This Women’s day, MediaNews4U.Com is acknowledging women leaders of the Media, Marketing, Broadcast and Advertising fraternity who have given more than expected.
KidZania is an interactive family entertainment & learning centre that empowers, inspires & educates through real-life role-playing activities. KidZania is a unique combination of entertainment and an immersive media platform for brands to connect with Children and Adults, with a strong focus on giving back to society and better the community and environment.
‘Industry Partners’ augment the role-playing experiences by enriching and creating an authentic, immersive and interactive brand experience, unmatched by any other location-based entertainment property. For Brands, KidZania serves as a sustainable engagement platform where brands get product exposure, brand exposure and immersive experience through branded role-plays.
In this segment, Prerna Uppal – Chief Partnership Officer – KidZania India shares her experiences and breaking the gender stereotypes and how she continues to inspire many other women who are true leaders in the making.
Journey
My journey has been one hell of a ride with all the highs & lows.
Inspiration & Inspiring the Team
There are various women who have inspired me on personal & professional fronts at different stages in my life. From the women in my house – my mother & sisters, to my inner circle of friends to my house helps, to some of the really great women bosses & team I have worked with, they all have had a certain influence & impact in my life journey. Fearlessness, resilience, creativity, discipline & determination are the few traits that I picked up over the course….However, very early on in my career during my gig at the Marriott; there was an internal Indra Nooyi interview video (she was the CEO of PepsiCo then) that was circulated around Marriott offices across the globe. That interview motivated me, opened up a whole new world for me and made me believe that yes, its, possible to break all barriers and create a life, a purposeful life that you have dreamt of. Her emphasis on 5 C’s leadership framework – Competence, Confidence, Communication, Consistency & Compass has stayed with me until today.
I believe in bringing the best out of people and I think the best way of doing that is giving them “space”. Well this may sound simple, but when you have pressures of deadlines and targets to achieve it gets very tough to not give into the urge to control every little thing. So my experience from working in a team and reporting to people to leading teams has taught me that the more legroom you give your team and let them be themselves, the more freely they work, express and proactively go the extra mile. I also don’t believe in traditional, factory styles of leadership, I think flexibility is another key to keeping your team and doing the opposite is the fastest way of losing them. I think the great resignation around the world has taught us that as leaders in marketing, finance, advertising or whichever function we may belong to, we all have an audience that we cater to and your team is a part of that audience. If you think of them as an asset like a company car, desk or chair, well that’s what they will be, and you cannot expect them to be more. But if you treat them as humans, then I think there is so much more they can offer, trust me you’ll be amazed.
Empowerment of Women
I think the conversation around women empowerment is very dynamic in nature as is any aspect of the human condition. It is essential to understand that in many parts of our world, especially within the still rigid and regressive regions in countries around the world, women empowerment is a dire need and just human justice, peace, equality or even wealth for that matter. It is sorely unequally distributed. In parts of our world where our children whether boys or girls already have access to media, modern thinking and equal opportunity around the conversation around women empowerment must evolve to encompass human issues that go beyond just gender or religion. I think true women empowerment is no domination of one group of people over another or how one group is better than the other. But it’s rather a unifying conversation that brings all people of races and sexuality towards solving crises and issues that plague us as a society. I think women in many advanced parts of the world need to truly step up as empowered and use their voice, which is the main purpose of empowerment. Because what use is power if it cannot benefit all of humanity. Basically modern empowered women need to move beyond a victim mindset and more of a leader mindset. Because that’s what good leaders do, they put the people before their own self-interest.
