Restart. Adapt. Rise

International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Here at EdMyst, we could not have been more elated to host an event in lieu of the same on March 8, 2021.

Career breaks can be hard and getting back to the workspace is a whole another experience. During the event, EdMyst’s experts shared their experiences of creating a successful career boomerang with the #TakeTwo participants, a cohort of inspiring women who are aiming to make a comeback to their careers. Our key speakers for the event were Aparna Khastgir, Kakoli Das, Priya Sriram, and Winston De Rosario. The event aimed to look beyond the hard skills and technical training that we go through in our everyday life.

We kickstarted on a rather encouraging note as Kakoli Das read out the infamous words of Maya Angelou:

As a working woman, Kakoli was surprisingly not a fan of the weekends and missed her workplace. Certainly, taking a break was not easy for her. She shares that while being a mother is a beautiful role in itself, there have been days when she missed her other job. When she decided to get back to work in 2017, she was unsure of expressing her opinions out loud because she felt that she did not have the same amount of knowledge as her then bosses and co-workers. She found herself in a vicious cycle of guilt, self-doubt, and unlearning a lot of things that she had learnt and experienced through the course of her professional life. However, what motivated her to get better and do better was knowing and understanding the feeling of belongingness. She reminded herself that she was going to belong to whatever organization she associated herself with. From then to now, she has advised and led various entrepreneurial ventures and has coached herself to be re-established at the workplace. She teaches us to honor and own our aspirations.

In the words of another one of our coaches and co-founders, Aparna Khastgir, it is necessary to let people know your opinion and pitch in your thoughts whenever you wish to. She reminds us of how nothing is to ever become a weakness for a person as long as they are looking at the shortcoming as an opportunity to learn, improve, and grow.

When sharing her views on the topic and women empowerment as a whole, Priya Sriram tells us that having worked with various diverse and inclusive organizations, she has learnt that the amount of effort put in by women get back to work remains unparalleled. In addition to the opinion of those aforementioned, Priya too, believes that depriving yourself of putting in your ideas, and speaking for yourself is one of the greatest feelings a woman can deprive herself of. She reminds our young women in the audience that there have been women before them who made successful career boomerangs and just like the ones who have already undergone the process, these women are going to be great too. The meeting attendees learn that taking a sabbatical regardless of your role, gender, and reason, is never a waste of time. The amount of growth that can potentially be attained is noteworthy and commendable.

Winston De Rosario shared his own experiences of having worked with women and let the diligent and enthusiastic women know that the world is theirs to seize. One cannot let themselves be restricted due to the fear of committing a mistake. Believing in one’s self is most integral no matter what the field be. On account of International Women’s Day, he conveyed a message that we need to spread every day; women bring different perspectives to the table. He also highlighted how important the network is when working, or when getting back to work.

EdMyst is currently preparing the women who are a part of the #TakeTwo program for their recruitment drive in April by providing them with interview preparation and resume review services. If you are a woman willing to make a comeback to your workplace, EdMyst’s coaches are here to help you. Sales Performance coaching