Representatives from leading IT and ITES companies were very well represented and it was a packed room at the ‘Role Model Series’ Interaction with Ms. Jennifer McIntyre organized by EWIT on Friday 3rd February at The Park Hotel.
The session was kicked off with a half hour of networking during high tea, which allowed ladies to interact. There were representatives from Ford, Cognizant Technologies HCL, HP, Scope, Accenture, Polaris, and Mahindra Satyam just to name a few.
Mrs. Jamuna Swamy of Hexaware convened the session formally, following which Ms. Radhika Chandrashekar, senior leader at RR Donnelley welcomed the participants and Ms. McIntyre. Starting with the Consul General’s childhood and early influences, Ms. Chandrashekar’s informal yet well-versed questions covered a gamut which included her subject’s early career, distinctive cultural experiences and her unique India perspective. The Consul was a knowledgeable and open subject who gladly shared details from her personal life and career experience. Amongst the more memorable anecdotes of the session was Ms.MacIntyre’s telling of her very first diplomatic post in Azerbaijan as Vice-Consul, where she was blithely assumed to be a man by the staff of an important local leader! Other accounts from the Consul General included both humorous accounts of her childhood growing up with several siblings and her almost karmically intentioned foray into the Foreign Service.
The session was inclusive and interactive with a special time being reserved for questions at the end of the “informal fireside chat”. Many of the participants’ questions focused on how the Consul dealt with day-to-day functioning and long-term career growth, as a woman. Far from being gendered, both Ms. McIntyre and Ms. Chandrashekar discussed how it was important to deal with work with equanimity and efficiency, on a case to case basis, as opposed to approaching any problems, both in the capacity of a supervisor and an individual contributor, without pre-conceived notions. Posed with the question of many women facing the proverbial glass ceiling at the workplace, the Consul explained how even the US Foreign Service’s inclusion of women was a consequence of a lawsuit and touched on the issue of ‘reservation’ in India. The hard work and extensive travel that Ms McIntyre has put in to her career shone through. She also accounted her experiences in India thus far, as being both pleasurable and enlightening. With regard to her impression of Indian women, she expressed how happy she was to be a part of the session in the midst of so many ambitious and creditable working women.
The session was concluded by a warm vote of thanks from Ms. Kalyani Narayanan, President of eWIT, and CEO of www.easyinsuranceindia.com |
