It is a pleasure to welcome Senior Physiotherapist Shubhangi Gaikwad from the United Arab Emirates as an  Influencer for health and fitness at Womenlines panel. A Dedicated PT offering 7 years of acute-chronic care experience; a history of “exemplary” ratings on performance reviews; solid credentials that include, BLS/Dry needling/Manual Therapy certifications /certified FMT and a master’s degree in physical therapy in Neurology. Background includes work with pediatric, adolescent, adult and geriatric patients. This month Shubhangi is sharing tips for How to choose a right pillow! 

Hello ladies !!

I had always been asked by my patients on how to choose a perfect pillow to have good sleep and pain-free neck. So, I thought to share the details with you all too, I am sure this information will help you to select a comfortable pillow for you and your family.

If you wake up every morning with an achy neck, you may want to try sleeping with a neck pillow. Neck pain is extremely common and increases with age. Neck pain may radiate into your shoulders or down into your arms and may cause you to wake up with a morning headache as well as a stiff neck. Since you spend about one-third of your life in bed sleeping, the type of neck support you have while you sleep can be important.

Neck Pillow: Protecting the Cervical Spine

Together, the seven bones in your neck make up the cervical spine. These bones are cushioned by spongy cervical disks and supported by muscles and tendons. The normal shape of the cervical spine is a gentle curve called the lordotic cervical curve. Anything that causes you to lose that natural neck position for a long period, such as sleeping with your neck bent or extended, causes stress on the spine and its supporting structures and can result in neck pain. In a recent study of 128 people with chronic neck pain, it has been found that a combination of exercise treatment administered by a physical therapist along with the use of a neck support pillow was more effective than exercise alone in relieving chronic neck pain.

Neck Pillow:  A neck pillow is a specially designed pillow that supports your neck and head in a natural position. There are a variety of neck pillows in the market that aims to reduce neck pain and give you a good night’s sleep. All are designed to create a natural resting position for your head that maintains the lordotic curve of your spine. Choices include neck pillows made from foam or stuffed with fiberfill or other materials, as well as styles that are inflatable or are filled with water. Inflatable and water-filled pillows allow you to customize the firmness and support. Apart from any specific medical recommendations, personal preference might be the deciding factor when choosing one design over another.

Neck Pillow: How to Use One

People sleep in different positions and are shaped differently, so the foremost step to avoid your neck pain is the selection of your neck pillow. Neck pillows are designed for sleeping on your back or your side. (Sleeping on your stomach is just a bad idea because your head and neck can’t be in a natural position.) If you sleep on your back, your neck pillow should support you without your head being tilted backwards or forward. If you sleep on your side, your neck pillow should keep your nose in line with the centre of your body. Remember that any unnatural sleep positions that cause your neck to twist or bend can easily translate into neck pain by morning.

A final point before closing: For comfort and a restful night’s sleep, make sure your neck pillow is allergy tested and washable

If you have any query regarding any exercises, don’t hesitate to ask in the comment section.

 Shubhangi Gaikwad, Shubhangigaikwad06@gmail.com,

Instagram- sgfitnessguide

Womenlines takes pleasure to share about a powerful campaign in Nigeria named ‘Building Young Entrepreneurs(BYE)’. Founder Bright Oloyo, Motivational speaker, Business consultant, mentor, career coach and C.E.O of Black Pride Multipurpose Company, with a collection of seasoned Entrepreneurs from around the world are embarking on a rescue mission “Building Young Entrepreneurs” across Nigeria, Africa’s most populous black nation. This campaign is based on the theme ‘Steering  Young  Minds Towards Entrepreneurship and  Good  Leadership.’ Considered to be the biggest campaign running over 1000 schools across Nigeria.

THE SAD REALITY – TALE OF A NIGERIAN GRADUATE.

I arrived at Lagos seven (7) years after graduation in search of greener pastures, and I found the pastures though not very green. Barely a year after my arrival, I applied for a banking job along with several others and I was among the few fortunate ones who got the job.

I lived at Alagbado on the outskirts of Lagos mainland and worked at Lekki which is on Lagos Island. It is a forty-four-kilometre (44km) journey but could last several hours due to traffic congestions, hence I had to leave home at 4:30 am each morning to enable me to arrive the office before 7:30 am which is my resumption time.

The journey to the office was nothing compared to my return journey. The traffic back was usually hectic and I arrive home between 10 pm and 11 pm most nights. I had roughly three (3) to four (4) hours sleep on weekdays. Life was hard, but with time I got used to it. I was fortunate to have a job and will do whatever it took to keep it.

It was a Friday and not having enough sleep was the last thing on my mind. I am a marketer and on Fridays, we gave our weekly activity report in a marketing meeting headed by our branch manager. These meetings were a place to shine if you were meeting your targets but dreaded if you weren’t.

