CHICAGO: It was for the first time that Indian women in Chicagoland decided under the banner of WE to celebrate the International Women Day along with women across the world. The event on March 3 turned out to be an affair to remember with a huge turnout of Chicago elites along with the Illinois State First Lady Ms Diana Rauner and the First Lady for the Indian people Consul General Ms Nita Bhushan.
As succinctly put by Indian CG Nita Bhushan, “Chicago needed a platform like this for Indian women to be recognized & celebrated.” Not lagging behind First Lady Diana observed “Women play a very important role in the well-being of the State & platforms like WE which celebrate are much needed for raising awareness of women issues.”
This platform is provided by the Women’s Empowerment Campaign Chicago shortened ‘WE’ that was started last November by three prominent business women – Dr. Abuja Gupta, Rita Singh and Shital Daftari. The goals include supporting entrepreneurship in the Indian women community, highlighting Indian women professionals and business owners, celebrating successful Indian women and networking within the Indian women community in Chicagoland.”
The event on March 3 in Rolling Meadows, a Chicago suburb was a high profile red-carpet affair with 500 plus guests attending it. Many high-level elected officials including Senators Laura Murphy and Christina Castro, Judge Linda Davenport, Mayor Rodney Craig, MWRD President Maryann Spyropolous, Trustee of Schaumburg Nimish Jani, Trustee of South Barrington Dr Hina Patel, Schaumburg school superintendent Bhava Lewis & representative Char Kegerise, Mayor Gopal Lalmalani graced the event.
This black tie event was studded with many highlights – business awards presentation, empowerment speeches by leading community activists and women empowerment themed entertainment created especially for this three-hour program .“It was our aim to offer a platform that raised the level of recognition of Indian women commensurate to their contribution to the economy and to society” said Dr. Anuja Gupta. Echoing the same sentiment Rita Singh added “the Indian women in Chicago needed a big networking platform for a stronger voice”
The group found great support from the community by attracting over 1000 members in the first month by executing two successful events since inception. The March 3 Gala marked the first annual celebration of the group and the plan is to make the occasion of International Women’s Day its annual signature event.
Power Business Awards
A key part of the event was presentation of the WE Power Business Awards. This was Chicago’s first business awards for women with a view to highlighting Indian women professionals and business owners and celebrating successful Indian women. The awards included a public online contest seeking nominations and voting from the community.
The awards were very well received by the community with 649 nominations for 202 nominees and close to 20,000 public votes. The winners were selected on the basis of public voting and jury selection using their qualifications. The final winners were announced at the Gala in a red carpet Hollywood-Oscar style.
The Gala had beautiful performances created especially for the event by groups that are known for women empowerment. The opening performance was ‘Shiva’ by Tarana Kathak Academy and ‘Boundless’ by Ameya Performing Arts. One of the highlights of the event was a spectacular Empowerment Themed Fashion Show by Saris and Things. The sponsors of the event were many local businesses, including World Money Exchange among others
Dr. Asha Oroskar was a platinum sponsor of the event and made the commencement speech. Pallavi Warty Diverkar won in the Best Home Business Awards category.
The WE Campaign plans to do many more events in the future. “Our focus for 2018 is women-entrepreneurship” says Shital Daftari. The group is planning an Entrepreneur Mela sometime late summer and one or two networking events. Indian Consulate is also planning to sponsor an entrepreneurship seminar in the summer. The group plans to expand actively and hopes to get memberships levels in the 2500 range by years end.
Surendra Ullal
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