Mallika Ghosh began her career in advertising. Before Parinaam, she was Head of Films, South India for McCann Erickson. Soon, the desire to do something meaningful with her life, brought her to the social sector and that’s when Parinaam came to life. Alongside Elaine Ghosh, she developed the Financial Literacy Program (Diksha) and the Academic Adoption Program. The passing of her mother pushed her to take over the management of Parinaam and continue the work they had developed together for the Ultra Poor. Ever since, she has been personally involved in evolving Parinaam’s programs to meet the needs of the day and in creating the strategic vision under which the Foundation operates today. She is personally involved in all Parinaam activities and provides the day-to-day support to the Foundation needs.
- What was your dream career in your growing up days?
Growing up I had my aunt who spent much of her earnings on feeding Indies in her neighbourhood in Cuffe Parade, South Bombay. On holidays, I would accompany her early in the morning to feed the 200+ dogs she looked after. Her day job was in advertising and she headed the Film’s Department in a big agency. I idolised her and wanted to be like her, as she represented a woman who was kind but also so strong. Advertising is a difficult field to be in and it astonished me how well she did in her job and was respected amongst so many. I studied film in Boston, Emerson College and followed her path into advertising where I spent the first eight years of my career. - When you began your career many years ago, did you ever imagine that you would have a leadership role in this profession? What were the challenges and how did you overcome them?
I definitely started my career wanting to be successful. I am not so sure if being a leader was an aspiration. Even today I tend towards a shy outtake to my professional role. I use my voice to tell the stories of the people we work with in Parinaam, they are truly invisible but far more inspiring. There are two major challenges – The first was when I gave up my career in advertising. This is all I had known and worked for. The realisation that this was a path I didn’t want to tread anymore was frightening. I felt lost and wondered if I had wasted all those years of studying and working in film. When I left I was clear I wanted to work with children and lucky for me I had a mother who had started Parinaam and gave me a chance. That being said, she was a tough task master and proving to her that I had it in me to manage her programmes, was not easily done. I worked hard to understand what was needed and she was wonderful at understanding my potential and using that to benefit our work. Seeing my work make a difference gave me the confidence that what I was doing was correct and this motivated me to keep going. When she passed away, I suddenly lost my mother, best friend and boss. Our skills had complimented each other. I loved developing and executing programmes and she thrived on the finance and fundraising aspect of the Foundation. I was suddenly thrown into her role and I had no idea where to begin. I had to overcome my loss and understand I had a responsibility, not only to the legacy she left me, but also to people we helped. I built a team that I could rely on and I had a huge support system with the partners we worked with. The challenge of scaling our work excited me and then it was about the hard work and dedication to make it succeed. - What is your role as the Executive Director of Parinaam Foundation? What are the steps you’re taking to address the issues at hand?
The work we do at Parinaam has always been about how we implement solutions on ground. Through our connect with communities, we understand their needs and solve for the deep lack of inequality in their lives. We have come to realise this needs to be multidimensional and long term. You cannot put a child into school and then leave them behind. They are all first generation learners and the parents are daily wage labourers. They continuously face issues growing up that could hamper their education. Their environment is unimaginable, many a time bordering on horrific, but despite that when you are around them they surround you with love and gratefulness. They are all driven to have a better life and we feel it is our job to stay with them throughout the journey. There are limitations to this model, finding supporters that believe in a multidimensional program and are ready to stay with you through the course has been our biggest challenge. Especially when you are growing slowly to ensure the quality of your impact on the families remain intact. Thankfully, this is changing and people/companies are ready to join us on that path. - Do women in your profession have a hard time getting ahead in their career? Who inspired you and how?
I feel that the social sector is refreshingly filled with wonderful strong women. I guess that is for two reasons, women generally are driven by passion and doing something meaningful with their career. We have a natural sense of motherhood, and many a times we let that translate into the work we do. The social sector is all about looking after someone, nurturing and being able to do that with an immense sense of care, very much like a mother’s role. It’s fairly obvious then that the people who inspired me the most were my parents. They both left the corporate world to give back. My father started a financial institute called Ujjivan and my mother built a not-for-profit, Parinaam. When they started the organisations I was at the height of my advertising career. I managed many big clients for the organisation I worked with and was exposed to some extremely talented people in the film industry. However, every evening when I returned home I heard about what they were doing to help people who didn’t have the most basic of privileges: identity, education, access to health care and financial products. I realised I wanted to be a part of a more meaningful journey. Almost overnight I left the career I had worked so hard to build. Strangely, it wasn’t a difficult decision. When I started to spend time with the children and women we worked with at Parinaam and I saw the impact of our work in their lives, I realised that the gold karma coins that flowed through my work was far more gratifying then anything advertising gave me. - As a female leader, what has been the most significant barrier in your career? What have been the biggest highpoints in your journey so far?
