Inspiration behind the Power Posse Network, our next meet and more...

Hi, this is Seema Chokshi!

Really excited to bring to you the very first issue of the Power Posse newsletter!

The pic below was taken from our last meet up where we all shared many relevant and inspiring stories from our own struggles and wins over the long spans of our careers! The next meet up will be most likely in April/May ....Read on more to know about .....

• Inspiration behind the Power Posse Network

• Plans for the next meetup and what's in it for you

Many of my fellow women who have been in the work force, have realized that cookie cut models of professional success often does not work for us. The traditional linear paths to corporate success might not always have the bandwidth to successfully fill in our ever expanding personal and professional identities. As we evolve from fresh graduates to middle management to senior levels, parallelly, our personal lives are often expanding to cover a breadth of new roles as well. Motherhood is surely one such phase which calls for massive adjustments in our professional lives. Being a collaborative partner to our spouse, a loving mom to our kids, caring daughters to our aging parents are roles which need time and care too and cannot be overlooked. Failing to acknowledge the time and effort it takes to nurture these aspects of our lives often brings us face to face with situations when we are forced to make tough choices!

Unlocking the power of deep connections – Inspiration behind the Power Posse Network!

Last year I paused! After 18 years in my profession, I felt lost and literally paused in my tracks. Paused to expand my thinking beyond the profession, children, family, and household. I wondered if there were others like me – I needed to connect with other women who are or have been in my situation in the past, but it was hard to find them! Being in the academia, mentoring graduate students for close to a decade, many female students had reached out to me looking for inspiration and guidance and they told me how they had benefited from me sharing my career trajectory with them. Back in the day when I was starting out in my career, I did not appreciate the true value of forming deep connections and everything that didn’t bring in immediate results seemed like a waste of time. I was too narrowly focused.

I couldn’t have been more wrong! In the last few years of my work, my academic career taught me the power of forming deep connections, in my case it it’s the feeling of making a difference in the career journeys of others., sharing my passion for learning and my love for my area of expertise. When I started teaching in the university, the first class I taught didn’t go very well and Dean called me to give me some much-needed advice! He said, “connect with the students, get to know them” … he said “talk to them more to find out how they learn the best”. Most incredibility this one piece of advice elevated me as a mentor, bringing my teaching to a whole new level. There has been no looking back

While, it’s a proven fact that women need to work harder to prove their capabilities as a professional and as a leader due to the many biases and per-formed perceptions, they also have lesser support available to them.

For all these reasons and more, I believe we need a community, our supporters, our squad or our tribe, if you will!

We really need it …....I truly believe that “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”, so let's sharpen our tools to carve out our own path to success!

Our next meet and why should you join in?

We plan to meet a few times a year, where you can get to know and learn from other successful women! You could find your mentor, your sponsor or your career coach! Each session I will be focusing on a theme that is immensely relevant to women as they navigate through their careers. Surely, we will aim to to have a great time too - based on popular demand next one will be over drinks on a Friday evening after work:) More details to be shared at a later time .....

Hope you can tap into this network as a place to connect and gather the support, just like I envision it to be!