Womenlines is proud to associate as Online Media Partner for International Youth Innovation and Leadership Forum (IYLIF 2017). #IYLIF2017 is a conference for youth from all around the world to speak, discuss and collaborate on topics that matter to them. This event is going to be organized by As Many Minds on 2nd Sep in Singapore. As Many Minds is a platform to bring out the creativity, innovation, confidence, and communication of millions of young minds around the world. As Many Minds strongly believe that innovations happen when an environment is created to foster creativity, meaningful dialogues, diversity, and collaborations.

Visit http://www.iylif.com for more details about the forum.

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting excellence in women!

As Plato mentioned “Music gives a soul to the universe,
wings to the mind,
flight to the imagination,
and life to everything.”
Music adds life to everyday life!

Music at the time of pregnancy listened by expecting mothers can lead to positive affect for both mother and baby. Researchers have proved that students can be smarter in their reasoning power if they are listening to classical music like Bach, Mozart and other types. Further researches also proved that-

“Music seems to prime our brains for certain kinds of thinking. After listening to classical music, adults can do certain spatial tasks more quickly, such as putting together a jigsaw puzzle.Why does this happen? The classical music pathways in our brain are similar to the pathways we use for spatial reasoning. When we listen to classical music, the spatial pathways are “turned on” and ready to be used.” This was mentioned in The Telegraph in Mar 2015 edition.

Nowadays Music based on alpha waves is in trend.

Alpha waves vibrate at a much more manageable 8 to 13 Hz. They are generally associated with relaxation and contemplation, but depending on which frequency recording you listen to, Alpha waves can be superb for focusing on work, studying and being creative and artistic.

So my dear Gals let’s get set to use all types of music for benefit of our family:)

1. Religious music in morning for relaxation
2. Work out music to pump energy
3. Classical or Alpha music during study time
4. Movie music eve time to entertain the whole family

“Every Night in my dreams…..” oops I already started humming;)…what are you going to listen to friends? Do share!!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting excellence in women!

It is the blessed time you are living in friends!

You are empowered with information because of surplus channels, you are empowered with right mindset because of your education and you are empowered with confidence because of your right grooming. As a working woman, you are really working hard to be financially independent and live life on your own terms. It is your duty to yourself to tap into all sources which can help you in saving money to secure your future. A little amount of homework, time management, and passion can help you to save money and utilize it for better investments-

1.Exercise at home– Exercise is a must activity for any woman who wants to lead a healthy life. Doing exercises at gyms under the guidance of trainers is quite in fashion.  This requires investment in terms of time and money. If you are able to create a set of exercise as per your body requirement with a combination of Yoga and aerobics there is no need to go to the gym at all. Social media is full of such articles which can teach certain exercises to be carried at home.

2. Cook at home- Gals make cooking your hobby. Stop taking it as a mundane activity. Change your mindset for cooking as it is very well said- “You look what you eat”. And once you start cooking with an intention of looking good and healthy you will be amazed seeing the results. Save money by avoiding ordering food, plan out healthy cooking dates with friends, make groups of like-minded people who want to explore healthy cooking and share healthy recipes with each other

3. Groom at home- Most of the women dreams to look as beautiful as she can and goes to any extent to spend money and avail various beauty grooming services for her benefit. It all takes a little attention to hair and skin and enhancing inner beauty by eating well to look beautiful. Parlours and spas can be helpful in providing instant solutions to your beauty problems. But in the long run, your personal care will be responsible for your outer and inner beauty. Therefore friends start empowering yourself with knowledge and to do a list of actions to be taken at home for your beauty care. After all, you are considered to be a multitasker, everything is possible for you!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting excellence in women!

Energy is the source of all actions and as a woman, we have to carry out so many activities and play various roles of mother, sister, wife, we need energy in abundance. Energy is the key to giving 100% to all roles. The moment we have less energy our performance is affected and so the family is also disturbed.

Everybody wants the lady of the house to be happy, jovial, energetic with lots of smiles and above all healthy. But as we are consumed by various emotions throughout the day our energy levels fluctuate throughout the day. Healthy mind, healthy body, with positive emotions, help in generating a positive flow of energy. Now the challenge is how one can generate positive thoughts throughout the day. Here are 3 amazing rituals I came across and would love to share with my readers, which can help in managing your energy level throughout the day-

1. Get mindful about your emotions. How are you feeling at any particular time of the day and then how are you reacting to those emotions can help in managing oneself positively. Obviously, people perform better in the positive energy environment. Therefore search for those positive energy generators in your life

2. Right nutrition and the right amount of sleep helps in managing emotions in the better way.So friends please take your eating habit seriously. Eating right kind of food like banana which can help in generating positive emotions can help in managing oneself better way.

