#ChoosetoChallenge panel discussion organized by Ideamart for Women
Ideamart for women (IFW) conducted a panel discussion on #Choosetochallenge targeting International Women’s Day 2021. This panel discussion was conducted via Ideamart Facebook page on the 8th of March at 6.00 pm. This year’s Internation Women’s Day theme is “choose to challenge” and how we help forge a gender-equal world. The panel discussion touched base on this theme. The panel consisted of four successful ladies in their own different fields.
Panel members are mentioned below.
Rekha Weerasooriya
She is a general manager — Enterprise Customer Experience and people development at Dialog Axiata PLC. She has 22+ years of experience at Dialog Axiata PLC.
Nilmi Guruge
She is a director at Guruge group companies, founder of Kore (Sports Brand), entrepreneur, and a lovely mother of two children.
Poornima Meegammana
She is an animator, educator, and social entrepreneur. She won the UNESCO world Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education for the Nextgen Girls in Technology Initiative founded by her. Currently, she is the Director of Youth Development at Shilpa Sayura Foundation.
Akshila Anurangi
She is a postgraduate Student (M.Sc in Applied Statistics) and a Graduate of the Faculty of Science, University of Colombo. Also, she is a Research Assistant at the University of Moratuwa. Furthermore, she is a data science enthusiast and also an entrepreneurship enthusiast. Most importantly she is an Appmaker service provide since 2020.
All the four-panel members who joined the panel discussion were full of knowledge and experience in a vast area of different fields. They were being asked questions related to choosing to challenge in their respective fields. The first question was how challenging it is to be in their field, as a woman? And how are they coping up with challenges, any strategies that they use? Each panel member had lots of insight into this question. It was interesting how they defined the challenges and strategies based on their experience in the respective fields. The next question that asked was as a woman how should we look at challenges? Each panel member brought out different perspectives to this point based on their respective fields. Rekha brought out the fact that anything that stopping you which is in your mind. Furthermore, she mentioned that your mindset is what stopping you from doing things. Also, she mentioned that it is totally up to us to decide who we are. Nilmi brought out the fact that women are multi-taskers as women can take care of kids, their husbands, their household and put food on the table. Furthermore, she mentioned that as a mother it is important to set an example for their sons, how to respect women. As the answer to this question, Poornima mentioned that when comes to women empowerment, parents play a bigger role. Furthermore, she mentioned that it is important to afraid to fail. Finally, Akshila adds to this as facing challenges helps everyone to grow despite the gender. Furthermore, she mentioned everyone has to step out of their comfort zones. The last question of the panel discussion was what do you have to say to fellow women community to inspire them to choose to challenge. The message Rekha gave was, there is nothing impossible that you want to do. Furthermore, she mentioned that you are the only person who is stopping you and you can make anything happen. Nilmi adds a point here as don’t sit back and wait for an opportunity to happen. Furthermore, she mentioned go for it and take up the challenges. Poornima’s thoughts on this were we as women, shouldn’t be afraid of taking risks, especially we shouldn’t be afraid of technology. Furthermore, she mentioned surround yourself with people who believe in you and support you no matter what. At last, Akshila adds her thoughts on this as don’t be afraid of taking challenges. Furthermore, she mentioned that it is okay to fail and you will survive through the failures.
The event was very successful and very insightful for everyone out there. If you are interested in listening to the panel discussion, check the link down below.
