Fifth Digital Women Awards: Celebration, Conversations And Kung Fu Nuns!

In a sparkling ceremony on Saturday in Gurgaon, SheThePeople Digital Women Awards celebrated not just women entrepreneurship but also showcased thought-provoking conversations on various aspects of running businesses, big or small. There was networking, great food and a platform to rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in the biz world, and if that wasn’t enough the famed Kung Fu nuns flew down all the way from Leh to raise the energy quotient of the room a few notches up. Here are some of the key highlights of the event.

Meet the champions

Sahee Wasan of MooiBox, who won an award in the eCommerce category was elated with her win, and said, “It feels great to win an award under the eCommerce category. A big thank you to SheThePeople for recognizing Mooibox's work and encouraging and motivating budding women entrepreneurs across the country!”

Digital Women Awards: showcasing champion women entrepreneurs.

Awardee Natasha Lorraine, Founder of WordsEdge, who won an award in the marketing category said, “To be a woman recognised in the digital field is such an honour. I am forever grateful to the team of SheThePeople.TV, Google and Colors TV.”

While spoken word artist Jasmine Khurana, SUTA sareers founders Sujata Biswas and Taniya Biswas and Pratibha Sharma of Rural Handmade won the awards in the Leadership category, Arpita Vyas of Wings2Fly, Swarnima Bhattacharya of Thea Care and Veda Dean, founder of EcoWarrior App won in the Social Impact category.

It feels great to win an award under the eCommerce category. A big thank you to SheThePeople for recognizing Mooibox's work and encouraging and motivating budding women entrepreneurs across the country! - Sahee Wasan, Mooibox founder.

Fireside chats and crucial conversations on leadership

The 2019 Digital Women Awards, powered by Google and ColorsTV also saw many engaging conversations, which enriched the audience with varying perspectives on leadership skills and offered answers to a lot of questions that women entrepreneurs struggle to ask, to the right people.

Anavila Mishra At Digital Women Awards

In a one on one conversation with SheThePeople.TV Founder Shaili Chopra, Director of Travel, BFSI, Classifieds, Gaming, Telco and Payments at Google, Roma Datta Chobey touched on why there was a need for change in perception about entrepreneurship among women themselves and why they should promote themselves and their ventures without any inhibitions. Said she, “It is a known fact that women often under-represent themselves. Women should never hold themselves back. They should engage, talk with people from different sectors, look for mentors and promote themselves in a systematic way. There are many organisations and platforms that allow and guide women to speak about their journeys and success stories. Women should definitely use them to promote themselves and elevate other women.”

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Debjani Ghosh is the President of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), the apex body for the IT-BPM industry in India on the other hand emphasised on why women needed to stop apologising for being confident and good at what they do. “I grew up in a very large family of 12 boys and I was the only girl. And I had a father who would tell me a hundred times a day that I’m the best, that I’m better than all my brothers. I grew up believing that and I don’t apologise for believing I’m the best. So I always ensure that I do what I need to do in the best way possible. Women, I think, we need to stop apologising for believing we’re good,” said she.

Cindy Gire of US AID at Digital Women awards

Another star speaker at the event, who got a loud cheer from the audience was pastry chef, and owner of the Le15 Patisserie bakery chain Pooja Dhingra, who shared her culinary journey from learning to bake at the age of six to using digital media to take her business to new heights. Pooja also emphasised on how essential it was for women to be involved in the financial aspect of their business from day one. She said, “The nature of all businesses is to generate money, and as much passion as you may have, eventually you have to figure out how you’re going to monetise it. And I think that’s a very, very important skill for all women to have.”

The 2019 Digital Women Awards, powered by Google and ColorsTV saw many engaging conversations, which enriched the audience with varying perspectives on leadership skills and offered answers to a lot of questions that women entrepreneurs struggle to ask, to the right people.

Suresh Narayanan, CMD, Chairman and Managing Director at Nestlé India, gave a powerful talk on how women can hone their leadership skills and why it was important to concentrate on your personal well-being, in order to be a good leader. He also encouraged women to not play the field by the rules set by men. “Don't behave like women in men's world, behave like women in a world,” said he.

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Kung Fu nuns had us holding our breath

Kung Fu nuns at Digital Women Awards

The stage was then set for the enigmatic Kung Fu nuns from Leh, who were equal parts energetic and graceful. The audience had their hearts in their mouths as the nuns performed their training routine, both bare handed and with fans. They got a thunderous applause from those present and rightly so, for charging the room with sheer feminine power.

Networking over delicious food and coffee

The ceremony wasn’t just about celebrating women who have left a mark on the digital space as entrepreneurs, but also a great opportunity for those present to bond over great food. A steaming cup of coffee or tea was all that you needed to bond with those whom you may have met for the first time. There were no CEOs or founders during lunchtime, just a great bunch of women achievers seeking a tribe of like-minded people with whom they could share their thoughts, struggles and most importantly, stories of success and setbacks.

As the day wrapped up with winners of Digital Women Awards posing together with their trophies for the cameras, one couldn’t help but feel pumped up. Here were women who had championed both entrepreneurship in digital space and womanhood, it couldn’t get more inspiring than this!

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