Women Lines

Femina, a magazine close to heart of any Indian woman, is revolutionizing the publishing industry. The issue titled ‘Made By You’ will be compiled using stories and articles written completely by readers & fans from across the country.  ‘Made By You’, as the issue is aptly named, will unlock the power of social media to reach over 5 million women, encouraging them to submit their thoughts and express themselves.

Womenfolk lives revolve around so many close to heart stories that can teach others a lot about various experiences in life. The sensitivity and beauty of womanhood is awsome and it helps every woman to survive in this world with her inner power  and confidence. Its a beautiful journey which every woman goes in her life starting  as a daughter, then crossing various stages of sister, wife, friend, Mother, and finally grandmother. Every stage is itself a story which carries some strong message in it. Platform ‘Made By You’ created by Femina is surely a brilliant idea and thus going to help many ladies around to share about their experiences.

Femina has built it’s success around its over-all connect with the progressive Indian woman in every aspect of her life.  It will feature the work of hundreds of new “journalists” and is scheduled to hit stands in April 2013. The publication will pose as a platform for real women to unveil their talent and share their stories with readers across the country. Contributors can use Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest to share their editorial ideas on a varied range of topics.

Link to an Application on Femina’s facebook page, that enables fans to submit their sample articles – http://on.fb.me/13LDVaf

Twitter-   https://twitter.com/FeminaIndia

Take the benefit of Femina’s Motto “If you’ve got a story, We’ve got the space!” and share your story with whole world!

Necessity is the mother of invention and it holds true for our entrepreneur of the month, Renuka Arora Bhagat, who co-established our ONLY Hindi radio station Masti 96.3 FM in Singapore!    

Renuka is a Delhiite and she’s always loved music. When she moved to Singapore she really missed her radio channels back home. She took a step and started exploring the media world around. That’s when Renuka was introduced to Rafiqul Haque,  who after successfully running 8 radio stations back in Bangladesh, was pursuing his interest in expanding his radio business in Spore. Together, they worked towards the establishment of Masti 96.3 FM, on AIR from 28 Nov 2009. Masti 96.3FM, the ONLY Bollywood radio station in Spore, broadcasts Hindi programmes LIVE daily from 5pm to 8pm.  A variety of programmes  catering to all age and interest groups, regular updates on weather in Singapore and the main cities of India, traffic, business, sports, all within the blanket of not only the latest bollywood music but also the golden music from yesteryears! Radio Masti 96.3FM has LIVE streaming (www.xfm963.sg) too. It is available on iPhone and selected HTC phones too, under the umbrella of the MeRadio app.

Like most other entrepreneurial ventures, Radio Masti also faced the initial challenges of establishing themselves and creating a “brand”. However, with focus, hard work and dedication of the team, things have certainly started working positively for them. Today, advertisers are happy to endorse for using Radio Masti as the medium to reach out to the large number of target audience out there. MediaCorp estimates Radio Masti’s listeners’ base to be approx 1.4mil, which includes not only the expat Indians but also a percentage of Sri-Lankans, Pakistanis, Nepalese, Bangladeshis, Malays, and local Singaporeans – all with a common passion for Bollywood music. 

The partners, Renuka and Rafiqul complement each other in many ways – be it managerial, technical, production, sales, strategy and much more! Of course, the team consisting of RJ Mehak, production lead, Dewan Hasan along with others – continue to be strong pillars in their own areas as well!  

Hats off to Renuka’s multi-faceted, entrepreneurship and hands-on managerial skills. Mind you, she is a high profile corporate lady, really proud of her current global position at a large MNC where she manages multi-million projects. A Business management degree from Delhi and an SAP certification to her credit, Renuka loves the voice of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, the king of Sufi!  

Renuka loves challenges and aims to come out of them successfully with her sheer dedication, focus and determination to succeed…Masti is her foray into the media world and not only does she work hard towards managing the station but also towards establishing herself as an RJ! Her weekend program Hafta Wasool is quite popular with the listeners too!

While answering to the question of requirements to be a good RJ, Renuka answered: “Voice is no more the triumph card for winning listeners on radio”. The job of a radio jockey involves much more today. Ready wit, smiling voice, extempore ability, humor, knowledge, and, of all things, a genuine effort to closely associate yourself with the listeners – all this put together help play the perfect tune for radio jockeying. “Your personality must be portrayed through radio”.

Being the only Hindi radio station in Spore, theres a lot of personal touch and openness to interaction with the audience in each program. RJs become a part of many listeners’ lives and there is an unspoken emotional bond that binds audience with the RJs. 

Her corporate life satiates her intellectual competence and her media life helps in building social capital as she loves music. Being an HR professional, Renuka loves to interact with people too! 