3. Appreciating others is the other way one can feel better and filled with gratitude. Gratitude helps in connecting with others and placing them at the larger place than oneself. When we appreciate others that feeling of connectivity fills us with all positive emotions and thus increase our inner power.

What are the other ways you are following to increase your inner energy levels:)! Please do share tips friends by adding comments below.

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting excellence in women!

I came across the concept of SoulKids® and felt so exhilarated!

The first time I heard about this unique program was from Shivani, Co-founder of SoulKids® Academy East Coast at an event where we met for the very first time. In those brief moments, Shivani shared with me about the work she does with children and how significant are life-skills in their upbringing.

Her passion and niche had always been to work with children and help them to broaden their mindsets, and this is exactly what she has achieved through her work as a life-skills coach since 2014 at her own academy where she offers coaching and group workshops using the SoulKids® platform, originally founded by Vikas Malkani.

We as adults are aware that most of the issues that we face in life are stemmed from our childhood beliefs. With this in mind, SoulKids® was created, especially for kids, to bring essential life skills to them from a very young age and to inspire them to change the beliefs they carry about themselves and to learn what is possible and what they can potentially achieve.

In today’s busy world, parents are not able to take the time to teach such life skills to their kids. Good news is that these can be taught and children definitely benefit from that additional guidance and respond very well.

Women Lines managed to have a catch up with Shivani and know a bit more about her everyday passion. Shivani is a mom of 2 lovely children 12 & 6, who she jokingly says, still manage to have their little fights and arguments despite a 6-year gap! But what makes her say this in a very calm tone is because this is what she helps others in – parents and children in their attitude and beliefs.

It is pleasure for Women Lines to share what, Shivani has to say about parenting, something she often shares with the parents during her interactions with them-

“Children are our most prized and precious assets!

We as parents, are constantly evolving and learning about our children as well as ourselves from the moment we embark on our parenting journey!

However, as much as being a parent is a paramount feeling of completion, parenting our children through the different phases of their lives can be a challenging and daunting ride, be it an infant, a toddler, a tween, a teen or a young adult!

Along with this continual ride of parenting, we experience countless accomplishments and failures, engage in agreements and conflicts, embrace ups and downs and at times simply give in to circumstances which are a result of external factors out of our control!

Needless to say that not one way of parenting is more superior or perfect than the other. Every parent and his or her family define their own rules and values.

What is important is, to create a strong foundation for your child, which is where the role of life-skills plays a part! The best part is that children can be given that extra support and guidance on such life-skills from as young as 6 years old!”

Shivani offers individual coaching and group life-skills workshops for children aged 6 to 15 years old using the SoulKids® programs of Self-Confidence™, Creative Mind-set™, and SoulKids One-on-One coaching™.

Why SoulKids® One-on-One coaching? How can it support your child?

A highly effective and beneficial tool for children to help them in the emotional, social & intellectual skills is the SoulKids individual coaching for children.

SoulKids® Coaching is a unique process by which, your child receives practical tools that enable them to develop greater self-confidence, enhance their sense of responsibility, become happier, expand their creative thinking, release stress, and expand their mindset and belief systems.

It is a great option to help children deal with:

• Exam stress and fear
• Lack of motivation in their academics
• Not able to identify their unique talents or skills
• Bullying and rejection at school as well as other situations
• Peer pressure and dealing with their expectations
• Image and body issues especially with teens
• Communication problems with peers, teachers, and family.
• Separation of parents or other family problems
• Dealing with sickness or loss of a loved one

Children who have taken up one-on-one coaching, have benefited immensely by overcoming their limitations, anxieties, and fears & blooming into happy and successful individuals. Very convenient as you can mutually work out the day & time of the sessions with your coach. Packages are also available to give your child a continued support channel he/she needs.

Group Life-skills workshops:

Life-skills can be taught in a very fun and engaging manner. Children are trained on life skills not taught in schools such as leadership skills, teamwork, self-confidence, creativity, focus and other positive qualities.