I think I am currently going through what is my biggest challenge. We are hoping to scale our work to 6000 children and 16,000 ultra poor families in the next two years. Asking for funds and going out and making my presence known is overwhelming. I sometimes think that I might have been successful in bringing Parinaam to this stage but do I have what it takes to take it to the next level. To fundraise you have to go from person to person explaining the work you do and many a time it might not match with what they are supporting. Hearing ‘no’, is heart breaking in this field. Even more so when you have families depending on you to change their lives. But when the answer is ‘yes’, that is always my most cherished moment. Because with that comes all those wonderful people we help together. - How good are you at planning your time? How do you balance work, other passions and other life’s responsibilities? What are the social causes you have been working towards – please share all in detail?
My husband Abhinav is constantly making fun of my lists and how I check things off. I am sure many women can relate to lists; that is the best way I manage it all. I am lucky to have a husband who wants to be a part of our children’s lives as a caretaker. By no means can it be equal to the role of a mother, but if your husband takes on a significant amount of your child’s wellbeing it can free up your time substantially. My two boys, Vigyan and Evaan, have grown up with a working mother so they have no understanding of anything different. The harder part here, is getting over what we call ‘mother’s guilt’. I still struggle with that on some days. For me exercise 3 to 4 days a week is important. I am not a fitness enthusiast so I keep it simple, a long walk, yoga or a swim. I am lucky to have a job that allows me to work from home twice a week; this gives me a lot of space to think. Finally slowing down at the end of the day, spending time with the family and finding time to travel (for work or leisure) are some of my most favourite ways of finding balance. - What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders who want to be successful?
Being a woman professional is not easy. It is not in our DNA to choose one responsibility in life and focus on only that. We are daughters, mothers, sisters and wives with careers. While that can be overwhelming there is also a great sense of achievement if you can juggle it and do it well. Open up and don’t be afraid of being honest when it becomes too much. Stop and breathe a little. Make sure you also do what you’ve set out to do and do it well. There are always ways and you just have to find it. We are multitaskers by nature and that in itself will take us far and enable us to succeed. Don’t be afraid to be driven by passion, as long as it stays professional, that in my opinion is a much more ‘real’ way to work. - Some of the important initiatives you have implemented or advocated and are working towards? Also, what are some of the valuable lessons you have learned about resilience, strength and perseverance?
My Foundation, Parinaam, is a community-driven organisation implementing multidimensional approaches to end intergenerational and familial poverty amongst the urban poor. While we understand the importance of technology we also know that there are many people who are not yet there to adapt and therefore need a more hands on approach. Resilience, strength and perseverance has been to stay focused on our mission and honest to what our beneficiaries need. Parinaam supports women, children and families in India’s urban, low-income communities through key interventions across financial literacy, livelihood development, healthcare, education and community development – creating stronger support systems and infrastructure to exit poverty cycles. Four+ million families have been impacted through our different programmes. 13,630 families across 226 communities have been supported to graduate out of poverty, 1.2 million women are financially literate, 1404 children are in school and 246 community infrastructure projects have been completed across 20 states in the country. We are working with a mission to enable 4 million people living in urban poverty in India to have the support systems and infrastructure to exit intergenerational poverty by 2027. - Have you ever been so discouraged you wanted to quit? Also, looking back, are there any roles or work that you have done that hold a special significance for you and why?
Yes there are times when I wonder what it would be like to not work. I’m not so sure if quitting would be the answer I am looking for. Would I be able to spend my time not doing what I do in Parinaam? That in itself is quite scary and probably has stopped me time and time again from giving up. A wonderful support system with the team I have built and the people who partner with Parinaam has been my biggest asset. The help we have at home, the friends who encourage you along the way and your family can be your biggest cheerleaders. It doesn’t take a village to raise a child, it takes a village to help that mother rise and go beyond her role as a mother. Finally, it is empowering to be financially independent, any human, be it a man or woman should not be dependent on anyone else for their financial well-being. - What would you do to make women more empowered in their workplaces? A powerful message for everyone out there for Women’s Day/Women’s Month?
We are surrounded by inspiring women. Sure you have the famous ones like Mary Kom, Indra Nooyi, Padma Lakshmi but you also have women who no one really ever talks about. You know them as your maid, nanny, cook. But do we know them as Mary, Uma, Sandhya – women who have very hard lives, but still find it in them to go to work and then go back home to look after their families, with an income that would leave me hopeless. The beneficiaries we work with in Parinaam, my field staff and my support system at home keep me grounded. I wish I could do better for them. But what I try is to be respectful and loving. Listen and support them by just being there for them. My message would be, it doesn’t matter what your role is as a woman. Just being a woman is so important. You influence everything that comes your way and you are one of the two reasons for the next generation to do better. Make it count!