That’s exactly how I feel as I
sit down to write this edit. I can’t believe that I am writing the editorial of
this wonderful magazine brought to you by ICPAR in association with the IIPM
Think Tank. Although now someone far better than I ever was – Abhimanyu Ghosh –
runs it, ICPAR was almost like my baby. It brings back the best of my
memories... of the making of ICPAR as a sought-after and respected PR company!
Of course, nothing would have
materialised without my first boss Amit Saxena’s sincerity and crazy dedication
to make the vision of a world-class PR company a reality, Deepak Shah’s ability
to carry on alone when no one seemed to trust our abilities and finally
Dipali’s tremendous positive energy and ability to bring an unseen vibrancy in
ICPAR!
In the middle of all such lovely
people, I had barely started cracking a few clients, when I realised that I was
made the boss of the Delhi
operations and asked to run the show, as Amit Saxena was asked to take care of
more important activities! That’s how the founder of the Planman Group, Arindam
Chaudhuri operates. Just decides the biggest of things one fine morning without
any prior notice and then drives them to success!
I spent quite a few number of
years running ICPAR and building it up, before shifting to my current special
consulting position. And though I don’t run the show at ICPAR anymore, no one
can ever take ICPAR out of me!
I remember that then, I used to
so often suggest that we must have a special magazine as our contribution to
the industry! And the one magazine I often said I should have wanted to give to
the media industry was a world-class product focused on women at work.
I felt it would act as a great
tool, firstly to showcase our intellectual research and analytical
capabilities; secondly, to honour the sincerity that women bring to work – a
sincerity that so often goes totally neglected in this male-dominated corporate
world; and finally, above all else, to salute all those women who work
tirelessly in this particular field of PR (an industry which requires
soft-skills more than anything else), which is perhaps one industry which has
more women than men and so many of them leading right from the top.
And then one day, as I said is
Arindam Chaudhuri’s habit, I suddenly got a message that he was planning to
publish this magazine and that he wanted me to be the consulting editor for it!
It’s no use arguing with him. But still, with all my sincerity, I told him that
I had no such past experience, so I could just suggest ideas but couldn’t
write.
But he reminded me of the couple
of articles I had written some years back on the PR industry for my own
interest – which he had liked very much. Even I had forgotten about them, but
he remembered. So finally, here I am writing the first editorial of this lovely
dream magazine – Power Women – and happy that ICPAR and my relationship takes a
special turn here on!
Although this time, I am too
overwhelmed and consequently might have ended up finishing my entire editorial
simply talking about how I came to be seen and be heard (ICPAR’s punch line is
‘Be Seen, Be Heard’), I do hope that I will be able to do justice to this
column – especially from the next issue – by picking up cases of the real power
women who have made the corporate sector and society at large a better place. I
would also try to pick up and write about ways we women can take inspiration
from such power women and reach for the stars.
As of now I really hope that you
enjoy the woderful contents of this issue which covers some of the most
respectable names from varied fields.
Till the next issue then, let me
relish this opportunity and responsibility that I have been given, for right
now, I am the power woman