The entire SoulKids® training is geared to raise a child’s level of self-esteem, to see his natural strengths, talents, and abilities and to strengthen his sense of self-belief.

• Children are taught the importance of:
• Having a vision, creating goals and then taking action to achieve them.
• Working together with teams to achieve a goal is encouraged
• Staying positive during negative events
• Embracing change with an open mind
• Never giving up and finish what they started

The result is that children experience an increased sense of self-awareness and self-esteem.

The program is loved by children, who want to keep coming back for more! It is taught by way of stories, games, role-plays and activities and the fun element is at its peak. It helps children step into the world as happy, confident and successful individuals as they are able to relate to the wisdom and life lessons very well.

To know more or sign-up your child connect with Shivani at +6581808094. Check out parent reviews and their schedule for May 2017 at   www.facebook.com/soulkids.ec1

Be present!

Yes friends, being fully present in the present time can be the real mantra of success. There are so many spheres in life where we as an individual have to continuously keep contributing to lead life successfully. Muti-tasking was considered an easy solution some time back, but it is not worth as it takes away the real impact of the activity carried by you. The objective in life should not just keep ticking off your to-do list. You have to analyze and absorb the impact you have created. You have to also check if your objective has been achieved or not?

For eg. you are conversing, be present emotionally, physically. Suppose you are playing with you child, be fully present.How it creates impact-you are having quality time with your child, you are able to enjoy yourself and have lovely memories as you are having a real feel and also you are happy.

Yes,  this gives you the real sense of life, real connection, and real feelings. Same goes for your work, your connections, your responsibilities. The multi-tasking activity has to be twisted with the addition of the element of full mindfull presence in the present activity.

I consider this can help us achieve more success and create more happiness in life!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting excellence in women!

Entrepreneurs always look out for learning out ways to increase sales process in their business. I have come across these 2 videos which I think can be really helpful to fellow entrepreneurs-

I will request entrepreneurs to share their favorite sales related videos which they think can help people improve their skills. Thanks in advance:0!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting excellence in women!

Very Happy International Women’s Day to lovely womenfolk around! 

Keep shining, smiling and dreaming always. Dreams can come true if one works towards fulfilling them. It is all about what goals one has in life and how she wants to achieve.

It is pleasure to share about a wonderful dreamer’s dreams which she has turned into reality with her hard work and dedication. Women Lines has shared about Shalima Motial in the entrepreneur of the month section sometimes back. On the occasion of IWD Shalima is sharing her splendid achievements in details which give a message that every thing is possible if you take action. Get some dose of motivation friends by reading about her achievements-

Shalima Motial, founder, and CEO of Dream Catchers has stayed true to her company’s name and has helped catch hundreds of people’s dreams! Dream Catchers is an online talent showcase company that also does niche events onstage/offline. Dream Catchers has the fandom of 17,000 fans who support the 1100+ entertainers and models Dream Catchers has showcased.  

The first few chapters of Dream Catchers’ journey involves Dream Catchers launch event “Love to Dance”: A competitive platform for women to showcase their dancing talent. Dancers from France, Singapore, Malaysia, India and Spain made up the 60 women represented in 8 groups who tore the stage down with stellar performances. The top three groups won big cash prizes sponsored by Dream Catchers. And if we flip a few pages forward, we’ll see a beautiful 4 seasons of “Most Wanted Entertainer”: An online talent contest that roped in over 500 artists! Dream Catchers received entries from Singapore, Malaysia, America, Russia, Philippines, Canada and India which summed up to a show-stopping start.

Along Dream Catcher’s voyage to catch dreams, many collaborations were born. For two years in a row, they presented as NUS’s online talent partners for their competition “Stardust”. During this voyage, Dream Catchers has had many ongoing collaborations with Radio Masti which brought to us a sundry of events. They associated with Colors channel as their online talent partners to bring “Colors Got Talent” and “Jhalak Dikhla ja (2016)”. Dream Catchers joined hands with artist Druv Kent to present Battle of the Bands (2016). The three bands who won were ushered to the prestigious Victoria Arts Theatre where they got an opportunity to perform! Shalima Motial organized Bandwidths’ 2013 and 2016 concert both of which were a rocking success! The 2016 concert was a sold-out show one week ahead of time with 1100 people attending. Teamwork Production’s Fans of Salim Sulaiman had Dream Catchers on their side as their online talent partners. They brought many artists on board for the competition and winners got a chance to perform on stage with none other than Salim and Sulaiman themselves(Composers of more than 100 Bollywood Film songs)

They partnered in a similar fashion for Fans of Farhan Akhtar too.

