Wide Angle Conversations: DEI Talks: Recent Episodes
Taruna Aggarwal
Wide Angle Conversations is an initiative of Life by Design with Taruna AggarwalWide Angle Conversations: DEI Talks are meaningful conversations with practitioners, leaders, champions, advocates of Diversity and Inclusion who are committed to bringing about a positive change in their sphere of influence and the world. Our increasingly diverse and global world must shift towards being more inclusive and equitable where respect, belonging and equal opportunity are the core values, where everyone feels comfortable sharing their perspectives and bringing their whole authentic self.Building a culture of inclusion is an imperative for the future of work and society. Inclusive Cultures will enable organisations and society to leverage from different perspectives and power innovation. Wide Angle Conversations is my way to bring you different perspectives, stories, research and the best practices focussed on the ‘why - what & how’ of the complex world of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Welcome to Wide Angle Conversations DEI Talks. I am your host Taruna Aggarwal, an Executive and Life Coach. My passion is to empower youth and young adults with a Mental Fitness level that will help them to navigate life and impact positive change for the wellbeing of our people and our planet.
My guest in this episode is Sujata Tiwari, an entrepreneur, a Life Mentor, Speaker and Author, based in Singapore. She has had a varied career journey from Journalism to Investigation Detection and Surveillance Consultant, Brand Protection and anti-counterfeiting specialist.
She is the author of Amazon bestselling book 'Against all Odds' an autobiography of her life journey full of challenges no one should have to face. From being stalked by a mafia don as a young mother to the worst nightmare of her daughter's rape and the gruelling court case which the family fought for over 6years in India.
This is not an ordinary book it is an inspiration. Sujata wrote about what others would keep silent about. Her courage, vulnerability and authenticity reflects in every page of her book, and gives the reader courage and hope. She motivates us to speak-up against any injustice or abuse at work, home or society level.
Life does not come with any manual and there is no erasing anything, one has to live with whatever life throws at us, what makes the difference is how we choose to deal with it. Only courage, grit, determination, self-belief and persistence can enable us to live true to our values.
Welcome to Wide Angle Conversations DEI talks, I am your host Taruna Aggarwal. I am an Executive and Life Coach. My passion is to empower youth and young adults with a Mental Fitness level that will help them to navigate life and impact positive change for the wellbeing of our people and our planet. Coaching is a powerful tool and must be recognised as a profession that can support mental wellbeing and help prevent mental health issues.
I am in conversation today with Fida Muljono. Fida is based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She too is committed to nurturing the mental well-being of the younger generation, aiding them in building their true selves. Fida is a parenting and intercultural coach with a rich background in psychology and anthropology. She has dedicated three decades to transformative work in her field.
Her expertise extends to working with teens and young adults, both individually and within diverse settings such as schools, institutions, and companies. Simultaneously, she empowers adults, reinforcing their resilience and guiding them towards becoming robust individuals in the face of life's challenges. Her profound impact on individuals and communities reflects her steady dedication to fostering mental health and personal growth in a dynamic world.
In this episode, we are going to talk about the 'distortion of reality' among youth from teens to 30s in an increasingly BANI world (Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear and Incomprehensible) world, how it impacts their mental wellbeing, the factors that are causing it, and how we can support our youth towards being more aware and develop a positive and flexible mindset to navigate life.
This conversations is relevant to the youth, parents, schools, organizations, coaches and para professionals supporting mental wellbeing.
I first met Dr. Frances Penafort in 2017 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She is a fellow coach, trainer and consultant . Over the years we have been on our individual journeys, however her transformation since 2022 has been noteworthy. Today she calls herself “Unstoppable Frances”, a huge transformation from the shy, not so confident small town girl, growing up in an environment where she had to curb her voice and her potential.
What triggered the transformation? The start point was when she gave in to the 'Inner Voice/Inner Mentor/Inner Coach' that nudged her constantly to go on the Camino de Santiago a 100km solo walk in July 2022. We will hear that motivating story from her - her fear, her blocks, her perfect plan, the challenges faced and her transformation in that moment when she stood at the entrance of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Frances wrote her book 'I’ll Never Walk Alone' about her solo walk in 3 -4 months and launched it in New York at a Women's Empowerment Conference that she was invited to speak at in July 2023! In the book she outlines the Blueprint for Success that we can apply to our lives and circumstances.