I have been fallen short lately and dreaded Fridays. Today was going to be worse because the week has been extremely poor, I couldn’t even open a single account the entire week. The country was going through a recession and it has been increasingly difficult opening accounts lately. However, the bosses didn’t care, you had to meet your targets or be shown the way out.

“You will certainly not be with us at the end of this year, the way you are going”. Those were the final words of the branch manager directed at me. As envisaged, I was torn apart at the meeting, thoroughly tongue lashed. I got back to my desk and discovered I have been issued a warning, two more and I would be sent packing.

I looked at my watch it was 7:15 pm, the branch manager had just left for home. I bade him farewell, just to make sure he noticed I was still around when he left. I had rounded up my activities for the day as early as 5:00 pm, but there was no way I was going to leave the office before him on a day like this.

I switched off my system, grabbed my bag and commenced the hectic journey home. By the time I got to Oshodi bus stop, where I was to take a final bus home, it was already 9:25 pm. I was tired and angry with myself and the world. I was holding my suit on one hand and my office bag on the other, my tie was folded and tucked in my pants pocket as I stood in the overcrowded bus stop waiting for a bus to take me home.

The crowd at this bus stop every Friday was massive. I have struggled unsuccessfully on three (3) occasions to board a bus heading to my destination. Suddenly I felt some funny movement behind me and I turned instinctively and saw two roughly dressed boys running. The woman behind me said “Oga, dem don carry your wallet” meaning “Sir, they have stolen your wallet”.

I quickly transferred my office bag to my other hand with the suit and frisked my pockets, sure enough, my wallet was gone. For a few minutes I was confused, and thou I knew the pocket I had placed my wallet, I had to check every other pocket to be sure. And it hit me, my wallet was gone, and I was standing in a crowded bus stop at 9:45 pm without a dime.

At that moment, my sorry life flashed through my mind and I felt like crying. I felt life had dealt me a wrong hand, I felt cursed.

I have always been a brilliant student, top of my class all through my secondary/high school days. I had big dreams of working in a multinational oil firm, hence even though I had the chance of studying medicine in the university, I opted for mechanical engineering, and as expected I graduated with very good grades from a prestigious university ten (10) years ago.

The chaos of people scampering for a bus brought me back to reality. How was I going to get home? My ATM cards were in the wallet that was stolen, hence I couldn’t make any withdrawal, at least not immediately. I had only one option “UBER”.

I had the app on my phone but have never used it. I remembered someone saying in the office, you could link your account to it and you didn’t have to pay with cash. I tried it and it was quite simple and straightforward, within minutes I have added my account details and booked a ride. The fare was two thousand nairas (#2000) approximately five dollars ($5), which was five per cent (5%) of my monthly take home…… for a single ride. Now I remembered who was talking about the uber service at the office, it was my boss. Certainly, no staff on my pay grade would dare consider this. I wished there was an alternative, but sadly, there wasn’t.

As I waited for my ride, I went down memory lane, ten (10) years have passed since I graduated from school with high hopes, and here I was, no oil job, not even practising what I studied, but working as a contract staff for a new generation bank as a marketer with a monthly take-home of forty thousand naira (#40,000) approximately one hundred dollars ($100), which came along with insults and threats from my bosses for failure to meet targets. I was squatting with a friend and could barely feed.

I thought about my ever loving and understanding parents back home who had made so many sacrifices to see me through school, not once in the last ten (10) years have I sent a dime to assist them, they even sent me ten thousand nairas (#10,000) approximately twenty-five dollars ($25) last month to support me. Life was certainly not fair to me.

It was the salty taste in my mouth that made me realize I was crying. At that instant, my phone rang, which brought me back to reality. It was the uber driver, he had called me earlier to confirm my location, and now he was calling to tell me he had arrived at the bus stop with his hazard lights on. I saw him and quickly wiped my tears and moved towards him. I opened the back door and got in. the driver turned and said good evening sir are you, Mr Bright?. I looked at him and we both froze ………..to be continued

In Nigeria, six (6) out of every ten (10) graduating students are unemployed, and the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) states that over twenty-three per cent (23%) of working-age youths are without jobs or underemployed.

Please support the Building Young Entrepreneurs (BYE) campaign designed to steer young minds in Nigeria towards entrepreneurship.

To support: visit www.bye.com.ng/donation to purchase an SDS e-book or make a donation.

Together, we can build a brighter future for the Nigerian child.

Womenlines wishes success to the whole team behind Building Young Entrepreneurs (BYE) Campaign, Nigeria.

 As a Digital Media Partner Womenlines takes pleasure to share about an upcoming National Meet for launch of a noble initiative ‘Teen Coalition’ by organisation SCHOOL (Society of Community Health Oriented Operational Links), which is very passionately working on very interesting projects on the teenage group and also on the elderly group in India, with the intention to provide the best support system to them while engaging other sectors around too. CEO of SCHOOL Dr Benazir Patil is sharing in details what is the main objective behind ‘Teen Coalition’ at Womenlines-

Why does Teen Coalition exist?

