Some of you attended the Bangalore edition of the SHEROES Summit earlier this week. SHEROES Summit is an annual tri-city – Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore conference that brings women from the SHEROES Community and business leaders of diverse range together for a conversation around opportunities, innovation, leadership and entrepreneurship.
This year we host the 4th edition of the SHEROES Summit and of all the editions we have hosted (over a dozen by now) we have always had a few young mums call in to regret last moment, because their baby sitting arrangements fell through.
One year, we had a young mum Nivedita, fly in all the way from Hyderabad to Bangalore leaving her 3 month old baby behind for the first time. She had to spend tons of time prepping up for the trip and finding baby sitting back up, which included husband, nanny, mum-in-law and more.
At the same time, there are also some #MumsWithoutBabysitters who just leap ahead and bring the babies to the conference. Though the event is meant for women and other attendees from SHEROES Community – we have an unsaid, let the babies be policy. There are always a couple of kids in the room and it works for us. There is an occassional cry in the room or a few unsettled looking mums but overall it does not disturb the event.
In an ideal world, we would love to have a baby sitter’s corner and a play area for kids along with the conference but we haven’t yet found a partner so strong to be able to pull this off – either in hotels or organizations offering this service.
Yesterday also we had Susmita bring her adorable daughter ….. who stayed through the course of the event while her mum took notes, networked, enjoyed the conference. Another mum with a not so young child, Jagriti, tagged along her daughter since there was no one at home and she was really keen to attend to the Summit.
I think this is awesome. Baby sitter or no babysitter – it is Can do, Will do attitude – that is the spirit of SHEROES. Women who #takecharge everyday – many times a day and aset the tone for things for themselves, other women, their families and their workplaces.
