Introducing: Chandni

Today we have a guest post written by one of our incredible EmpowHER role models. We hope you find it as inspiring as we did.

Hello EmpowHER family!

I am really excited to be joining you all as a role model, and wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself and share with you who some of my role models are and some of the wise advice they shared with me over the years.

About me:

My name is Chandni (you can call me Chans), I have grown up in London my entire life and my passion for this city outweighs all the scary horrible things I often read about in the news. As a child I was unaware the colour of my skin made me different, mainly because no one in my world ever highlighted this obvious fact in a negative way. I was lucky that I had a variety of women to look up to, talk to, identify with and who cared enough to help me grow. My dream is to become someone who helps others, especially when it comes to helping themselves.

That is what I want to share with you today. There are so many women I could talk about but here are a few who really made a difference in my life.

My mum:

My mother has more patience, unconditional love and heart than anyone I have ever met in my entire life. She raised two confident, caring and independent daughters while also caring for her parents who both had Alzheimers, Dementia and Parkinsons (they were dealt a tough hand) and helped anyone who needed it at any time. She taught me to love unconditionally because it is the greatest gift you can give anyone in this world.

Advice from my mum :

“All my life I have strived to be a good parent and friend, I have made mistakes along the way but my children and my friends know I love them above all else. As you get older you realise how important the people in your life are, so squeeze them a little tighter, tell them how much they mean to you and be there to lift them up. Before you know it, time will fly past and you will wish you had done all of those things a million times more than you did.”

Camille:

I have only been working at the British Red Cross for a few months and in that time I am lucky to have met so many incredible, passionate people but there is one person who has truly stood out for me. Camille was my manager for a short period of time (she moved to another team) but she has had a profound and long-lasting effect on me and how I feel about myself.

I honestly believe you only get one “Camille” in your life at any one time. Someone who instantly sees you for your potential and knows how you see yourself and your flaws intuitively. Starting her career at the British Red Cross in the Training and Quality Team she has been a massively part of engaging people in our work, internally motivating and inspiring her colleagues and setting an example of how your sex and colour should never get in the way of your goals.

If you find someone like this make sure you listen to what they say with open ears and an open mind, people who know themselves this well will have lessons that we can all learn but you must be ready to accept them into your life.

Advice from Camille :

“Just try everything, don’t ever let self-doubt or imposter syndrome make you feel you aren’t worthy of even trying!” and “whilst you are being inspired by others don’t forget that there are probably people in your life that you are inspiring!”

Mindy Kaling:

If you don’t know who this is, what have you been doing with your life?! Mindy Kaling is a comedian, writer, producer, director and the kind of woman you want to be your bestie for ever. She has worked on shows like “The Mindy Project” and “The Office” and she was also the first Asian woman I saw on TV who really stood out for me. It was so refreshing to hear someone talk about how they are slightly geeky, will probably never be a size 8 and unapologetically girly and romantic. In a world that tells you that rom-coms “aren’t feminist” she sums up everything I am with a sprinkle of girl boss attitude. She is funny and insightful and did a hilarious and touching commencement speech at Dartmouth College in 2001 (watch it on Youtube, you won’t regret it).

Advice from Mindy Kaling

“Wouldn’t it be better if we worked together to dismantle a system that makes us feel like there’s limited room for us? Because when women work together they can accomplish anything.”

Thank you for reading this blog post, hopefully some of the advice is useful or at least vaguely interesting. If you take anything from this post, take away the fact that you should watch some of Mindy Kaling’s work – She really is hilarious and will make you feel positive for the rest of the week.

Thanks, Chans