She is the driving force behind women who would want to get back to work either after motherhood or a bad marriage. One among every three women, who are sitting at home, is depressed especially after a hectic work life. Bengaluru-based Tina Garg is on a mission to empower and motivate such women who are down in the dumps.
For the past seven years, the 41-year-old has not only been pepping up the confidence level of these women but has also been re-skilling them in fields such as creative writing and digital media to make them employable. The gutsy and chirpy founder and CEO of Pink Lemonade—a creative agency specialising in communication, content, and design based in Bengaluru—says, “I had quit my job as head of content and design at CBeyond Design in 2009 for the sake of my children. Though I got back to work gradually, most women find it difficult to concentrate on jobs after having babies. Lack of support drives them to leave their highly paid jobs and after a few years, they settle down to the role of a housewife.”
Garg followed her heart since the beginning of her career, and changed her profession by entering the creative field. She says, “I fulfilled my parents’ desire by becoming an engineer, but my heart was never there. I was always interested in writing, so I did Master’s in Communication and Journalism, and started writing for magazines and newspapers. I wrote features and technical write-ups also. Later, I worked for UNICEF. I treasure all these experiences.”
She always wanted to do something of her own. Though the idea struck her mind when she was at home looking after her children, she finally started Pink Lemonade in 2011, which now has 87 employees with more than 60 per cent women. Servicing 500 clients, it has a turnover of `7 crore. “My company’s doors are always open for women looking for opportunities and I have provided them jobs—be it front office, sales or marketing. I allot them the right place and give them the right salaries,” says Garg, who was among the 10,000 women in the world to be coached by Goldman Sachs and Indian School of Business, as part of their ‘10,000 Women’ programme, which provides women entrepreneurs business and management education.
In her company, work and hobbies have been blended in such a way that work-life balance is maintained. “Employees can sign up for hobby classes such as guitar, calligraphy and tarot card reading. We make them learn hobbies within office hours for free.”
To provide more job opportunities, they have tied up with a company named JobsForHer. As part of ‘Reskill, Retrain, and Restart’ programme, Garg also conducts returnship workshops and offers internships to a select few. A group of 23-30 women are chosen for these workshops where they are re-skilled.
“We pick 3-4 interns from these workshops for further training. They are paid a stipend of `5,000-15,000 depending on their calibre. It is not easy to train women, as many times they drop out,” says Garg, adding that she has imbibed a lot in her career and now she wants to give it back to society by helping women overcome challenges.