Diversity in Management: Great Lakes holds women empowerment initiative - SWIM

Padmasri Sudha Raghunathan, Noted Carnatic Vocalist, Ms. Mridula Ramesh of Sundaram Textiles and Ms. Hemu Ramaiah, founder of Landmark enlightened the audience on Women as Trailblazers: Dreaming, Exploring and Discovering new horizons.

SWIM is an initiative by the students of Great Lakes to empower women with traits to assume leadership roles in the corporate world. The SWIM community, initiated in 2005, works towards identifying and drawing inspiration from successful women from various walks of life.

The speakers discussed at length about the success, women had achieved in the field of management and aspired to achieve greater heights. Ms. Anu Aga in her opening speech said that it was important to balance professional responsibilities and personal life and emphasized on Vipasana which is the art of living. Ms Sudha Raghunathan talked about her journey to becoming a maestro in classical music. She discussed the challenges faced during her journey, and how she won over them. Ms. Hemu Ramaiah opined that it is important to think out of the box to reach the other side and achieve success. She elaborated on the lessons learnt in running an entrepreneurial venture. According to her, entrepreneurs must plan when to start and exit a business. Ms. Mridula Ramesh talked about four success enablers for women, namely role models, proving early competence in a language known by competitors, courage, and family support.

The event also had a panel discussion on the topic Educated, Intelligent, energetic, and just in her forties can she still pursue her career dreams. The discussion was moderated by Mr. T. N. Seshan, former CEC of India. The panel included Ms. Pushpa Kandaswamy, Noted TV producer, Ms. Indra Subramanyam, MD, Ehrlich Lab, Ms. Lalitha Maheswaran, HR Consultant and Ms. Sarda Ramani, president of C I Global Solutions.

Les Quizerables, a quiz competition between various companies and colleges, was also organized as part of SWIM 2008. The quiz was a success with a total of 46 teams registering from companies like TCS, Cognizant, Citibank, HP, I-flex, KPMG, IRENVA, Frost and Sullivan, Abacus and Aura. The quiz also had enthusiastic students from IIT- Madras, Anna University, SIIB - Pune, IFMR and many others.

The first prize was won by team Sumo comprising of Saranya Jayakumar, Rajen Prabhu and Kiran Vijaykumar. The total prize money for the quiz was Rs. 35000.