Sky is the limit when you are determined, committed and have the support of your family! Who says it’s difficult to pursue your passion with your profession? Here is Renuka, who is successfully pursuing both – besides of course the personal commitments and challenges all women have! After all, she is a true face of an Indian woman, a successful multi tasker! Cheers for Indian superwomen!

Women power wins! Womenlines brings to you different stories regarding women achievements around the world.

All-woman crew operated the ultra-long-haul Mumbai-New York flight. It was perhaps  the first time in the global aviation history that a 14-16 hour non-stop flight that cuts across ten time zones was “manned” only by women. Flight AI-141 had two sets of women pilots as is the norm with these flights. Apart from this, the airline will be operating three domestic all women’s flight. These include one each on the Mumbai-Bangalore-Mumbai, Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Mumbai and Mumbai-Nagpur-Mumbai sectors. All activities connected with these four flight operations will also be handled by women employees. 

 Around the world, 18.8 per cent of national parliamentary positions are held by women, according to surveys by the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Both the United States and India, the world’s two largest democracies, fall below this average. In India, only 10.8 per cent of seats in legislatures are held by women; the figure for the US is 16.8 per cent.

The world leader in female political empowerment? Hold your breath: It’s the formerly tortured African nation of Rwanda, which already has the constitutional requirement (which India is agonizing over) that at least 30 per cent of its parliamentary seats must go to women. In 2008, Rwanda overshot the mark, and elected women to 45 out of 80 parliamentary seats, or 56.25 per cent.

 Shriver Report kicks-Released in October 2009 to much delight and debate, it shows a broader aspect of female empowerment. For the first time in US history, the study reveals, almost half of US workers (49.5 per cent) are female. Mothers have become the primary breadwinners in four in 10 American families even as men are cheering them on and taking a back seat in a recession-era economy (they hardly have a choice; they account for three out of four jobs lost).
Looking at it from the education angle, the report shows women now earn 60 per cent of college degrees awarded each year, and 50 per cent of the PhD and professional degrees. Almost 40 per cent of working women hold managerial and other professional positions. Women make 80 per cent of buying decisions in American homes.
The number of women working for themselves doubled between 1979 and 2003, so that women make up 35 per cent of all self-employed Americans. The number of women-owned businesses is growing at a rate of 23 per cent, 2.5 times faster than the growth in the number of total businesses. Companies led by women are proving to have healthier bottom lines.

Wait for the next issues from Womenlines for more interesting news updates about women for women and by a woman!

A very happy women’s day to all my reader!

Let’s celebrate womanhood with pride and joy and pledge for excellence and abundance in whatever field we are- be it family, job, business or anything they  are passionately pursuing.

Ninety-nine years ago, International women’s day was founded to honor the accomplishments of women and to press for equality between men and women. All these years later, there is still so much to do. But things are changing.

Whole world celebrates women’s day in their own style, but I will like to share how women in Rwanda are going to celebrate. Women in both Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo face incredibly high rates of rape and other violent assault.  

On March 8, hundreds of Congolese and Rwandan women will unite on a bridge to demand an end to the violence that has caused 5.4 million deaths and hundreds of thousands of rapes. They will tie together banners of fabric on which they’ve painted their visions for a peaceful future.

To honor and support their resilience, Women for Women International is hosting a global campaign – Join me on the Bridge – which will replicate that meeting at bridges in different cities all around the world in a show of global solidarity. Already supporting the Congolese and Rwandan women in their call for war’s end will be thousands of women from Bosnia, Kosovo, Sudan, the UK and the US.

NEW YORK

In New York City, they are rallying people to the Brooklyn Bridge at noon on Monday, March 8. Sponsors such as Kate spade New York, Marie Claire and the ONE campaign are also joining them. Project Runway’s Tim Gunn will be in attendance. Self-organized bridge events will also be taking place in other cities, towns and schools nationwide. They will walk as a large but united group across the bridge and then gather so that you can add your own messages of peace to our peace banner. Along with other bridge events happening around the world on the same day, this event will be filmed and featured in a viral video to be produced and widely released following the campaign.

INDIA

 Habitat for Humanity in India is celebrating the strength of women worldwide. Women who are part of the micro lending group facilitated by BIRDS, (Brothers Integrated Rural Development Society), will be meeting with over 100 volunteers from different countries to kick off International Women’s Day. The volunteers will help build homes for the families of these women through Habitat for Humanity International’s Women Build programe.

AUSTRALIA

On this International Women’s Day, thousands of women (and men!) worldwide will gather on bridges from San Francisco to Congo to call for an end to war and to demonstrate that women can build the bridges of peace and hope. 

They hope many will join them at Swinging Bridge on March 8th at 7PM as they participate in this global campaign led by Women for Women International.

This shows unity in diversity! After all we are women who can get united for the same cause at any time. Let’s be part of this campaign in some way and contribute our wishes to make it a successful campaign!

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