Adolescence (10–19 years) is a unique and formative time. Whilst most adolescents have good mental health, multiple physical, emotional and social changes, including exposure to poverty, abuse, or violence, can make adolescents vulnerable to various challenges. Promoting psychological well-being and protecting adolescents from adverse experiences and risk factors which may impact their potential to thrive are not only critical for their well-being during adolescence, but also for their physical and mental health in adulthood.

Teen Coalition launched by SCHOOL in 2019, is the crowning association for the development of adolescents in India. We are a national membership-based initiative with both personal and organisational members representing a diverse range of groups working for the children falling in the age group of 10 to 19.

• Our vision is that adolescents flourish in India; we work alongside our members to support this aspiration.

• Our mission is to support people who work with adolescents and thereby enhance adolescent’s development.

SCHOOL, through the Teen Coalition works with organizations, projects and initiatives across all sectors for the development of adolescents, these include life skills; health; education; vocation and skilling; and many more. In doing so, SCHOOL creates a momentum that builds a process for progressive social change. To this end, it engages in public opinion, advocacy, and monitoring of national and international developments.

What does Teen Coalition work on? 

 Connect the dots

Connect the dots by fostering a nationwide movement of people and entities who work with adolescents

What this means

• Create opportunities for the adolescent sector to connect nationally, regionally and digitally

• Mapping those who work with adolescents in health, education, justice, social service and other sectors

• Effective local, regional and national relationships across adolescent networks and people who work with adolescents.

Raise accountability

Raise the accountability of those who work with young people

 What this means

• Information, resources and training widely available and accessible

• Policies impacting on adolescents are based on evidence, research and best practice

Champion adolescent development

Champion adolescent development through effective leadership and a cohesive voice.

What this means

• Teen Coalition and its members are recognised as an authority on adolescent development

• There is a positive change in public attitudes toward adolescents and those who work with them

• There is increased funding and partnerships for the cause of adolescents

National Meet for the launch of ‘Teen Coalition’ is scheduled on 26 June at India International Centre, New Delhi. To register for the meet please email at info@school4dev.

Womenlines wants to request readers to help SCHOOL in whatever possible way (financially, volunteer, supporter, partnership) to help them to deliver successful projects, which can be a real help to that section of society which is actually looking forward to a helping hand, to live a better life.

Please visit https://www.ketto.org/fundraiser/teencoalition  to make contributions for ‘Teen Coalition’!

Charu Mehrotra

Let Excellence be your brand

Founder- Womenlines

Womenlines is delighted to welcome Anjalika, an IITTI (CANADA) certified professional Image Branding & Lifestyle Consultant, as an Influencer for Image Branding at Womenlines. Yes womenfolk, gear up to learn the tips and tricks to carry yourself with excellence and make excellence your brand. In her sharing for this month, Anjalika is talking about certain etiquettes of the corporate world-

“You have been doing good; in fact, amazing, for someone who is here on her internship,” Rita said that to me right after a rather challenging meeting. She was the Public Relations Director to the resort development I was attached to as an intern, all those years ago. Once she finished her sentence, all eyes rolled slowly towards me; yes, all five pairs of them. That was my first corporate experience, ever and yes, I was truly elated hearing that.

I was only 18 at that time and pretty much clueless. However, I was lucky to have found myself a mentor. Rita taught me, with day-to-day examples on what corporate etiquette is and I have not looked back since.

What is corporate etiquette?

It actually refers to a set of rules one needs to adhere while at work. There are a couple of spoken ones and most definitely a whole lot of unspoken rules. While the list of corporate etiquette guideline is endless and some of us might even get lost in the translations of it all, to that I say, when in doubt, there is always common sense.

Keeping your workstation clean and tidy should not come in as a surprise to anyone. It is the basis of respect to yourself and definitely, to others. So, the first rule ever of corporate etiquette; keep your area of work neat.

Have you ever walked into an office and see a group or groups of people standing around chatting, laughing loudly and have a really casual attitude at work? You are paid to work not to engage in casual chatter and to loiter about. You want to be taken seriously, take yourself seriously first.

All of us know of a ‘peeper’ or two in the office; I used to sit in a cubicle next to one. Not only she peeped, my cubicle-neighbour, was so interested in what I did all day long. In short, she could tell me in detail what went on in my cubicle. Respect each other’s privacy; do not peep and definitely knock before entering someone’s office.

In this era of connectivity, we go about our day with our phones literally hanging on to us. Keep handphones on vibrating or silent mode while in the office. Imagine having fifty colleagues in the office, all with their ringtones on. One thing is for sure, it is going to be a one really noisy office!

Nasty office politics is a total no-no. Never engage in one. Distasteful, unclassy and what makes you think you are not the subject of their conversation at one point or the other? If your colleagues can talk about others to you, they can surely talk about you to others.

