Selangor Journal

#HereWeAre – Women Empowering One Another

 

Source: www.worldpulse.com

By Cecelia Alphonsus

Cecelia Alphonsus is the Chief Editor of Media Selangor. A Chartered Marketer by training and aspiring media maven by passion, striving for a fairer, sustainable and a more caring world.

 

 

 

 

Recently, Twitter bought its first ever ad – a 60 second spot aired during the live telecast of the Oscars, linking its brand to a message of female empowerment by promoting the hashtag #HereWeAre. In a tweet, they declared to stand with women around the world to make their voices heard and their presence known. It is incredibly sad that, here we are in 2018, nearly 200 years since the start of the suffrage movement in the US and we are still, apparently, fighting to be visible on the front line of society.

The Selangor Journal had the privilege and honour of talking to two stellar women, YAM Tengku Datin Paduka Setia Zatashah and Jocelyn Ng, who despite the advantages that come by being their father’s daughter, they were adamant to make their own way in the world. Here they share some of their thoughts and experiences on the empowering of women.

YAM Tengku Datin Paduka Setia Zatashah

Women’s Day means a celebration of past achievements by women and role models. It’s not about breaking the glass ceiling anymore, it’s about smashing that glass ceiling.

A royal Princess by birth but an iconic woman in her own right, Tengku Zatashah is the epitome of the modern woman. Do not underestimate this petite graceful beauty with the down to earth charm of the girl next door, she is laced with steely determination and an indomitable spirit to fight for what she believes in.

Going against the tide isn’t easy for anyone, princess or not, women are consistently told not to rock the boat or bask in the limelight. This she believes is the biggest challenge for women – the need for self-belief and visibility.

“I have found from my career and experience that in fact for women to realize their true potential is to shine, to be visible. To realize our true potential is to believe that we can achieve our goals, that we can be independent and self-sufficient, that we have the right to dream big and seize opportunities when they come our way.”

Many women can relate to the fact that there will be countless naysayers who are bent on raining on your parade no matter what you decide to do. It is this very negativity that spurred her to succeed on her own merit and to prove them wrong.

“For a woman to feel empowered it means financial independence, it means to work hard and make a success out of whatever you decide to do. It is time for us women to dare to aspire, to be bold.”

That said, a common misconception often perpetuated by the media is that an “empowered woman” is often portrayed as a high-profile corporate go-getter or a savvy businesswoman. This inadvertently creates a divide amongst women themselves as many feel that if they are not in that world then they are not “empowered”.

Tengku Zatasha sees an empowered woman as one who “can make decisions on her life, a woman who knows her strengths and is in control of her life and ready to take on challenges.”

“She can be a low-income housewife who is able to earn a small income sewing quilted blankets from home or a single mom from a poor urban family selling cakes to the community.” As Tengku points out, empowerment really has got nothing to do with social status, job position or background.

“Every time you suppress some part of yourself or allow others to play you small, you are ignoring the owner’s manual your Creator gave you. What I know for sure is this – you are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more, to be more splendid, to be more extraordinary, to use every moment to fill yourself up.”

Jocelyn Ng

Focusing on our inadequacies rather than our talents is a common trait among women that transcends culture or educational backgrounds. We’d all do a lot better if we focused more on our strengths.

Jocelyn was the first Malaysian and first woman to be appointed General Manager of PepsiCo Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Mongolia and the Pacific Islands. She was also the first Malaysian and first woman to be appointed Chief Operating Officer of UNIQLO Malaysia which was no mean feat considering that in the consumer retail industry, these positions are normally held by expatriates.

“Everyone has ambition in life,” says Jocelyn. “I set goals for myself – my ultimate goal was to run a company, preferably a multinational company in Malaysia. My first job was in market research, I set a goal to be a brand manager, then marketing manager and so on till I reached my ultimate goal of running a company.”

Confidence is key in empowering yourself for bigger and better things in life.“From a personal self-development perspective, I think we should try and live by the 4Cs – Confidence, Courage, Communication and Care.”

Jocelyn believes the 4Cs are key for women to be able to stand up for what we believe in, speak up when something is not right, to mean what we say and say what we mean and most importantly to care for people, to respect diversity and include it in our lives and ultimately, to care for ourselves.

Quite often in the workplace, it is a dog-eat-dog world. This is precisely why to stand out and be visible, Jocelyn says “we need to influence stakeholders.” And to do so, allies, sponsors and mentors are important. “Senior women in the workplace need to actively sponsor and mentor younger woman.”

“As policy-makers, we need to set targets for the hiring and promotion of women. Notice that I said targets and not quotas because setting a quota means ticking a box, but setting a target means that we have a clearly stated objective of what we need to do, and we will put in place strategies, measures and plans to meet the objective.”

“I believe we all have immense possibilities within us. We just need to awaken them. So, my request to all Malaysian women is not to be shy about showing the world how great you are!”

“When I am prepared, I do things well and when I do things well, my confidence builds. It is really about doing the little things well.”

There is nothing more empowering than a woman living at cause, designing her own future despite the norms of society and the curve balls life throws at her. Marisa and Kiran are examples of two such women who allowed their light to shine driven by the need for freedom.

Marisa R Ng

Marisa R Ng is an artist who recently held her first solo curated show at the National Art Gallery – ONG: It came from a place of love. It was an exhibition dedicated to her grandmother. A single mom, Marisa’s ambition is to carve a name for herself as a successful female artist in South East Asia that produces powerful works of art that would make a difference.

Her biggest fear in life was having to clock in and out of an office and doing office work, to her it was suffocating. “I need my freedom to express, to explore, to be creative at my own pace and time where I can work independently and in solitary. Without this freedom to create, I die.” She hopes that in another 10 years she would be able to build her own dream studio. “Live life as authentically as you can, stay focused and believe in yourself,” says Marisa.

Kiran Kuckreja

Kiran Kuckreja literally woke up one morning to find that her world had changed overnight. Suddenly she found herself with her savings cleaned out, no more business, no house, no car and only RM100 in her wallet. She knew she needed to do something and fast. Due to her circumstances as a single mum it was difficult to get a full-time job that would fit within her son’s school schedule and she certainly didn’t have the means to afford a babysitter either.

She knew that she had to find a way to earn an income while being a full-time mum. That’s when it hit her, that she could start marketing online a weight-loss product she was using and had achieved amazing results. Generally, a private person, Richard Branson’s mantra “Screw IT, Let’s Do IT!” became her driving force and she took the plunge with fingers crossed. What made her stand out from the countless number of online sellers was her desire to make meaning in people’s lives and not just make money, that combined with her devising her own system and packages to market the products, saw phenomenal results – in her customers and her bank account. “Life gave me lemons and I made lemonade out of it. I refused to let circumstances to control me – I’d like to think I took control of circumstances,” says Kiran.

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