Working in M & A Industry for close to 15 years, Rashi Mittal Nair sheds light on the changing paradigm in the industry with women leading from the front.
Having been an influencer specialist for close to 5 years at P & G, and leading communication and marketing for various brands, Rashi Mittal Nair, Co-founder & CEO, WOOP, has spent the last 15 years focussing over what really gets people talking and how brands can best leverage those insights.
In an exclusive interview with Social Samosa as one of the winners of Superwomen 2019, she takes us through her journey.
How would you define a Superwoman in today's
day and age?
For centuries, women have been used to playing multiple-roles, juggling multiple-tasks and managing multiple-relationships. Even our Mythology-based Goddesses have multiple hands! So that’s not new.
A real superwoman, I feel is any woman who remembers that of the several relationships she manages, the most important one, is the relationship she has with herself.
One quality that you think every superwoman
has and that helped you win Social Samosa Superwomen...
One quality that I think most superwomen have, is humility. Humility comes from having experienced enough failures to know how precious they are as learning milestones. Humility comes from knowing that you’re not perfect, and that’s okay! It comes from being confident enough to let yourself be vulnerable.
How successful have women been in shattering
the glass ceiling in the Media & Advertising field? Does the 'boardroom
inequality' phrase still stand true?
The phrase “glass ceiling” traditionally refers to an unseen, invisible barrier that stops women from achieving higher rungs of success, even if they are qualified to do so. I think its time we changed this phrase. Women have been shattering this so-called glass ceiling ever since 1986 when the phrase was first used.
Yes, a ceiling still exists that needs to be shattered, but it’s no longer a glass or invisible barrier that women are unaware of. Women (at least in Media & Advertising) now know what the challenges are, and what the barriers look like. And like all other problems in life, being able to identify the problem and tangibly understand it, is usually half the battle won!
What are the key changes this industry needs in order to make workplaces gender-neutral, safe, and nurturing?
There is only one change the industry needs to make in order to make workplaces more gender-neutral and nurturing. And that is, stop trying so hard. We will soon start having organizations full of resentful men, who believe women are unfairly getting ahead because the company is trying to build a culture of ‘diversity’. Whether or not this is true, it is unhealthy.
Companies should value ‘authenticity and merit’ a lot more than anything else. Why should gender or any other personal-identification matter when judging performance? As long as companies nurture a transparent, holistic framework for career-progression based on respecting efforts, results, and skill-sets, the rest should take care of itself.
One Superpower you wish you had?
I wish that everything I touched, got infected with positive energy and lots of enthusiasm. Because energy is everything.
The 'Superwomen' you diligently follow and who
inspired you...
I know it sounds quite cliché, but my mother Anju Mittal is my superwoman. Most of the qualities that I like about myself, I know I get from her. She is an entrepreneur that has not only broken glass ceilings but soared through glass-cliffs and beyond!
I grew up in my mom’s office and often pretended to be her when playing ‘office office’ as a child. Several years later, I’m finally playing Office Office in real life. But I’m still trying really hard to be her.
One tip to women out there attempting to scale
heights...
Don’t run away from
failure. Embrace it and you will never be afraid again. And only once you stop
being afraid, can success truly begin.
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