Never shout on anyone; it is unprofessional – stay calm and think rationally at all time; even when the office feels like crumbling down.

As trivial as it may sound, though it is actually not, your personal grooming is a real deal breaker when it comes to corporate etiquette. Pleasant scent, appropriate office attire, proper footwear and groomed hair and face come in tops in my personal book of grooming for excellence.

Always attend a meeting with a notepad and pen. This not only shows that you are interested in what is going to be said, but it also truly helps in remembering points that are discussed in the meeting; which will eliminate the unnecessary questions later.

Never interrupt and always wait for your turn to speak; basic manners everyone should adhere to.

Have you been in a situation where you need a stapler for home use but the thought of going down to the stationery shop really dampens you? Then you thought, ‘Oh well, perhaps I can just take the office stapler; that will solve the problem.’ Well, yes and no. Of course, you now have a stapler for home use but it is not ethical and totally wrong on all levels. Taking something without permission is stealing – there you go!

Never underestimate the power of being punctual. Punctuality only shows that you respect the other person’s time and in that process makes you an even better individual, in the eyes of others. Reaching office or meetings on time should be second to nature.

Data in any form must not be passed to anyone outside the company. That information belongs to the organization you work for and never should be compromised in any way.

Be in your best behaviour, keep your work ethics firm and manners, mild. That way, you will go leaps and bounds in the corporate world

Zu Anjalika Kamis Gunnulfsen is the Editor (Singapore) for Marketing In Asia and certified Image Branding & Lifestyle Consultant. She was also crowned Mrs Singapore Globe 2017. Born in Singapore and blessed to have lived in a couple of other amazing cities in the world, Anjalika is currently expatriating in Kuala Lumpur. Follow her on LinkedIn, Instagram and blog

www.zuanjalika.com,   

LinkedIn –https://www.linkedin.com/in/zuanjalika/

https://www.instagram.com/anjalika_mrssingaporeglobe2017/

Womenlines Digital Wonders Campaign

Womenlines presents ‘Digital Wonders Campaign’  reporting about exclusive brands which can help people to achieve excellence in life.

It is pleasure to share about Yafot Wellness from Singapore which stands out in the field of wellness centres through its holistic offerings based on cutting edge latest technologies along with expert health, nutrition and homoeopathic consultancy to enhance one’s wellness.

Womenlines team is delighted to share the interview of the founders’ of Yafot Wellness, a lovely entrepreneur couple, Mr Sonny Kwok and Mrs Marilyn Kwok, in their own words. Passion to help people to lead a healthy life and to live a life of purpose motivated this couple to establish Yafot Wellness.  Do listen to them in the video shared above and read their interview below-

Q1) Please share with our readers a little bit about yourself!

Sonny: I grew up in Singapore & did my Bachelor & Master degrees in the States. I’ve lived in countries like the Netherlands, China and Hong Kong with my family while working across IT, Consumer & Pharmaceutical industries. I am very thankful for these opportunities.

Marilyn: I was born and raised in Singapore, educated in the US with a Bachelor of Science in Finance. I had worked in the Banking, IT & shipping industries. Not long after, I made the boldest step in my life—to become a full-time mother of three beautiful daughters. Raising them together with my husband during his overseas postings have been my greatest joy.

Q2) When did you start this venture and what inspired/motivated you to take a plunge into this venture?

Sonny: I came to a crossroad at the end of 2017, wondering if I should continue what I do best at MNCs, or to try something different. That’s when we chanced upon this health & beauty business opportunity. It gave us the ability to provide innovative and cutting edge technologies for people to live and be well. It was so appealing that we just went for it!

Marilyn: I have personally experienced loved ones suffering from debilitating diseases and illnesses. This venture not only gave me an opportunity to support Sonny in his career, but it also provides me with the chance to do something I’ve always wanted—to help others live healthily. This creates a purposeful work and the opportunity to work together.

Q3) Can you share with us some challenges that you faced during the initial stages?

Sonny: On the surface, starting a business looks fun and exciting. What you don’t see is how much planning and hard work it requires behind the scenes. For us, every step was a challenge. From creating the business concept to selecting a target audience to negotiate the location, treatments, price positioning, HR, financing & marketing—it sure was hard work.

Marilyn: The greatest challenge for me was to learn new medical and biological terminologies that came along with the work we do. It required me to keep up with the latest technologies in both food science and health and wellness industries.

Q4) How do you balance your personal and professional life?

Sonny: In my previous global jobs, I was only home half the time. It greatly affected our family, relationships wise. Now, since the business is local, I spend most of my time in Singapore. I also get to spend more time with my family, with the bonus of getting to work with my wife and daughters. ?

Marilyn: Initially, the idea of working together was very appealing. However, we had never worked together before. Hence, in reality, it was a challenge for us. At work, we saw a different side of each other that we had never seen before. We began to see the importance of resolving workplace conflicts and to facilitate decision making in the most amicable way. With much discipline and effort, we also learnt how not to talk about work at home. Each night, we would intentionally set aside time to check on our daughters no matter how tired or challenging work was that day.

