AADYA DIXIT (FOUNDER OF WOMEN N LEADERSHIP)

Thank you so much for being with us here. And like taking the time to be here. I'm Saloni and I will be doing your interview today. So hi Aadya, welcome to the interview. Before we start, I'd like to appreciate what you're doing. So like I went across your Instagram handle, the woman and leadership page, and I really, really appreciate what you're doing. Like it's very, very, you know, it takes guts to voice your opinions and passions. And I'd really appreciate you for doing that. And so before we begin, Please introduce yourself, Like what do you do? And just general info.

So hey everyone, my name is Aadya, as you might have known at this point, I have this little nonprofit called Women N Leadership, where we talk about feminism, and women in politics and business. And something which we recently have been doing is trying to bridge the gap between the urban and the rural divide ,while tackling the problems in both. That's about me.

That 's amazing. So I went over your Instagram, and you say your Motto as Like, it's Alice proprise Voila. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing it right,which translates to She flies with her own wings. Would you like to elaborate on it? Like, what is the significance of this particular phrase to your organization?

Absolutely. So when we started with WNL our main inspiration behind that was to get women more interacted with politics and business world and made them feel that they can take on the leadership positions, because somewhat through institutionalized practices, schools ,households, we as girls are somewhat function, may believe that we are not sufficient enough to be leaders . As you might have heard in Taylor Swift's interview, there's a difference in vocabulary. Right? So in your subconscious, it always goes behind that women are not capable enough to be leaders. So when we took on this challenge, we wanted to get more women into leadership positions, be it politics or business. We wanted to give a motto that feels empowering. And the best way we thought was to remind ourselves that," hey you have your own wings you can fly you don't need support, you are talented". This is an institution which is bringing you down, it's not you, you have your wings fly away.

That is absolutely amazing. Like, being a girl and having gone through like, all of those oppressions I totally, totally get what you're trying to do. And that's really, really awesome ,it's very nice. So what led you to start WNL, like did something like a particular incident take place that, you know like, led to you doing it ?

Absolutely. So, I believe it was a series of incidents that came together. So when we recently started WNL it was me and a friend I met and we were just talking about political representation of women. And I remember incidents, we had a local election in cities. So what happened was that in my particular province, it came under a reservation quota for women. And I was excited, like okay cool. I'll get to see a good female leader for once,Right .What turned out was the guy who was actually the person in power. He simply asked his wife to contest for him and he would basically you know, control her as a puppet, that was the starting point with which I became infuriated with political representation that you are messing up with the statistics from the bottom up, the reservation itself is a very controversial and you know, complicated system and is flawed. And then they impose to make it more flawed. So that's where we started. We knew that this is something we should act on, we should tackle it. And I believe the one incident that got categorized that really pushed us over the edge for WNL was when Kamala Harris announced her candidacy ,So that was something which we followed the US election very closely. And that was something which pushed us over the edge about what kind of message does it send when a superpower doesn't have a woman representation. And that was something we decided to tackle because on the ground up in India, what we felt was whenever you talk about female representation, the example you have given is that the US doesn't have a female president yet. And look at us, we had a female president and a female PM. And literally those are like one person out of 20. So that's the story of how we started WNL. And from there, we started to spread out the spectrum, and we became women in leadership.

That's amazing. It's insane how you took the time to like, really analyze the situation and like, take the stance you really believed in? It's really inspiring, very nice. Okay, So after like, this happened, What were your next steps? How did WNL finally come together? Like, how did the organization really form?

So there were basically two forms. So on the one hand, there was official paperwork, which I will not go into. So we wanted to take it official. So we made it a registered section 8 company, so that was a whole another ride. Other than that, as I said, I was with another person, We started working, we started writing a few initial blogs, we catered of what we really wanted to do, we made a six month plan ,action plans, we started out with some few Instagram posts, we started with what our blogs is gonna be like, we formed the whole website from scratch. And then after a few months I guess, around two months of that happening, and mind you, we both had our board exams when it happened, immediately got cancelled, but we did assume we had to give our boards . So yeah, that's how we started out after that. We started recruiting more people. We started having more people to write blogs with and we had a whole social media team. And that's basically how it took off.

