#1 A little inspiration and a lot of self care
Hello there,
Firstly, Thank you🙏 for showing so much love💗 and believing in this goal. I am just getting the ball rolling, but the significant impact will only happen once we come together, collaborate and grow.
In addition to networking and learning, some of the big goals are:
To build a business incubator so Jain women can access money to start/grow businesses
To create a scholarship fund so we can tap into study opportunities in India or abroad
If you are thinking about where the money will come from… from the Jain community itself. We are a reasonably wealthy community… we just have to build a strong voice and ASK (thoda time lagega but ho jaega)
To bring about a mindset shift in the samaj about how women of our generation are perceived (this will take some years, yes!)
This is a two-way street, and if you have any cool articles, stories, ideas, links, expertise to share, email me a short introduction of you along with your social media link (so people can get to know you) at themodernmyna@gmail.com.
We still need to grow this community because unity is power.
Get inspired
I want to kickstart the first newsletter with the powerful story of the founder of Canva (a great app for designing creatives, invitations, presentations etc.), Melanie Perkins. When she looked for funding to start the app, she got over 100 rejections (literally). But she didn’t give up, and today Canva is valued at about ₹3 lakh crores! So if you ever feel like giving up, whether at work, home or college… remind yourself of her.
I usually joke with my friends, saying that “at this point, even if I go to NASA, my mom will not be so happy as much as she will be if I get married” (yeah, man… this Shaadi obsession Indian parents have). And it’s so inspiring these women are leading NASA’s next mission.
Take care of yourself
We are so highly conditioned to take care of the family, kids, and everyone else on the planet we were never taught to look after ourselves. We were told “Mr Husband” will do that for you. No offence to the better men of our generation, but it’s not their cup of tea or their role. We have to look after our physical, emotional and mental health. Of course, we can seek support from spouses, family, friends, and now The Modern Myna community.
Check out this elegant and straightforward self-care menu. It has some easy ideas visually explained. Find that 10 mins of “me time” each day to do one little thing just for yourself.
It’s not always easy to pinpoint how you’re feeling, and it can take way too much time to try to describe it to someone. Have you heard of something called the emotional check-in? It’s way beyond, “how are you doing”. Find one hour, take a book and pen and go over these questions. Trust me, you will learn so much about yourself.
⏩ LinkedIn (the Facebook for professionals) has finally added an option to add a career break, with a dropdown menu that includes real options for real-life people, like ‘Parenting’, Bereavement’, and ‘Caregiving’. So go now and update your LinkedIn profile. If you never had a LinkedIn profile, make one now (whether you are working or not or have a business, this is an important social media).
💰 Money matters by KP
A special column from a new friend. He has kindly offered to share some of his financial expertise (an Engineer, CFA and MBA in Finance).
In investing, there is a simple rule of 15 x 15 x 15. If you invest ₹15,000 per month for a period of 15-years in equity markets that are very well capable of generating 15% returns on an annual basis, you would be sitting on a portfolio worth ₹1 crore.
15 years x ₹15,000 per month x 15% (return on investment) = ₹1 crore (Awesome, right?)
It is a known fact that women are more patient than men while investing. But women are conservative and mostly invest in gold or fixed deposits. You should take charge of your investments even if your partner/father/brother manages your money. Ask them where your money is invested, check the annual or monthly return statements.
If you have the time and interest, DIY apps help you invest. Or best seek a professional to manage your money (that’s what I did). They don’t charge very high fees, send timely reports, and handle the paperwork. Easy peasy!
I went out last night… and OMG, all restaurants, clubs and bars are back full-on in Bombay. If you have any good recommendations, please share them in the comments.
Have a good weekend!
I talk a lot, so I would love to hear from you. What you liked and most importantly what you didn’t like, how can I improve this? What can we do better?