Q5) What would you suggest to other aspiring entrepreneurs who want to venture out on their own?

Sonny: Planning is of utmost importance, hence it cannot be rushed. However, when it comes to decision-making, it needs to be quick. Also, having a learner’s attitude is what keeps you going. Most importantly, stay humble and take your customers’ feedback to heart!

Marilyn: The strength of your business lies in the strength of your team. It’s crucial to rally teammates that share the same heartbeat as you!

Q6) Is there any person who has mentored/supported/inspired you?

Sonny: We are so thankful for those who have supported us in this new venture, but I want to give special thanks to my mentor Mr Aanandha Sharurajah, Founder of Atos Wellness! He’s a well-respected veteran in the health and wellness industry. He’s been so gracious to share his network and some common pitfalls in the industry with us. There was no obligation for him to do so, but yet he helped us and we are ever so grateful!

Marilyn: The vision itself of helping people live well is what inspires me. I find so much purpose in using my heart and hands to serve others. All that we do at Yafot is inspired by our faith—going back to God’s nature and creation for healing and wholeness.

Q7) What do you have in the pipeline for your venture’s future development?

Sonny: We truly believe in our vision to help people live and be well. We will continue to source for new technologies and the finest supplements for our customers here in Singapore and to the rest of Asia!

Marilyn: In the long term, we want to train and educate people of all nations on how to eat right. In addition to that, we want people to see the benefits of consuming pharmaceutical-grade supplements. The nutrients found in the food we eat today pale in comparison to what you can find in a supplement. We also want to drive the importance of drinking good quality water and to provide edge-cutting technologies for all to benefit from.

Address:

360 Orchard Road, #03-16/17, International Building, Singapore 238869

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yafotwellness/

Contact no- 6951 1220

Womenlines takes pleasure to introduce Payal Nanjiani, a US-based globally acclaimed inspirational speaker, leadership and success coach, as an Influencer for ‘Corporate Success Tips’ on Womenlines panel. Payal is sharing exclusive content with Womenlines which can help women working in the corporate sector to develop leadership skills and success mindset. Payal will look forward to replying to queries from Womenlines readers too! Feel free to drop your questions in the comment section. This month read and listen from her about various strategies about how to handle a tough boss with ease?

All of us wish we would have fantastic managers—bosses who helped us succeed, who made us feel valued, and who supported us. But the reality is different. During your work life, you are going to interact with a boss who micromanages, gets angry or is rude, has too many expectations or is flat out a workplace bully. We’ve all been there—trying valiantly to reason with an incredibly difficult boss. The situation proves frustrating, annoying, and sometimes even frightening. You still have to make the best of the situation and get your job done. There are proven techniques to manage such dicey situations better. Here is one powerful technique using OASIS as a way to deal with a demanding boss. When practised, I assure you that you will see the change in your outcomes.

Work on yourself, not on the boss: Most of us spend hours and hours of our time in wondering how to change the boss. And who has succeeded? And then you become frustrated, your energy at work is drained out and finally, you are on a lookout for another job. And who knows what type of boss you will come across here? So you get stuck in this constant search of finding that ‘perfect boss.’ Instead, when you have a tough boss, take it as a fertile ground for your success and development. Life is allowing you to deal with such situations and people, making you tough for future challenges on your path to success. So use this opportunity and begin to work on yourself. Practice OASIS to change your results.

Observe: Start to observe what all things about your boss irritate you. Do not take anything personally. Stay away from judging.

Accept: Completely accept that this is how your boss is, and this is how he deals with people and situations. Never let your boss’s bad behaviour be an excuse for your own. All too often, people start feeling entitled to slack off, take longer and longer lunches, lose interest or stop performing well because of their bad boss. Don’t do it. Keep your mind focused on top performance.

Stop: Stop building up, negativity around his behaviour. Instead, understand what your boss does, and more importantly, why. When you know what drives your boss (even if your boss may not be fully conscious of it), you can speak to “his listening,” frame your opinions and use language in ways that line up with his core values, concerns, and priorities.

Invest: Rather than complaining about the boss, invest that time in developing skills and coping mechanisms that will help you to focus more on your work. Raise your own leadership capacity to deal with people and situations of any types, anywhere.

Shift: When you get frustrated or angry about your boss behaviours, shift these emotions to calmness by shifting your perspective and thoughts about the situation and person.

Finally, to know how to handle an unreasonable and difficult boss is to truly master the art doing the inner work on yourself first. Everything else will follow through.

Here is a video with a tip that most of the clients have applied and seen the results. https://youtu.be/9Hc7xRvRZck

–Payal Nanjiani

Reach out to Payal at success@payalnanjiani.com or connect with her on LinkedIn or Facebook page. Women leaders and entrepreneurs can now subscribe to the iSucceed-an inspirational podcast for women.

