"You have only two daughters. Who will take the family business forward?” As relatives questioned her father, five-year-old Vanshika Goenka wondered why she was not good enough for the job.
“The conversation left a deep impression on me,” she confesses. Years later, when Vanshika was working for a company that manufactured sanitary napkins, she realised she was the only woman in the room, working with an all-men team to create a product for women.
“It suddenly hit me that there were just not enough women in workspaces. I started delving into this skewed ratio. This is what led to the start of Kool Kanya, a woman-oriented community to create the workforce of the future,” she smiles.
The platform, which started in 2019, is a blend of online and offline women-targeted communities that lend support both emotionally and mentally. It fosters progressive conversations around relevant subjects and focuses on imparting guidance on topics such as upskilling, freelancing, entrepreneurship, financial planning and mental health.
“We are on a mission to help every woman out there to create a career that she loves. We are also launching a marketplace by the end of this month for independent women professionals and freelancers. The vision is to build the perfect ambition destination—a one-stop solution for everything that has to do with a woman’s career,” says the founder.
Currently, a community of 21,000 members and growing, Kool Kanya is a safe space for women to network professionally and ask questions.
With the pandemic unleashing financial instability in its wake, the platform is the perfect outlet to sustain and support women who are facing job losses.
“Women have been able to find solace on our platform during these uncertain times. We have had women who have lost their jobs and have been encouraged to start working on their own businesses with guidance from mentors and peers in the community.
"Community members also have access to helpful webinars on topics such as starting a business on Instagram, which are exclusively available to them,” Vanshika adds.
In fact, with the help of community members across genres, many can also seek help in professional areas such as logo designing, graphic design or content writing.
During the pandemic, the platform also started an initiative to support women who are looking for jobs called GetWork 2020.
The latest event saw participation from 13 companies across 18 fields and 697 applications. “It is our aim to help every woman power her way to her dream career,” she signs off.