Frances is the first and only lady MCC in Malaysia to have an ICF accredited Coaching School. She is Director at GPS for Professional PLT, Director of Education at Frances' Coaching School. She is an International Keynote Speaker.
And You will realize what an amazing story-teller she is as you listen to the episode.
wideangleconversations #DEItalks #coaching #empowerment #breakingbarriers
Welcome to Wide Angle Conversations DEI Talks!
This episode is all about neurodiverse workforce, intrapreneurship and innovation and the value this brings to organizations.
My conversation today with Shilpa Rao, Principal Partner at Purpose Institute, Tata Consulting Services (TCS), India. Shilpa drives purpose led transformations in Healthcare and Energy. Before this she was the head of AI platforms , where she earned 35+ patents, showcasing the transformative power of AI in reshaping industries and catalyzing multi-billion dollar growth while upholding core values. She is the recipient of Stevie American Business Award, AI Conics, Data Breakthrough, and AI Excellence. She is active in championing women in data and sits on Able Aura's advisory board.
Shilpa is a recognized advocate for dyslexia awareness. A dyslexic herself, Shilpa has proven to be a 'serial innovator' in life driven by the passion to succeed and leverage her strengths to make a genuine positive difference to others.
In this episode Shilpa shares her story to bring hope and strength to the neurodiverse community. She highlights the unique strengths of resilience, adaptability and creativity that is inherent in the community. Intrapreneurship and innovation requires these very skills, organizations need to tap into these strengths to thrive in the Future of Work.
Shilpa highlights the importance of building inclusive cultures where an employee can bring their whole self and feel a sense of belonging. Such an environment has a direct impact on employee motivation, engagement and productivity.
This is the story of a little girl from the lowest socio-economic strata, born in Lingarajapuram, a slum in Bangalore India. She was destined a life of extreme poverty, violence and deprivation until everything changed at a tender age of 3 1/2 years, when her father, without the knowledge of her mother, left her at the residential school Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project, providing education, home and security exclusively to children born into India's lowest socioeconomic class. The NGO is working to eradicate systemic generational poverty through quality education since 1997. Their philosophy is that one underserved child, given the same opportunities as a privileged child, can break the cycle of generational poverty for themselves, their family and community. Their graduates are authors, psychologists, computer scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, teachers and more.
My guest Vinceya Xavier Edwin is a graduate of Shanti Bhawan, MBA from MIT Sloan Business School of Management and currently Inclusion Program Manager at Google.The podcast is about Vinceya, how she coped with separation, how she took many years to accept her identity and be able to feel pride in where she comes from, her personal struggle as she stepped out from a nurturing, protected environment into the real world harsh, full of distractions, non-linear and anxious. She draws our attention to the critical need for a focus on youth mental wellbeing.
She talks about DEI agendas of organizations, concentrating their efforts only on a few areas like gender, disability, race. She believes Diversity and Inclusion is multidimensional, with every geography and culture having layers of unique issues that need to be tackled.
Vinceya feels deep gratitude for the opportunity and lives by the values imbibed at Shanti Bhawan - a resolve to impact lives and make a difference. She has already moved her family out of Lingarajapuram, she is supporting her cousins and other children in her community, sponsoring a child and has the lofty vision to impact many more lives. She is a role model, an agent of change and the future of our world!
Welcome to Wide Angle Conversations - DEI talks. I am your host Taruna Aggarwal.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is a multidimensional, multi layered and complex topic. I believe to be truly a DEI advocate, champion and change-maker one has to value empathy, fairness and equality and be truly human centric. DEI at the workplace will becomes easier if we focus on building an inclusive, fair and equitable society. This for me brings, social inclusion, wellbeing, youth empowerment, culture, corporate responsibility and sustainability under the wider purview of DEI. And these are the topics that Wide Angle Conversations podcast will bring to you.