The most recent chapters have two going on three beautiful seasons of Runway Mom penned down. Runway Mom, Runway Lovers is Shalima’s  brainchild: Runway Mom, Runway Lovers is a platform for women of all ages, sizes, and backgrounds to walk the ramp with their loved ones. Whether it be, their spouse and/or child. Moms get to create lifetime memories that they’ll cherish for years to come. The event is packaged with seven pre-events where all the momdels (Mom models) get to let their hair down and embrace womanhood. It’s a perfect time to be talking about Runway Mom, Runway Lovers (Third season) as International Women’s day is right around the corner holding hands with Runway Mom, Runway Lovers! “Providing a platform for someone else to excel and catch their dreams is the most gratifying experience. It’s amazing how many forces unite and contribute to relevant projects like these and make them a success.” (Shalima Motial, Founder and CEO of Dream Catchers). Approximately 130 women would have walked the ramp at the wrap of the third season. This just means 130 women’s dreams Dream Catchers has caught. Each season has outdone itself and we can’t wait to see what more magic Dream Catchers have added in the 3rd season (11th March 2017).

Shalima is so happy that she’s been Blessed to be a part of something greater than herself and that she’s been able to catch people’s dreams through Dream Catchers. She believes that: “A great entrepreneur, will keep reinventing her/his business to cater to the needs of the market and this requires resilience and determination’. Dream Catchers has not only catered to the needs of the market but has catered to the need of fulfilling our dreams. We can’t wait for what’s next in store!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting excellence in women!

1. Live in the Moment    

A must daily reminder to keep focus in present moment only and concentrate all thoughts actions and full energy on the job getting done to the best of one’s ability. Let’s face it, friends, that our mind is a chatter box with continuously ongoing monkey chatter. We should be motivating ourselves to keep ourselves not only physically but also emotionally, mentally in the present moment only.

2. Empathize more

In the daily rush, we often forget to understand other people and want to prove our point only. Being a better listener can help a lot to understand others point of views. There should be authenticity in our relationship and not mere for the sake of having a relationship.  This reminder is very important to keep our human values intact and in use and just not live a robotic life. It is all about having the empathetic approach to everybody.

3. Increase efficiency of time management

Time is precious and when it goes it never comes back. Our approach should be being mindful of the most productive usage of our time. Whether with family or work, we should work on simplifying our life and instead of multi-tasking we should be giving priority to our to-do list. In today’s techno world there are a variety of tools which can help in increasing ur productivity and efficiency. Apps like Evernote, Trello, are very helpful. I will request my readers to share their favorite apps which help them to increase their productivity.

4. Develop a Daily Inspirational Routine

Every day is a new day friend. Don’t let yourself drowned in everyday routine. To live life fully daily inspirational routine can help us to keep our motivation high, always. As a woman, we have to play many roles which demand energy and focus. Keep 10 mins every day to revise your goals in life, reading inspirational articles and listening to motivational videos.

5.  Always speak up and stand for yourself

As a woman, we often keep things to ourselves and don’t share our exact thoughts regarding various topics. Either in office or home, when there is need to stand in our favor, generally a majority of womenfolk prefer to keep quiet. If we really want to excel in life this habit needs to be changed. Speak up for yourself. You have full right to ask what you deserve.

Keep revising these goals friends and keep climbing the ladder of success. I wish you best of happiness and success in your life journey. Cheers!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting excellence in women!

Social Media is a craze in today’s times!

Certainly, there are both positive and negative repercussions as of excessive indulgence in use of social media by users. I am getting overwhelmed by the wave of positive messages sharing on various social media platforms. Either in form of quotations or stories, whole social media is filled with groups, pages, websites and a lot more which talk about the importance of being positive in life.

It is a beautiful life, which we normally tend to forget to live fully by surrounding ourselves with all negative emotions of frustration, depression, getting disheartened, and so many other negative emotions. In such scenario, all this social media sharing really helps people to fight with their negativities and live a positive life. Especially for old age group, social media is really a channel to keep themselves connected and read what they like. Life is busy for everybody and then such sharing on facebook, whats app or other social media only help us to stay connected and help each other to be positive always. Instead of getting influenced by the negative side of social media craze let’s just focus on positive reading and sharing which can help us to excel in life.

