Breaking barriers of ignorance with art, tech and emotional intelligence
Her voice is brave, her resolve is braver. Entrepreneur Shikha Mittal, 35-year-old, peers into our eyes with her razor-sharp gaze that means business. She’s emotionally intelligent and professionally astute, two
qualities she has also adroitly structured into her company that addresses workplace and social issues through art, emotional intelligence and technology.
It’s called Be.artsy, and through it, she develops and implements programmes that resonate with a cross-section of professionals in a bid to bring about social awareness, corporate social responsibility, inclusion, diversity, prevention of sexual harassment at workplaces, among other things. As she gears up for the upcoming workshop on financial literacy with Awfis Gurugram, we speak to her about what encouraged her to make this her chosen path.
Mittal danced beautifully throughout her childhood, catching the envy of her peers. But she had to walk away from it upon her family’s advice to take up a more stable career. That’s when she entered the corporate world. While she climbed the ladders of success rather quickly, the demons of sexual harassment kept pulling her down. “I decided to leave and start my own company. It was during this time that I came across a group that was using street theatre for social activism. It made me realise the power of art to drive positive change at the workplace and beyond. I decided to start an organisation that used emotionally intelligent art to address social and workplace issues,” she says.
Through its investor awareness programme involving nukkad natak (street theatre) and interactive sessions with a certified financial planner, a workshop will be undertaken at Awfis, and other companies in the future, to proselytise the need to make informed financial decisions. “Be.artsy acts as a communication tool, an awareness driven service, wherein programmes can be translated in any regional or local language and are customised to each organisation.”
By using art as a facilitator, Mittal has leveraged the language of the medium to break social, cultural and economic impediments. But with her efforts, one can be artsy as well as be wise.