My guest for this episode is Aarti Kelshikar, an intercultural consultant and coach with over fifteen years of work experience in India, Singapore, and the Philippines. She is the author of two books. Her first book - How India Works talks about Complex Corporate Culture in India and how best to navigate it.
Her second book How Women Work – Fitting in and Standing Out in Asia, is an insight into the world of women leadership with a Pan-Asia lens that has hardly been covered so far. She has interviewed over 60 women leaders from six different countries in Asia, capturing a diversity of voices, the cultural nuances, the challenges faced and how they thrive, balancing fitting in and standing out. A must-read book for all and before I get carried away let’s talk to Aarti.
Wide Angle Conversations: DEI Talks, Life By Design with Taruna Aggarwal, featuring Laina Raveendran Greene, is now available on YouTube and Spotify.
WideAngleConversations is creating a space for meaningful dialogue on #DEI, building thought-leadership, and bringing to you best-practices and insights from practitioners, champions and advocates from across the globe.
Laina Raveendran Greene, is the CEO and Founder of Angels of Impact, a social venture offering funding and technical assistance to women and indigenous-led, community-based enterprises. She is the co-author of the book “Sustainable Impact: How women are key to ending poverty”.
Laina talks about how her lived experience as #womenofcolor in both Singapore and USA drives her passion to uplift women and tackle #poverty, #genderequality and #sustainability. She talks about how the ‘feminization of poverty’ has led women to be both the victim and solution to tackling poverty.
As we step into a future focussed on sustainability, businesses need to be responsible in the way they do business. A shift in consumer behaviour, focus on 'shared value' versus CSR and partnership with social enterprises creating sustainable solutions at the ground level will power the change.
Also available on YouTube
https://lnkd.in/g4bHC9nm
ignitingchange #enablingsuccess #inclusionbydesign #diversityequityinclusion #deib #socialinclusion #corporateresponsibility #sharedvalue #inclusiveculture #coachingculture #socialeneterprise
Wide Angle Conversations is creating a space for meaningful dialogue on DEI, raising awareness about its importance and bringing to you the best-practices and insights from DEI and HR Practitioners, Champions and Advocates from across the globe to share their experience and expertise with those aspiring to walk the path.
In this conversation, host Taruna Aggarwal talks to Manvi Sushil. Lead HR Business Partner GSK, India.
Manvi believes that DEI is less of a function and more a philosophy, the biggest DEI leader in any organization is the CEO. If the CEO and leadership team does not embrace and embody the philosophy of DEI, the sales, profitability and innovation will not be sustainable.
A focussed approach to DEI is needed in Asia, it should not get missed out in the list of multiple priorities. CoVid has further pushed the DEI agenda, the important learnings of Empathy, Flexibility and Communication are amazing muscles for Diversity and Inclusion and if we can continue to exercise these muscles, nothing can stop us.
Watch her insightful and invigorating conversation with great tips on what is needed to implement a successful DEI strategy.
This conversation is also available on our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/lifeby-designYoutubeChannel
ignitingchange #enablingsuccess #inclusionbydesign #diversityequityinclusion #deib #inclusiveleadership #workplaceinclusion #inclusiveculture #coachingculture #designthinking #coaching #facilitation
In this episode, host Taruna Aggarwal talks to Huda Hamid, Founder of Fempreneur Secrets, Singapore, an online community empowering and equipping women, especially minority group of women, with business knowledge to lead purpose-driven successful businesses online. Huda also owns another successful Video Production business serving Fortune 500 clients.
Huda started her journey as an entrepreneur at the young age of 17 years with a successful scrapbooking business and has never looked back. She hosts a podcast Fempreneur Secrets that reaches over 3000+ listeners from around the world.
Her work has been featured on Channel News Asia, Her World Magazine and Borneo Bulletin newspaper. She was nominated as the Most Compassionate Womenpreneur in 2019.
In the interview, Huda talks about how living in a multicultural, multiracial society in Singapore shaped her worldview, the importance of being inclusive, communicating effectively and being adaptive in a diverse environment. She talks about 'normalizing women entrepreneurs', and believes women need to overcome intrinsic barriers and empower their mindset to focus on the contribution and impact their businesses can create in the society.