That's amazing. It's so like, well managed throughout. That's really good. WNL strives to empower women, LGBTQ and other minorities. So have you personally faced oppression? Like, any discrimination on the basis of your gender?

So when I was three years old, my father died in a car crash, and my mom was younger. So, you know before that I knew that sexism existed because you see it on TV, and you know, as a girl, you have this underlying feeling that, yeah, I'll go into the world I'll fake sexism.So after that, I saw my mother go through a lot of stuff. She was being judged a lot. Also, our society has this very vague notion that widows are equal to life being ended. So my mom has a lot of difficulty when it comes to managing the finances, there was this whole family dynamic. So that's, you know, that's literally the moment I came to know that, hey, I'm a woman so this world is gonna be against me at times. And yeah, that's pretty much I'll say my first encounter with full fledged sexism. After that as a kid, I was a very sporty person. People like to call me a Tomboy kind of person. So I played a lot of sports. I did swimming for almost seven years. I was like, out of five, only five girls were in karate. I was one of them. And I was in my school's football team for three years and I was the only girl , that's like you go out of the room and Sexism is gonna walk into your face.

I'm so sorry. You had to go all through that when you were very young. But I find it really inspiring, like how you still, you know, took the step and did not let anything stop you. That's so commendable. I'm really inspired right now. So according to Instagram, WNL recently distributed sanitary pads to like 800 Women. So like, that's obviously like, again, that's so wholesome. And like, so nice of you to go and do that. So tell us about your experience? Like, how was it like talking to them? And like the whole experience with women?

Absolutely. So we had a slum development area where we went to initially to distribute the pads. So I'll tell you , you know, every time you hear these stories, you always go through the inspirational side, I'll give you another take on that. So I met with women who were living in poverty, they were trying to work, they were laborers who are working on, you know, even below major wages, and they will just be looking at me, and it was a very, very sad scene to go to a place like that. Seeing the condition of women, it really makes you think, honestly, I have heard Through my journey at WNL, I have heard so many stories that, you know, that can make you cry and laugh at the same time. And this has been a whole journey as a whole to, like, hear these stories, because it's a Cinderella trail, it has been told 1000 times but it always has something different which makes it memorable. Another thing I have seen, you know, through these distributions and service projects, is the Slumdog Millionaire effect,If I had to name it something. You always might find a person who is trying to take advantage of let's say, you're distributing something, you might come across a gang leader who's trying to take advantage, try to gather more stuff. So yeah, that's like the two sides of a coin , you're going there, you can face you can hear a very life changing story. You can interact with great people, you can change life, or you can run into a person like that. So that's something which always happens that is always at the back of our minds when we are going in that you have to directly interact with people and give this stuff directly to them rather than having a mediator. And mind you mediators always intervene.

That's awesome. Like, you know, just learning by really doing what you're doing and not going through the internet and like, looking up an article and just reading , but really listening to what really happened. Like it's very different from what you know, learning is . so it's really nice that you really practically learned what you wanted to learn like, Wow, that's amazing. I went through your Instagram as well. Now you're very academically involved, as you even mentioned, like being involved in sports and everything. And you started the NGO WNL, obviously. So how do you manage your time between both of them? And what would be your tips to like a student who is willing to, you know, start something on their own as well?

