignity,” said Singhvi.
‘Ultimately, leaders bring people together and that’s exactly what happened today’
Shannon Jhunjhunwala (left), president of KIWC, along with Smarita Sengupta, co-founder of Destiny Reflection
Reflecting on a successful event that involved a lot of networking during and after the sessions, Destiny Reflection’s co-founder Smarita Sengupta said: “I’m glad we could pull off this event and disseminate some valuable knowledge and insights. Our mission has always been to champion equality through sharing resources and values. That’s how we feel we can do our bit to change lives.”
“We’ve always shared a great partnership with Destiny and we’re delighted to be able to co-host this event that brought about wonderful connections and revelations about leadership attributes. Ultimately, leaders bring people together and that’s exactly what happened today,” said Shannon Jhunjhunwala, president, KIWC.
On behalf of The Glenburn Penthouse, Husna-Tara Prakash added: “At Glenburn, we resonate strongly with events like these, for they reflect our goals of empowering people to the best of our ability. I really enjoyed the sessions, and listening to Abha talk about setting time aside to think about what one needs was particularly enlightening.”