Huda envisions women entrepreneurs groups to become a thriving, supportive community beyond just networking. Talking about the Singapore Women’s Development White Paper 2022, she shared that agency level and government should work with women entrepreneur groups and tap on their expertise as a resource and work collaboratively with them to meet the UN SDG, Goal 5- Gender Equality.
The video interview is available here: https://youtu.be/vZeSYlxb7R8
Wide Angle Conversations is an initiative of Life By Design with Taruna Aggarwal
Since 2019 we are creating a space for meaningful dialogue on DEI, raising awareness about its importance and bringing to you the best-practices and insights from DEI and HR practitioners, Champions and Change-makers from across the globe.
For more DEI Conversations, subscribe to the Life By Design YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/lifeby-designYoutubeChannel
diversityandinclusion #womenentrpreneurs #womenownedbusinesses #genderequity #sdg5 #genderequality #womenempowerment #sme #supplierdiversity #dei #wideangleconversations #singapore #interview #talkshow
Wide Angle Conversations is creating a space for meaningful dialogue on DEI, raising awareness about its importance and bringing to you the best-practices and insights from DEI and HR practitioners, Champions and Advocates from across the globe.
In this conversation, host Taruna Aggarwal talks to Michelle Hon Founder of MomBoss Academy, Singapore. She is an author, speaker and social media influencer and 'chillmom' to 3 young children. Michelle helps moms build lifestyle businesses from home, enabling them to reach at least a 6-figure business.
She tells women entrepreneurs to delegate the functional work and instead focus on doing the vital stuff – creating Attention, creating Engagement so people know, like and trust your business, that is what finally gets people to take Action.
In this day and time while it is easy to start a business it is no longer enough to say I have a good product and therefore people will come. Good products can be replicated, you need to learn to market and sell your product. Today we have access to social media, youtube Instagram if you are not using these platforms “you are basically leaving money on the table” Elevate your personal brand and become your brand.
Listen to this punchy, positive, to-the-point interview and its message - don’t be afraid of other people’s judgement, then woman you are unstoppable!!
This interview is also available on our YouTube channel : https://youtu.be/RcHmJpcG7gw
dei #diversityandinclusion #womenentrpreneurs #womenownedbusinesses #genderequity #inclusion #inclusiveculture
Wide Angle Conversations is creating a space for meaningful dialogue on DEI, raising awareness about its importance and bringing to you the best-practices and insights from DEI and HR practitioners, Champions and Advocates from across the globe to share their experience and expertise with those aspiring to walk the path. In this conversation, host Taruna Aggarwal talks to Nene Molefi, the CEO of Mandate Molefi Consultants, Author, Thought-leader and Speaker.
Nene had 25 years of experience in DEI Consulting. Her book 'A Journey of Diversity and Inclusion in South Africa' is inspired by her personal journey as a DEI practitioner and as an employee in organizations, the challenges she experienced personally and professionally. She believes that the learnings, tips and guidelines in the book are universally applicable
because Inclusion is universal and human centric.
Nene highlights that we need to move away from the 'piecemeal approach to the work of diversity equity and inclusion' . To ensure that diversity inclusion
is embedded in the culture and is sustainable, we need to move away from Representation and Workshops model and focus on a systemic, integrated approach to DEI.
Everyone talks about what the leader needs to do to create an inclusive culture, but Nene highlights that inclusion is also a responsibility of those who seek to be included, they also need to ensure that they choose to include themselves and voice what they are feeling.
Nene shares her iterative model of culture change, a 3-Legged Pot approach to DEI , looking at DEI at three levels - Inter &Intra personal Level, Organizational Level ensuring policies, systems, procedures and practices are aligned, and Stakeholder Level serving the clients, customers, employees and community. At every level the head-heart-hands approach is critical to ensure sustainable inclusive culture.
Hear her insightful conversation with tips and guidelines on how to design and implement a successful DEI strategy.
