Note to readers: Storyboard18’s Share The Spotlight aims to highlight inspirational stories of women who continue breaking barriers and setting the precedent for other women marketers, entrepreneurs and communication specialists.
The initiative aims to kick off a movement where people from across these communities step up and share their spotlight with other women. They could be women in their team or any other team, a new group or previous one, from a past workplace or the current one.
Share The Spotlight calls on us all to come out and share words of praise and encouragement for each other, appreciating and acknowledging the contributions of so many people who make businesses, brands and workplaces better. Learn and understand how to face challenges and seize opportunities while bringing along others on the path to progress.
This is just the beginning of a long journey to spotlight individuals who are empowering others and bringing change and growth for all. Together we rise.
It’s International Women’s Day and we invited sexual wellness brand Mymuse’s Head of brand, Minhaz Fatima to talk about women who have inspired her and herpersonal learnings and achievements. “I’ve always been lucky to have been surrounded by incredible women whether it’s at home with my masis. Or through every job I’ve ever held, where I’ve met the most talented women who have ended up becoming not only my biggest cheerleaders, but also some of my closest and bestest of friends. We’ve all worked, cried, ranted and rallied hard over the years to get to where we are today. And to me success isn’t something that is meant to be enjoyed alone.” says Fatima.
She adds, “I do believe that real success is best enjoyed with the people that inspired you and worked with you to make things happen. A conversation with the lovely Kainaz Karamkar, CCO Ogilvy, last year only reinforced my belief when she told me “Minhaz, it’s not just about winning, it’s also incredibly important who you choose to win with” And that probably put to words what I have always felt. I would share the spotlight with ‘My girls’ the ones that take my name in a room full of opportunities, the ones that brainstorm with me when I’m stuck, the ones that are my sounding board when I need advice, the ones that help me snap out of my rut or any obstacles that I’m facing, the ones that are always cheerleading for me. And it isn’t any one of them, it’s a pretty long list of them and I know each of them know who they are.”
“I hate making mistakes and not doing well. That has been a constant and consistent challenge. I realised over the last year or two that I hold myself to (ridiculously) high standards because of which I refuse to let the ball drop even for a second. Which means that I’m probably always working or thinking of work or trying to figure out how to do it better. If I was younger and cockier I would have chided myself and said there’s nothing wrong with this attitude. But as I’ve grown into a role which involves working with teams and managing people I’ve realised how that might not be the most efficient way to operate,” says Fatima and shares her two cents on getting older, “Getting older comes with its own wisdom (I hope) where I have realised that it only pushes me towards a burn out which will eventually land up making my worst fears come true. To top it all I don’t think makes for a very inspiring manager or leader. It was a tough lesson to learn, but one that was a good one to learn and realise early on because I do believe our careers are long.”
For Fatima, her biggest personal achievement has been when she finally reached a place last year where she was able to take a well planned sabbatical from work and do exactly what she wanted for the first time in her career. “Working with a fintech start-up really helped me realise and think of my money, investments, savings and finances in a way that I hadn’t ever thought of before. And the day I realised, that I wanted to take a break, I realised that I needed to plan my finances. No matter what anyone says money does buy happiness and a whole lot of peace of mind and freedom to do what you want. So being able to chalk out what I need to live my best life for 12 months and then taking that sabbatical, travelling, signing up for classes, experimenting with different things from teaching to making my mini-debut as an actor I was able to do it all. And to me that was a pretty big personal achievement,” she shares.
“The other one would be turning into a morning person who wakes up at 5 am. Putting that here because why else would someone wake up at 5 am if they aren’t telling their social media and anyone and everyone that will listen to them about it?”
Know anyone you’d like to share the spotlight with? Join the movement, give them a shout-out on LinkedIn and tag Storyboard18 so we can take it forward.
Read More:#ShareTheSpotlight: LinkedIn’s Ruchee Anand on the importance of allies and sponsors