Discover Incredible work done by Payal Nanjiani at  https://www.payalnanjiani.com/  

Content Sponsor Edumilestones: It is an India, (Bangalore) based company. They provide a premium career assessment platform and career counseling certification courses named Certified Career Analyst (CCA) and Certified Counselor for International Studies (CCIS) to over 1800+ professionals across 80 locations in India and abroad for over 10 years. They are official members of APCDA and IAAP international organizations. Their team consists of qualified and experienced top experts from psychology, education, design and IT, investing in extensive research and development.

This month author Ms. Nidhi Borana is sharing a very motivating article about how women can even all the odds in life-

“What would happen if we encouraged all women to be a little more ambitious? I think the world would change.” – Reese Witherspoon

Work by itself is neutral. We do not perform work in a pressure-free environment. The activities we human perform are in a social context – that is, they are characterized by their thoughts, thinking and mental patterns. This has led to the fact that specific meanings and values are attached to work. As a society, we are becoming larger, and more interdependent which makes it vital to divide labour. This division of labour contributes to order and progress in society.

Earlier, only ability and skill-based approaches were used to divide labour. Over time, a variety of social, moral and religious philosophies defined the framework for division of labour. It is from here where work role began to be gender-defined too.

She was fourteen and all ambitious. She wished to be an architect. She spoke of her career plans to her friends, family. She was advised one fine day that it’s not a rational career choice, as it was not meant for the females. “It’s a man’s world out there and it isn’t safe. It’s a lot of field work and requires late working hours.”, she stated. She was advised to look for other career options, that were more woman-friendly. She took this advice seriously. A few years later she mentioned, she regrets not having taken architecture.

Yes, gender stereotyping is very common around the world when it comes to career selection. Women have always been asked to make wise choices, as they would eventually be married and have children. Gender bias for decades has been the norm and now it is time to displace this bias with being Neutral.

Learning skills at every stage of life is constant. From learning to crawl, talk, walk, run, write, these are basic skills we have learnt. When we talk about forming careers, it’s the build-up of skills over the years that allow us to form that career. Evolution is one of the reasons that in certain jobs we see more or only men as they have more muscle mass. But, with growing technology and early training women too can take up those jobs. These jobs include mining, construction, heavy truck drivers, firefighters, army, welders, carpenters and plumbers. Even high-risk jobs like detectives, wildlife photographers have seen this bias. Apart from these, computers repairing, surgeons, bus conductors, automobile drivers, ministers and CEOS are mostly men.

The career we choose defines our contribution to society at large. Women have traditionally lived the role of a homemaker while exhibiting their skills beyond excellence. Some of the jobs where we do find more women are teachers, counsellors, nurses, caretakers and have done well, to say the least.

Amidst all of this for centuries we have had women who sailed through the oceans, flew the jet plane, been surgeons, researchers, fought wars at the borders, nursed the injured and did farming. While these women made history by breaking away from the traditional role of the homemaker, i.e. a housewife and a mother, they are few in ratio.

With gender-neutral education picking up speed and more awareness in society, we have seen women explore other careers more than ever. With primary and secondary education being made mandatory for both boys and girls, their visions have grown. Girls are ambitious and taking their careers very seriously. Today the number of female doctors, architects, pilots, athletes and researchers are on the rise. And what could be more beautiful than the fact that men today are more accepting of women at their workplace? An accepting and comfortable working environment, governments and lawmakers of countries making sure of women’s safety has made working environments women-friendly and made it easier for women to get jobs.

I did some research to find women who have done well in an otherwise male-dominated job.

Mukeshdevi from India runs an auto repair service. It’s her family business.

Shantideva from India is one of the very few tyre technicians. She is an expert at her work and does her work very efficiently.

Kalpana Chawla- the first woman of Indian descent to go to space.

These women inspire so many women to think the unthinkable and dream big.

So, the big question is how young girls and women can even think of taking up careers that are predominantly considered to be a man’s work?

Well, one of the ways is to undergo a psychometric assessment that would bring their interests, personalities and existing skill to their awareness and focus. Although assessment has no age limit, it would be ideal that girls take career assessments at an early age, so that they choose an appropriate field and go ahead for basic or advanced skills training accordingly. They can also chart out their skills training plan for the next few years which will include the selection of possible institutes and mentors, preparation for entrances or competitions and creation of timelines.

Also, through counselling girls and women can be motivated to take up a career of their choice. By organising mentoring programs, we can further motivate them to better their skills and give them emotional support and a psychological edge.