This conversation is also available on our youtube channel: https://bit.ly/lifeby-designYoutubeChannel
ignitingchange #enablingsuccess #inclusionbydesign #diversityequityinclusion #deib #inclusiveleadership #workplaceinclusion #strategyandtransformation #inclusiveculture #coachingculture #facilitation #designthinking #socialinclusion
In this conversation, host Taruna Aggarwal is talking to Sukanya 苏甘雅 Pushkarna, passionate and driven community volunteer, President of Soroptomist International Singapore Orchid, Ex-President of Indian Women's Association, Singapore.
“Many things in leadership can be natural but I think inclusiveness is something one needs to first acknowledge as a necessity for any organization… that alertness to inclusion is important for a leader to showcase and then people will see the benefit of it….” says Sukanya as she highlights the importance of creating an #inclusiveculture in any organization - corporate or not-for-profit.
Sukanya is an angel investor in women-led micro businesses. She highlights that there is an "unjust system" where women are invisible to policies and funding.
It's unjust and unequal because one is being judged by the standards of a system when you are not even a part of that system. “You cannot stay out of the system and be judged by that system. I think we need different definitions to ensure that our society doesn't lose out on this huge pool of talent” that women led-businesses bring in.
Thank you Sukanya for sharing your knowledge and insights with us on #wideangleconversations #deitalks
This conversation is also available on our YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/gBpBciQn
ignitingchange #enablingsuccess #inclusionbydesign #diversityequityinclusion #deib #inclusiveleadership #workplaceinclusion #strategyandtransformation #coachingculture #socialgood
Wide Angle Conversations is creating a space for meaningful dialogue on DEI, raising awareness about its importance and bringing to you the best-practices and insights from DEI practitioners and Champions from across Asia.
In this conversation, host Taruna Aggarwal is talking to Tom Verghese.
Tom is a cross-cultural coach, consultant and the Founder of Cultural Synergies, Melbourne, Australia. He is an energetic speaker and author of four books around culture awareness, cultural agility and leadership.
Tom came to DEI via culture and he believes that culture influences how one looks at diversity. “Diversity can be global but inclusion has to be local" says Tom, the pushback to inclusion efforts, without an eye on local culture can derail efforts.
On leadership, Tom says "leadership is not a title but a mindset". Leaders need to role model inclusion, have conversations to listen deeply and demonstrate that voices have been heard by actioning on what they have heard. Today leaders have to be “Menterns” - a mentor and an intern at the same time (term coined by Chip Conely, Wisdom at Work)
Change happens only when you engage people emotionally while data is important it does not change behaviour. Tom believes that organizations need to have a story as to why DEI is important to them, as that is what will connect people to the organization and create a sense of belonging.
Tom shares many practical tips and tools in this interview.
This conversation is also available on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/puPyuGYIGJs
wideangleconversations #ignitingchange #enablingsuccess #inclusionbydesign #inclusiveculture #culturalintelligence #diversityequityinclusion #inclusiveleadership #strategyandtransformation #coachingculture #facilitation #designthinking #coaching
Wide Angle Conversations is creating a space for meaningful dialogue on DEI, raising awareness about its importance and bringing to you the best-practices and insights from DEI and HR practitioners, Champions and Advocates, from across Asia, to share their experience and expertise with those aspiring to walk the path.
In this conversation, host Taruna Aggarwal is talking to Alister Ong. Alister was born with cerebral palsy, but he has never let that hamper his experience of life. He holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from Singapore Management University (SMU) and has been working full-time since graduating in 2017. He is a thought-leader and a motivational speaker
and Diversity and Inclusion Champion, well-known in Singapore and the Asia
Pacific region.
Alister is the recipient of the Goh Chok Tong Enable Awards, 2020 and the Vice Chairperson of Purple Parade, Singapore’s largest inclusive movement to support inclusion and celebrate the abilities of Persons with Disabilities.
Alister is a source of inspiration for all, his greatest passion is to inspire the youth, the next generation, for them to know and to believe that every single one of us can make a difference and impact change. He shares his transformational journey with us “I thought that when I'm different, I'm excluded, if I'm different, it means that I'm not welcome, I'm not valued by other people but I realized that this disability has a story - it has a story of overcoming
challenges, it has a story of resilience and this story is actually very helpful to other people around me.." says Alister
He tells us to embrace and value diversity, celebrate it and not shun away from it and create an inclusive culture for every one of us to thrive and grow. He tells us to celebrate the abilities of each one of us, with or without disabilities, because all of us have different challenges and limitations yet we also have unique strengths that each of us can bring to the table.