Well, for time management. Okay, so something I recently saw on sleep deprived dreamers, if you might have heard of it, it was when you are trying to start something just start it. And that is what I've done. Because you're going to procrastinate, your mind is going to be like Okay, fine. We'll get more time after that. Or maybe after your exams or maybe after you know, the break or your summer vacation but just start it. Things will start to fall in place,Just do it. Take the first step, you will see the clear direction. As for managing time, I'll say try to work a little smart, multitasking goes a long way. I don't have a scientifically proven method, that you should like, wake up at 5 am and do this. I am a night owl. So that works for me. I try to get as much work as I can done in minimum time. For example, if I have a meeting with WNL, I'll try to finish it off as early as possible. I'll try to interact with the team, brainstorm ideas, in the meantime maybe get a few of those ideas going. That is what really helps me keep things on track. Because rather than just discussing the possibility of doing something when you actually start doing it, you get a clearer picture. So that always helps to manage. I believe that's pretty much it.

Yeah That's great . So Next question. So now, as you mentioned, like the sanitary pad incident and so many like, you must have encountered so many stories and so many like, life lessons along your path at WNL. So like, what is something that you learned a life lesson that you learn , like through your journey with WNL right now?

Okay. So recently for one of our Pad distributions , we also went to mission Shakti phase three, there was the opening ceremony, it's what they called it. Mission Shakti basically was a venture to begin to get more women entrepreneurs. And there, we met with a lot of people. And I interacted with women who were willing to start off from scratch. Women who had no support, who had no system, but they were there. They were eager, and they were rural women, they had no formal education, but they were there. They had this you know in Hindi, we call it "Junoon "the passion in there," I want to do this, I can do this, I have something I can do". And that was something which I really found inspiring that against all odds against all hardships. Sometimes you don't like to acknowledge but we all do have an urban privilege or the privilege that comes with a wealth but that scene that they come from, they are literally willing to start things from scratch they're willing to put all their lives you know, earnings their own life at a start just so they can get something from ground up because they are just passionate about it that was something which really inspired me.

It's amazing to be around people who have the passion and like to do anything, it gives you that energy as well. So it's very nice.Now, like Inspiwire is like an organization we want to promote more entrepreneurs like young entrepreneurs basically. So to anyone who wants to start like a startup I know you have already like told like you should just start if you want to start it but like any more advice available to anyone who you know wants to start up.

Yeah, sure. So I'll say that have a bit of ground research done. You'll always feel that you're not prepared enough but try to get a bit ground research done. At least know that what your life is gonna look like , let's not say upcoming year but at least the upcoming month, what you might need to do and take it off from there. Things will fall into place, which is something which I've seen with my own life turnaround so I truly believe that if you put your effort in the right direction, you will find it fulfil, network a lot. I am a very extrovert person. So I've emphasized a lot on it ,network a lot .Talk with people you will get amazing ideas , you don't know who is going to be someone who can be your co founder to the next thing. So interact with a lot of people go to you know conferences and if you can afford go to launch X and other networking events, like I was part of a program ,it was a foreign policy summer program and I met a lot of people there. And a lot of these people, they really helped me to take WNL International. I met someone at HUFPI who liked my work and she was like, why don't you come? So, network a lot. Go to such events talk with like minded people. And yeah, things will fall into place.

So amazing how you took the opportunity and like, it's amazing. I really like how it's going. Okay, So is there anything you would like to add to this interview?

I think that pretty much sums it up. But I would really like to thank Inspiwire, it is an amazing platform. And I love when people you know, efforts to know and voice students journey because a lot of times you don't get a platform but I really really love the platform you have provided for I don't know if I can call myself an entrepreneur but yeah, entrepreneurs people starting nonprofits.

Just students going crazy together .

Yeah, just like taking the initiative to do something like they really believe in. So yeah, that's something very hard to find, like not everyone has the guts to, you know, do just what they want to do. And what you're doing is really inspiring and that's what we felt and hence we really wanted to like show what you do.

Thank you so much for being here. I had a really great time learning about your organization and about you. And we hope you have a very good time at WNL. And we would be really glad to see it going up.

I really love the interview Saloni .It was an absolute pleasure. And I hope you have a great week. Bye bye

You too, Bye bye.