A tech conference? For a home maker? It sounds weird or impossible. But that’s what happened to me this December. I think its the way of universe of giving signs subtly. Whenever I had those bouts of insecurity regarding career, I take one step forward and then goes back two. I had registered long back for Her Second Innings, a company that helps women to return to work. Since I had retraced my steps I kept thinking guiltily regarding the “investment in myself” going down the drain, but luckily they gave free passes to this “Grace Hopper Celebration India 2025” (#GHCI25) to their registered members. I had no intention of going to job fairs, or returning to full time work immediately. Though this year, I had made it a point to step out of my comfort zone in any way possible. To take up whatever ropes were thrown into my well. So I went ahead.
As expected, AI was everywhere. Being an “outsider”, I could see not the fear of losing jobs, but as an upcoming wave embraced by the youngsters like how other generations adapted television, PC and internet, and mobiles. I could see how the boomers were also advised to adapt to this new trend under the pretext of leadership and being role models. More than the talks, the ocean of women under one roof gave highly energizing vibes. Many women attended thinking mainly of the job fairs, looking for opportunities, for the companies at the EXPO, and hence would’ve got disappointed as the numbers were less. For me, it was a fresh change of environment, reminiscing of the past, yet inspiring to the core. The presence of highly spirited women like Shreya Krishnan, Rashmi, Jacintha and other speakers were in itself a ray of sunshine. And like a sunflower, I was attuned to those sparks of hope on all those three days.
After Day 1, I got comfortable enough to select which sessions to go for, mainly that talks about confidence, soft skills, leadership skills and which not to attend like core technical topics regarding cloud storage and cyber security. Not that the topics were uninteresting, but this year, I realized my scope is to just dip my toes in this world and get the breeze from the water. Taking one step at a time.
Day 2 and Day 3 had the EXPO which had stalls from companies offering courses, registrations, and such, along with EntrepreNaari Mela, a flea market by women entrepreneurs. I also enjoyed the music sessions by Amira Gill and Gautam Krishnan, that served as refuge from the intellectual talks, laughed during the therapeutic conversations by Dr. Ushy Mohandas for grounding ourselves, and almost cried silently when Anil Thomas spoke about Imposter Syndrome.
What I couldn’t do or rather hesitated to do was to network with other women, or get connected “officially”, as I didn’t wanted to share my Linkedin. Yet. I think I did not want to reduce this grand, inspirational, sisterhood event into a fake networking/business/corporate event where people exchanged numbers or followed each other for name sake or number of likes. I came back with huge energy wisdom to tap into, to float on the surface of this water while I decide which coast to move forward. And that in itself maybe a big step forward for me this year. A perfect closure sign from the universe to think about future during this December vacation break – what next for the next year and the year after…
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