Alister talks about Job Redesign and use of Assistive technologies and tools to make hiring more inclusive and encourage persons with disabilities to join the workforce and become a part of the mainstream society.
Alister thank you for inspiring us, we all hope to see society moving forward with a common identity, "we are one united people, we are one nation, we are one global workforce, whichever terms that we want to describe ourselves coming together…”
This conversation can also be viewed on our YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/0VJXbDyEjKk
pwds #inclusion #wideangleconversations
Wide Angle Conversations is creating a space for meaningful dialogue on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, raising awareness about its importance and bringing to you the best-practices and insights from DEI and HR practitioners, champions and advocates.
Wide Angle Conversations: DEI Talks, features Leaders and DEI & HR practitioners from organisations from across Asia to share their experience and expertise with those aspiring to walk the path.
In this conversation, host Taruna Aggarwal is talking to Jeiz Robles, Marketplace Diversity Leader, Asia Pacific at IBM. She is based in Manila Philippines.
Jeiz champions inclusion in the workplace by actively influencing LGBT+ workplace inclusion strategies, policies and programs. She was ranked No. 16 by Involve Global LGBT+ Future Leaders for 2020.
Jeiz shares the IBM diversity and inclusion story and how it aligned with her personal story, leading to her strong commitment towards championing and driving the DEI agenda.
As a Marketplace Diversity Leader, she aims to share IBM's mature DEI best practices with external customers and anyone who wants to champion Diversity and Inclusion.
Jeiz shares valuable insights on building DEI and Inclusive Culture in the organisations. 'Everyone will benefit from having an open mind and by never saying that there is no problem.....it’s only through recognition that something can be done, will something get done!....We should all stop saying that nothing is wrong"
Jeiz talks about:
- the importance of a clear structure and accountability for DEI strategy
- inclusive leadership and its critical role in successful DEI
- curating 'inclusive' employee experience'
You can watch this very insightful conversation on our YouTube channel as well: https://youtu.be/dwmyPwhQH9A
DEI #diversityandinclusion #futureofwork #inclusiveculture
Wide Angle Conversations: DEI Talks, features Leaders and DEI & HR practitioners from organisations from across Asia to share their experience and expertise with those aspiring to walk the path.
In this conversation, host Taruna Aggarwal is talking to Olivia Chua, CHRO of Jebsen and Jessen Group who says that “a simple way of looking at Diversity and Inclusion is ensuring everyone on the table feels included; in whatever decisions we are making. Everyone should have an opportunity to say something, to be heard, no matter where they are from, what race or gender they are…”
When it comes to DEI, the organization strictly follows anti-discriminatory policies and working towards making the recruitment and selection processes inclusive. Being in a ‘heavily male dominated industry’, the management sees value in diversity of opinions and decisions and is committed to a balanced and inclusive workforce.
Olivia believes that being in a leadership position, she can drive change and encourage more balanced and inclusive hiring, by tapping into a wider pool of candidates. The current focus is to bring in more women in leadership roles. She is also bringing in more diversity by hiring candidates from different countries in the region, moving away from only local candidates.
Interaction between employees from different business groups, is also promoting Inclusion, says Olivia. This is specially challenging during the pandemic. Olivia started Health and Wellness initiatives to enable interaction between employee groups. These newly launched programs had to go online due to CoVid, including a very successful “virtual sports day…” spread over 3 weeks across 9 countries under her charge!!
This interview is also available for you to watch on our YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/lifeby-designYoutubeChannel
**This podcast is a Wide Angle Conversations - DEI Talk with Rachele Focardi as the guest and Taruna Aggarwal, the host. The episode was produced in March 2021.
Wide Angle Conversations is an initiative of Life By Design with Taruna Aggarwal. We are based in Singapore.**
Rachele Focardi is the Founder and CEO of XYZ@Work and best-selling author of “Reframing Generational Stereotypes”.