Having a role model has its own benefits. If girls and women have a role model it will encourage them to take up unconventional careers. Making bold choices gives us the best opportunities to stand out and lead the masses. One becomes a role model when one has the edge and does the unconventional to stand out. One such woman from the present day who comes to my mind is Serena Williams, a very successful tennis player. She currently holds the record of 23 grand slams and second highest in women tennis. But what makes it more special is the fact that she won the 23rd slam while three months pregnant. It’s her grit, hard work and determination to win that inspires. And this is just one example, there are so many other such women in the past who made history and so many are in the making. Serena Williams is famous. We can find these role models in our mothers, grandmothers, teachers and mentors who are in our immediate surroundings doing their work so passionately. This brings me to the point, ‘if she can do it so can I.’ Yes, it is POSSIBLE for YOU and for ME to not just dream the unimaginable but ACHIEVE it too. The best way to answer ‘women can’t’ is ‘DO IT’. Take the first step, keep moving and don’t stop. Your actions, hard-work, resilience, the determination shall silence those who question your choices.

So, let us encourage women and motivate them to make the world a better place.

Edumilestones (CCA program) has empowered many women career counsellors who are making a huge impact in shaping the career lives of many individuals.

Ms. Nidhi Borana, is a counselling psychologist & practitioner of arts-based therapy. She is working as a personal counsellor and career counsellor from last 6 years.

Womenlines as an online media partner for IVenture, presented by APACSMA and conceptualized by Zee TV and Dream Catchers, takes pleasure to share synopsis about the whole event. Do check out the video series of the event shared above–

If a platform comes up for entrepreneurs with all ingredients for learning opportunity, growing one’s network with right mindset people and above all getting felicitation from the leaders around, it is definitely going to be a huge success, and IVenture, presented by APACSMA, conceptualized by Zee TV and Dream Catchers and powered by BlockOn in Singapore fell in this category of success story!

The IVenture platform was created with the aim of giving an opportunity to entrepreneurs in Singapore to connect, learn and grow together as an Entrepreneur community. To fulfil this, for over 2 days organizers curated activities and an exciting line up of speakers, who shared their experience, knowledge and skills with all of the participants. IVenture was organised from 6th June-7th June at S P Jain School of Global Management, Singapore.

Shalima Motial Founder & CEO of Dream Catchers was both the co-producer along with Zee TV & the Emcee for both the days of the workshop. She opened the ceremony by congratulating all the top Entrepreneurs & saying a hearty thanks to all sponsors and media partners. Starting with “Presenting Sponsor “APACSMA- The School for Sales & Marketing. Powered by BlockOn, Associate Sponsor Joyalukas; Knowledge Partners – SP Jain School of Global Management, StartUpO, Singapore Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry ;F & B Partners -Rocking Rickshaw, Official Media Partners “India Se’ Supporting Partners – Founders Junction and Womenlines, Photography and Videography partners- SKG Arts and Picture Perfect.

Tripta Singh Executive Vice President Zee Network invited Dr John Fong- CEO and Head of Campus SP Jain School of Global Management to address the participants

The first session of the day was carried exceptionally well by Dr Bhanu Ranjan, Associate Professor, S P Jain School of Global Management. She spoke about an interesting topic – ‘ Are you an effective negotiator?’ This session was followed by very informative sharing by Mr Kumaran Barathan, CEO of Singapore Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry who spoke on the topic ‘Business Transformation through Digitization’.
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Mr Parthiban from AEN was the next speaker. Mr Fred from StartUpO spoke on a very interesting topic “Art of Persuasion. Ms Shobha Tsering Bhalla, Founder and Managing director, India Se, was the last speaker for the first day of the event. She shared the unique challenges faced by entrepreneurs in Singapore.

To wrap up the evening on a fun note, there was a musical team activity called the “Drum Circle” which acted as an icing on the cake by involving all participants coming up with a unique musical piece by using various Musical Instruments.

Next day of IVenture saw Entrepreneurs coming up with renewed excitement & energy to soak in more from the speakers of that day. They were also excited about the “Felicitation Ceremony” organized in the evening for them, indeed a proud moment for each of them. Dr Veena Jadhav- Assistant Dean (EMBA) & Assistant Professor (HRM) was the first speaker on the second day of IVenture. Her topic was ‘Entrepreneurship beyond boundaries’.

Linda Harjadi from Facebook carried an interesting session on ‘How to use Facebook to grow business ‘. Joining next was Ms Zeenath Kuraisha – CEO, Head of Corporate & Academic Solutions at Asia Pacific Sales & Marketing Academy and Presenting sponsor for IVenture. She inspired the participants with her success story and spoke about ‘Business and Sustainability’.

Mr Jagdish Pandya- Founder & Chairman, BlockOn Capital Pte Ltd was the last speaker for the session. He shared all the valuable lessons he learnt throughout his entrepreneurial journey with the participants.

Deputy High Commissioner of India to Singapore Mr.Ninad Deshpande was the Guest of Honour for the event.

IVenture was quite a successful event as it gave a wonderful opportunity to all participants to reflect upon their entrepreneurial journey, to acquire new skills and mindset and also to network with like mindset entrepreneurs. Kudos to Dream Catchers and Zee TV for coming up with such an innovative platform.