It is time to carry out this positivity movement on a larger scale and share so much positivity around so that nobody is sad and living their life fully by living in present. So keep on sharing positive stories friends and be a part of this movement!!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting excellence in women!

I was previously an Assistant Vice President at OCBC Bank. Primarily focused on launching the digital initiatives and campaigns, working closely with the wealth, digital and marketing to drive innovations.

Previously served as Risk Assurance Associate at PwC London office, worked with UK Financial Institutions to develop implementation plans for the changes required for USA Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) compliance and regulatory assessment for UK Financial Institutions.

I started PolicyPal in April 2016, have since joined Startupbootcamp Fintech and Income Future Starter.

2. So when did you venture into this venture and what inspired or motivated you to take a plunge into this venture?

Several years ago, my mom was diagnosed with cancer and had her insurance claim unexpectedly rejected because of several lapses my family was unaware of. Despite the medical crisis, my siblings and I had to scour through stacks of insurance documentation to check and understand the extent of my Mum’s coverage. This painful experience made me realized the importance of having a well-organized folder of my insurance policies and documents.

I thought, if this could happen to me, it could happen to anyone. Why not create a digital folder for my friends to consolidate their insurance policies? Without a doubt, it was hard for me to give up a career on the leadership management track in the banking sector. However, I soon realized that my conviction to help make a difference to the lives around me was simply over empowering.

3. Can you share with us some of the challenges you faced during your initial days?

The startup is difficult. Focus, do one business at a time and commit to it until it blooms and blossoms. As the insurance space is huge, we had many people telling us to try different managing different areas and move to banking accounts, investments, etc. Figuring out how to juggle near-term priorities with mid to long-term priorities. There is no “one” thing – it could be funding, product development, partnerships, recruiting, etc.

Talent or lack thereof is a huge problem. We need super smart, highly motivated team to create a great startup. Unfortunately, these are hard to come by unless you are willing to pay top market rate. There are not enough resources yet so many opportunities., we need to have laser focus and know when to say no. There are so many opportunities that it can quickly distract the progress if we try to address them all.

I also learned that we must be ready to fail as it’s another form of learning. It’s a journey, not a destination, so you better enjoy the trip!

4. So how do you balance your personal and professional life?

It takes being mindful of priorities. You do the business to make your life better, not give your life to make the business better. The kids will only be little for a very small time, and if you miss that, you can’t make it up. Relationships matter to most of us. It’s easier to build a business or find a new job than to find a new spouse.

One insight required is that at a startup there is always more to do. Work could be 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and there will still be more to do. So you stay aware of what’s most important.

5. What would you suggest to other aspiring women who want to venture out on their own?

Find a female Mentor: Being a woman, and finding and working with female mentors have been a game changer. There are many experiences you will have as an aspiring entrepreneur that men don’t undergo, and it’s important to find and build friendships, mentorships, with the same gender who can understand 100% what you’re going through. Find female groups and initiatives that provide support to each other.

Don’t spread yourself too thin. Find out what you believe in, and learn what you don’t know. It will be somewhere awesome because of the hard work you put into your journey. Don’t just start a tech startup to start a tech startup. It’s too difficult. Rather, go deep on a mission, market that captures your curiosity, and that you can imagine working on for the next 10 years. Be extraordinarily good at it that people come to you for your expertise.

Work smarter, not harder. Your career as an entrepreneur is not about, “Just keep going.” It’s about, ”What can I do to deliver and build the thing I am passionate about bringing into this world?” You can find shortcuts that allow you to serve your market and show amazing results.

6. Is there any person who has mentored/supported/inspired you?

J.K. Rowling had just gotten a divorce, was on government aid, and could barely afford to feed her baby in 1994, just three years before the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, was published. While Rowling was writing the first book she lost her mother Anne and so she introduced more about Harry’s loss in the first book. When she was shopping it out, she was so poor she couldn’t afford a computer or even the cost of photocopying the 90,000-word novel, so she manually typed out each version to send to publishers. It was rejected dozens of times until finally Bloomsbury, a small London publisher, gave it a second chance after the CEO’s eight-year-old daughter fell in love with it.

7. What do you have in the pipeline for your venture’s future development?
PolicyPal is looking to collaborate with insurers to help them bridge their gap with the consumers. We will soon be launching a feature where you can start sharing your insurance policies with your family members so that they can have access to them during an emergency.