She is a global thought-leader and public speaker on Multigenerational Workforce Dynamics, Future of Work, Employer Branding and Talent Strategy.
Rachele's passion lies in helping organisations adapt to the needs of the new generations, bridge the generational divide and foster a culture of intergenerational collaboration, harmonise their multigenerational workforce and empower future leaders to drive positive change.
**This podcast is a Wide Angle Conversations - DEI Talk with Zubee Ali as the guest and Taruna Aggarwal, the host. The episode was produced in March 2021.
Wide Angle Conversations is an initiative of Life By Design with Taruna Aggarwal. We are based in Singapore.Zubee is an independent consultant and trainer working in the Social Sector. Her recent work with Daughter of Tomorrow focused on the personal development of women beneficiaries to enable sustainable employment. She is passionate about fighting inequality and promoting women issues. The disproportionate burden of caregiving, the pressure to perform at the workplace and the lack of supportive policies holds women back.**
She strongly believes that If we want to make progress, then respect, value and inclusion must be the core values and the system, the privileged, the influencers and every individual has to be committed to bring about the needed change in society.
**This podcast is a Wide Angle Conversations - DEI Talk with Kevin Kan as the guest and Taruna Aggarwal, the host. The episode was produced in March 2021.
Wide Angle Conversations is an initiative of Life By Design with Taruna Aggarwal. We are based in Singapore.**
Kevin is the founder of Break Out Consulting Asia, helping organizations to achieve business transformations by synergizing employee and customer experience.
Kevin is a Mentor Coach and Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credentialed with the International Coach Federation (ICF), a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years of industry experience and Professional Member of the Singapore Human Resources Institute (MSHRI)Kevin believes it is important to accept people for who they are and what they bring to the table, and not for their gender or color of their skin. He is passionate about promoting Asian Leadership in Asia. Having been a minority and seen situations where local high-potential talent was bypassed for foreign talent, he would like to see deserving local talent occupy senior executive leadership roles in organizations in Asia.
**This podcast is a Wide Angle Conversations - DEI Talk with Zahira Sughra Zainuddin as the guest and Taruna Aggarwal, the host. The episode was produced in March 2021.
Wide Angle Conversations is an initiative of Life By Design with Taruna Aggarwal. We are based in Singapore.
Zahira is the Head, Group Special projects for Strategy and Transformation for PETRONAS Lubricants International. She is an accomplished corporate professional with extensive experience working with Fortune 500 corporations.** She is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Zahira is passionate about building inclusive culture and 'humanizing' the workplace. She shares her views on the rationale for Diversity, Equity Inclusion and Belonging as a business imperative for orgnizations to thrive in today's diverse and changing world.
In her words "we need to have courage, compassion and conviction" to move the needle. Organisations need to have a system-level approach, Leadership accountability and proper metrics and measures in place to make DEI change happen.
**This podcast is a Wide Angle Conversations - DEI Talk with Shaun Tan as the guest and Taruna Aggarwal, the host. The episode was produced in March 2021.
Wide Angle Conversations is an initiative of Life By Design with Taruna Aggarwal. We are based in Singapore.**
Shaun Tan is the Co-Founder of Inclus, a social enterprise founded in 2018 working towards helping people with disabilities gain employment and equal opportunities for independent living.
Shaun hopes that everyone can embrace diversity and open up to different perspectives as this will propagate an inclusive society through the trickle-down effect. He believes neuro-diversity to be a significant and important dimension of diversity. It is important to provide better job opportunities and accessibility to create inclusive workplaces and society for the differently abled.
**This podcast is a Wide Angle Conversations - DEI Talk with Kalaivani Fernando as the guest and Taruna Aggarwal, the host. The episode was produced in September 2020
Wide Angle Conversations is an initiative of Life By Design with Taruna Aggarwal. We are based in Singapore.
Kalaivani Fernando is the Founding director of Vasantham Vision Trust, an NGO based in Sri Lanka, focusing on female and child development.** They run English Literacy program, Mobiles Libraries for schools in rural areas and self-defence classes for girls.
Kalaivani is a full-time educator in a school in Singapore. She takes us through her amazing and inspiring journey of building an NGO from ground up and in her own way create an inclusive culture and equal opportunities for all children.
