#Superwomen2020 Companies should have boardroom diversity not because it's mandatory: Bhavishya & Nikita

Social Samosa Superwomen 2020 winners Bhavishya Bhan & Nikita Burman believe that women have the power to disrupt this generations-old pattern by becoming their own bosses and crafting a better version of advertising.

The entrepreneurial journey of Bhavishya Bhan & Nikita Burman, Co-Founders, Bluebeans Digital Marketing has been a successful one so far. The duo went onto start the venture in their 20s, overcoming challenges and are leading various teams now.  

As Superwomen 2020 winners, the duo narrate their work experience and define the superwoman of today.

How
would you define a Superwoman in today's day and age? 

A Superwoman is someone who understands and respects her roots but is daring, confident, and passionate enough to fly. The one who knows how to break the boundaries with relative ease, and is humble enough to acknowledge, learn, and grow from her failures. Every woman, I believe, is a Superwoman, battling challenges we may not even be aware of, but still walking through with charm, humor, and poise. 

One
quality that you think every superwoman has and that helped you win Social
Samosa Superwomen

They can handle failures. They can make something constructive out of their failures.

Every superwoman story has those (in reality
many) obstacles that she has to fight, many failures she has to overcome before
she can finally create some mark.

The fire to march forward is more than the
power in anything that stops her.

The quality of not just being able to handle failures but also to make them the stepping stones to something greater. Unfortunately, due to the stigma that still exists in society, it can become very difficult to deal with failures. As each failure can be perceived as a validation of the “women can’t” narrative. Hence it is critical to take failures in your stride and keep marching forward.

Every superwoman story has those (in reality
many) obstacles that she has to fight, many failures she has to overcome before
she can finally create some mark.

The fire to march forward is more than the
power in anything that stops her.

How
successful have women been in shattering the glass ceiling in the Media &
Advertising field? Does the 'boardroom inequality' phrase still stand
true? 

We do often see a belief system that
advertising remains a boys' club – to which every semi-sentient being says,
"Well, no shit." But we, the women in this industry who know it can
rise to become so much more – have the power to disrupt this generations-old
pattern by becoming our own bosses and crafting a better version of
advertising.

Does the 'boardroom inequality' phrase still stand true? Yes. Is it changing? Hell yes! It’ll be better if companies have diversity in their boardroom and not because it's a mandate or PR opportunity.

Everyone should have a seat on the table. Everything will be better if that happens.

Having said that, the world of advertising and marketing has seen more women making to the top positions and it’s heartening to see this change.

Also Read: #Superwomen2020: Getting rid of gender pay gaps, equal opportunities needed for gender-neutral workplaces: Alisha Khanna

What are the key changes this industry needs in order to make workplaces gender-neutral, safe, and nurturing?   

One obvious approach to this is the top-bottom approach. Only 0.1% of the agencies are owned by women, and only 3% are Creative Directors. Women who start agencies can change how typically agencies work. We need more of them.

But I have a stronger belief in the bottom-top approach. A workplace that is gender-neutral, safe, and even nurturing, is based on the building blocks of empathy. It can only be built by individuals with a high EQ. Hence I feel it is extremely important to incorporate a dimension of EQ in the hiring process at all levels.

Once we are truly able to do this all across the industry, we will see a change not only in the quality of work environment but in the quality of the campaigns that we produce as well.

One
Superpower you wish you had? 

Telepathy

The
'Superwomen' you diligently follow and who inspired you.

Sheryl Sandberg, Mira Kaddoura and Kiran
Mazumdar-Shaw

One
tip to women out there attempting to scale heights.

Don’t be afraid to ask for more.