Let Excellence be your brand!

Charu Mehrotra

Founder Womenlines

                                                         Dr Muller’s Infinity for Red Light Therapy 

Womenlines Digital Wonders Campaign

Yafot Wellness is a local health and wellness business in Singapore that seeks to provide the best services and products to help people achieve optimal health and wholeness, starting from the inside out. Yafot uniquely combines a variety of cutting-edge technologies along with expert health, nutrition and homoeopathic consultancy to enhance one’s wellness.

This week Womenlines is excited to share two of their innovative treatments Oxygen Rejuvenation Therapy and Signature Collagen Thermal Therapy from Germany and Japan–

Oxygen Rejuvenation Therapy

Oxygen. A vital yet often overlooked resource that our bodies depend on. Most of us have yet to learn about the extraordinary impacts of having a regular and healthy supply of oxygen in our bodies.

Due to ageing, decreasing oxygen levels in our environment and unhealthy habits/lifestyles, many face the silent yet alarming issue of oxygen deficiency. 

With Yafot’s 20 minutes high concentration oxygen therapy, you get to enjoy a consistent supply of 40% oxygen concentration. It is a simple yet powerful therapy for your mind and body.

Some of its Benefits:

(i) Recover from Fatigue

(ii) Skin Rejuvenation

(iii) Enhanced Immunity

(iv) Enhance Memory

(v) Greater Efficiency and Concentration in Work

Signature Collagenic Thermal Therapy

The highlight of this treatment features a session of Dr Muller’s Red Light Therapy, coupled with the use of our proprietary Rare Diamond Thermal Carbon Sheets, an innovation from Japan. Unique from its counterparts, it is a full body experience that covers you from head to toe. Other than stimulating your body to produce collagen, this treatment has many other benefits, both health and beauty related.

Red light wavelengths produce regenerative effects in our body when it comes into contact with our cells. By impacting cells on a cellular level, red light therapy has shown that it readily brightens one’s skin tone and improves texture. It also soothes inflammation, improves mild acne, and treats fine lines and wrinkles.

Thanks to its capability to stimulate collagen, red light therapy also aids in pain relief and muscle repair. Those who experience pain in their joints or muscles benefit from red light therapy, because of its regenerative effects to boost joint and musculoskeletal health.

In addition to having red light therapy, we have the Rare Diamond Thermal Carbon (RDTC) sheets that complement the treatment. With the use of RDTC sheets, the red light wavelengths are able to pass deeper into the body, through skin, fat and muscle and into one’s inorganic bone matter. It amplifies the red light wave resonance, resulting in greater regenerative effects on the body.

Offerings from Yafot Wellness are exclusive and can help people to achieve optimal health. Do contact Yafot’s friendly team to find out more about the offerings! 

Live Well, Feel Great – Yafot Wellness

Address:

360 Orchard Road, #03-16/17, International Building, Singapore 238869

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yafotwellness/

Contact no- 6951 1220

Womenlines takes pleasure to share about a wonderful initiative by an organisation SCHOOL (Society of Community Health Oriented Operational Links), which is very passionately working on very interesting projects on the teenage group and also on the elderly group in India, with the intention to provide the best support system to them while engaging other sectors around too. Listen from the CEO of SCHOOL, Dr Benazir Patil in the above video what is SCHOOL about and why you should support them in their initiatives-

Let us reach out to the adolescents of India

Today, we have the largest adolescent population the world has ever known – 1.2 billion, and about 89% of them live in developing countries.

In India itself, the adolescent population comprises over 1/4th of the total population and by 2020, India is set to become the world’s youngest country with 64% of its population in the working age group.

 This makes today and our time now, one of excess potential as well as one filled with great vulnerability for our upcoming generation.

 Investing in the development of India’s adolescent populace can help ensure a better future for them, one of equality and devoid of poverty.

 Through the ‘Teen Coalition’ SCHOOL works with Adolescents of India

 Teen Coalition seeks to invest in adolescents in order to generate a ‘triple dividend’ 

• improving their present lives

• aiding their transition to successful adulthood

• ensuring the overall wellbeing of the next generation

What we do

• Build effective platforms for adolescent engagement

• Draw attention to the rights and needs of girls and boys

• Design interventions that support adolescents’

• • • health and well-being

    • education and learning

    • protection from harm

    • economic opportunities

    • participation and engagement

    • and social protection

 Your contribution will help us deliver on our collective goals and secure a better future for India’s adolescents.

To know more about SCHOOL please visit https://www.school4dev.org/ .

Womenlines wants to request readers to help SCHOOL in whatever possible way (financially, volunteer, supporter, partnership) to help them to deliver successful projects, which can be a real help to that section of society which is actually looking forward to a helping hand, to live a better life!

Charu Mehrotra

Let Excellence be your brand

Founder- Womenlines