International Women’s Day 2023 marked one year of WiT ERG in India. Yes! WiT India turned ONE! And so, the celebration in our Nagpur office on 17th of March was twofold the fun, vigor, and joy.
IWD celebration is customary in GDC Nagpur. As an organization that celebrates and champions its people, and strives to connect women and their allies across the organization through WiT ERG, it just felt right to involve everyone in this celebration – women and their allies.
The day started with our General Manager – Anurag Shivhare, wishing each of the women colleagues with a flower and a personally signed card on behalf of Perficient. And the sight of women dressed in the shades of purple and green and men in white sitting in our world-class cafeteria was nothing less than the beautiful patterns of colors one sees inside a kaleidoscope – an enjoyable sensory experience, a visual treat.
The celebration began with a small briefing, by Shweta Rawlani, HCM Manager, GDC Nagpur on the theme of IWD this year – #EmbraceEquity; the notion that Equity isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have and how allies are incredibly important.
Shweta Rawlani welcoming everyone.
Reminiscing the inception of WIT ERG In Nagpur
We kickstarted exactly a year back at the same location, on the same occasion, with a small PPT explaining the why of WiT in Perficient, its inception in India offices, and its goals and plans for the future. And we (the WiT Nagpur team) can proudly say that we have tried our best and have brought some amazing stories/experiences to all our colleagues through this platform. And the participation, enthusiasm towards each of the initiatives under this banner, and support in the past year have paved the path of WiT for the future.
Neha Pasi talking about the incredible year of WiT India.
Let’s recollect the incredible year of WiT In India
It is said that once you start on an extraordinary endeavour, you never look back. But WiT’s successful year is worth reminiscing about. The successful events, the speakers and their participation ought to be recollected and acknowledged. Check out these tokens of appreciation, the badge is by far the coolest swag of WiT ERG, and the card is beautiful.
WiT Swags
But before that, a small highlight on the WiT ERG Nagpur committee which initially started with three members, and along the way we added one more to become a four women strong team. Snehal Gundewar, Sapna Ghodeswar, Ashwini Rathe and Neha Pasi make the committee and we have had the immense support and guidance from Shweta Rawlani and Anurag Shivhare at every step making each event a grand success.
Snehal Gundewar, Sapna Godeshwar, Anurag Shivhare, Neha Pasi and Shweta Rawlani proudly donning the WiT Swag.
Straight From Horse’s Mouth – I
We started our year with the very first session of our original series “Straight From Horse’s Mouth” which featured a conversation with four women leaders of our office. Bhagyashree Gaikee, Monika Nemade, Sapna Ghodeswar, and Prachi Dahate shared their experience in the industry. Attended by 190+ colleagues, the very first event was a huge success. To read more about it, please give this piece a read
Felicitating Speakers of Straight From Horse’s Mouth – I
Working Moms: Stop Feeling The Guilt!
The next event was one of its kind conversation about Working Motherhood and the guilt surrounding it. The first PAN India event which featured 6 parents from our India offices was again a feather in our cap. Two colleagues – Tina Guha and Mangesh Mohatkar from our Nagpur office shared their candid experiences. Read more about it here
Felicitating Speakers of Working Moms: Stop Feeling The Guilt!
On The Same Page!
Next, we took a fun ride and delighted our book readers and enlightened others to read in our next event. “On the Same Page” featured four bibliophiles who shared about their good reads through fun presentations. Arpit Malviya, Ashika Meshram, Malvika Malviya, and Hrishikesh Dhone’s efforts proved successful and were worth celebrating.
Felicitating Speakers of On The Same Page!
Straight From Horse’s Mouth – II
We concluded our year on the very same note that we started, with another session of our series “Straight From Horse’s Mouth” which featured two allies – Sourabh Jain and Ritesh Sachdeo, who have established practices in their respective technologies and shared their journey in doing so.
Felicitating Speakers of Straight From Horse’s Mouth – II
Maintaining the tradition of our IWD celebration and WiT initiatives of always bringing something knowledgeable/insightful to our colleagues, we planned our next segment. An informative session on the topic which we all are inquisitive about: Financial Independence, not just for women but for all. A very well-known Chartered Accountant adept with everything about Finances, Dr. Tejinder Singh Rawal, addressed the gathering and enlightened us on the why and how of Financial Independence.
An impactful message from our General Manager
Are You INTERESTED Or Are You COMMITTED? – Anurag Shivhare, General Manager, GDC Nagpur, talked about how there is a huge difference between being interested in something and being committed to it, as well as sharing a video articulating the same. The message resonated well with our topic of becoming financially independent; all of us are interested to reach that level on the financial front but are we really committed to it? His addressal inspired us and compelled us to think and make strides towards our goals.
Anurag Shivhare addressing the gathering.
And Now Begins The Real Fun!!
That was the end of the formal part of the gathering – the celebration took a turn to the fun side with a mandatory cake-cutting ceremony, a group photo session, and a small, delicious treat of hot samosas.
Wait! That’s not it!! No celebration in our office is complete without dancing. As dancing brings happiness, joy, and a positive mood to everyone, we had to put on our dancing shoes.
The celebration had come to an end, but the trail of amazing events, sessions, and initiatives of WiT India ERG has just started.
We already have had A Promising Start to 2023 with our first event, an insightful discussion on Professional Etiquette featuring a Certified NLP Practitioner – Sulogana Gupta which was attended by 360+ colleagues and 220+ messages throughout the one-hour session has set the right tone for the year. You can read more about it here and stay tuned for more!
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