Motivational Speaker - Women and Opportunities in IT and Engineering - At Dhanish Ahmed College of Engineering, Padappai, Chennai on 26.9.2017

As part of the initiative by the Women Empowerment Cell of Dhaanish Ahmed College of Engineering (DACE), Padappai, Chennai, they have initiated a seminar with a representative from EWIT.   Ms. Umasree Raghunath represented EWIT and addressed the Women Students of the College.   Close to 150-200 students have attended this guest lecture session in the mini-auditorium of the College on 26 September 2016. Tuesday  at 11 am.

After initial greetings with Ms. Lalitha, Assistant Professor, Uma met with Mr. Raja, Principal of the college and discussed on the various topics that can be covered in the seminar.

In Uma’s words

I was greeted with the cheerful faces behind the burkhas of the beautiful women on a bright sunny morning at DACE.   I started my address, calling them my friends and I could feel the connection at that moment.   I made it clear to them that this is going to be an interactive session where I expect them to come up with their point of views and questions.   And glad I made that as a point for they proved interactive and interested as we dived deep into various aspects of women empowerment.  I touched upon the various opportunities available to them in the IT world threading the paths of technical growth or management and how they can climb the corporate ladder. 

 I also kept my focus on the women empowerment starting from families and how they can manage their career along with abiding by the traditions of the communities they belong to.   Most of the children were from Muslim community and many of the final year students are already engaged to be married off just after they complete the graduation.   However, my interactions proved that given a chance they will make very good corporate citizens and great managers and leaders.  I gave them tips on how to make themselves stronger and confident with great self-esteem, self-respect and confidence to take decisions, follow the ethics of both their religions and professional environment and dream big.   My message was to think big and dream big as Dr. Abdul Kalam always motivated the students in this angle.  

Many of them expressed their concern that they are studying in various other domains like Petroleum, Manufacturing, Electrical and Electronics and that many of the Campus selection only happens in the IT industry.   I had to tell them how they  can interlink careers with the domain knowledge of their respective fields of engineering into the IT world and how they can contribute provided they decide to take the career path in IT.   I also requested them to confidently try their opportunities in the areas of their engineering like Civil, Mechanical, petroleum, ECE etc as there is strong need for women leaders in the industry as India is marching towards 2020 dream of making India a developed Nation.  

I also touch based on the innovation, cognitive era, the importance of digital world and how to use it appropriately and divert their energies towards innovation and contribution to the society at large.   There were many questions from the students on how they can build careers around this area and also on how best they can grow in the corporates.    After a close to 1 hour session and 30 mins of Q&A, I was happy that few students reached out to be off the dais with the specific questions and to interact with me.   I felt glad that I could make this possible to have a very lively session with the students.  This not only gave a good opportunity to introduce EWIT to the students but also to share our expertise motivating more women to make their career choices with confidence and understanding.