**This podcast is a Wide Angle Conversation DEI Talk with Beatrix Eder as the guest and Taruna Aggarwal, the host. The episode was produced in September 2020
Wide Angle Conversations is an initiative of Life By Design with Taruna Aggarwal. We are based in Singapore.
Beatrix Eder is the founder of Beatrix Eder Coaching.** She an ICF - ACC (Associate Certified Coach) Coach and Facilitator She focuses on an integrative approach that links the personal growth of the individual to the development of the system they are part of. She believes in developing creative and cohesive teams that thrive on diversity and Inclusion.
She talks to us about Inclusive Leadership and role of leadership accountability in DEI. She believes leaders at all levels of an organization must communicate and operate effectively to practice a more collaborative, creative and compassionate approach to bring out the best performance in their teams and attract & retain talent.
**This podcast is a Wide Angle Conversation DEI Talk with Jyoti Singh as the guest and Taruna Aggarwal, the host. The episode was produced in September 2020
Wide Angle Conversations is an initiative of Life By Design with Taruna Aggarwal. We are based in Singapore.
Jyoti Singh is the Founder and Creative Director of Jo Kilda**, an affordable luxury fashion boutique. She is working towards building sustainability in fashion by using environment friendly vegan alternatives in fabrics and materials.
She is passionate about women aiming high and achieving their dreams. She Mentors young women fashion designers. She started her own journey in her mid thirties when she had two children. "Nothing is Impossible” is the mantra she believes in, she encourages everyone to adopt it and live life with no regrets.
**This podcast is a Wide Angle Conversations - DEI Talk with Mukta Arya as the guest and Taruna Aggarwal, the host. The episode was produced in September 2020
Wide Angle Conversations is an initiative of Life By Design with Taruna Aggarwal. We are based in Singapore.
Mukta Arya is the Head of Human Resources APAC for Société Générale**. She is a creative and agile HR professional with over 24 years of experience .
Her company's DEI focus is on Gender, LGBTQ+, Culture and Differently Abled. Everybody is equal and the differences in people because of race, religion, gender etc. should be celebrated and leveraged and individuals should feel comfortable in bringing their whole selves to the organization. Mukta talks about the future of work and shares with us strategies she applied for mental wellbeing during CoVid lockdown and WFH scenarios.
**This podcast is a Wide Angle Conversations - DEI Talk with Marie-Hélène Mansard as the guest and Taruna Aggarwal, the host. This episode was produced in September 2020.
Wide Angle Conversations is an initiative of Life By Design with Taruna Aggarwal. We are based in Singapore.
Marie-Hélène Mansard is the Business Development Director for Axis Communications, Asia Pacific. She started her career in sales at Airbus Group** and has held several Global and Regional Leadership positions in Business Unit management, Sales, Marketing and Communications at Airbus Group, IBM, Thales and more
Marie-Helene says Diversity and Inclusion in an organization impacts the bottom-line, decision-making and performance. She says we know we are doing it right when a small group of minorities in the organization became comfortable enough to share and contribute their opinion.
She is passionate about Gender Equity and drives the Women-in-Tech agenda.
She highlights the importance of strong networking skills, making our voice heard, a belief in ourselves and being authentic as the ingredients for women to succeed.
**This podcast is a Wide Angle Conversations - DEI Talk with Laletha Nithiyanandan as the guest with Taruna Aggarwal, the host. This episode was produced in September 2020
Wide Angle Conversations is an initiative of Life By Design with Taruna Aggarwal. We are based in Singapore.**
Laletha Nithiyanandan is a seasoned entrepreneur who started her first venture Business Trends, a recruitment services business in Singapore in 1979, at the age of 20 and there has been no stopping her since then!
She is currently very actively involved in several business and community projects. With her extensive business experience, entrepreneurial skills and corporate leadership experience in the Asia Pacific region, she feels strongly about making a positive contribution to any venture she is gets involved in.
She takes us through her journey and talks to us about strategies that make successful entrepreneurs. Her people-focus, empathy and humility stood out in the conversation, truly the mark of an authentic leader and human being .