Co-Founder's Note - Rashmi Mandloi

My grandmother-in-law (Amma) was the first woman employee of Bajaj Auto, Pune, years back when finding a woman in the corporate echelons was a rarity. Post-retirement, till her death about 7 years back (at the age of 86), she was associated with SHREEVATSA - a childcare institute under SOFOSH (Society of Friends of Sassoon Hospital) providing shelter, care, educational, orphanage, and medical aid to family deprived children.

So, what’s special about that?

Well, Amma equipped herself with a Post Graduate degree from TISS when she was in her 40s, in fact, she was the first grandmother to complete her MSW way back in 1972. By defying gender and age-based norms she paved her path to being a role model for all of us and by being agile and versatile in her career when VUCA was not even an invented acronym. At Leadup, we believe that life is a journey of continuous learning and equipping ourselves with the right skills which will be relevant and useful, much ahead in our regular careers. With inspiration from people like Amma, in this 75th year of Indian Independence, we have taken a pledge to give flight to the dreams and aspirations of working professionals across mid to senior levels by equipping them with the skills, and knowledge, and opening the doors to networking.

The ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ seminar at XLRI’s Delhi campus in July 2022 was a great amalgamation of CXOs and emerging CXOs and a fitting closure to the 1st campus immersion of XLRI - PGD(HRM) for CHROs in the Making program. The evening was made rich with a passionate talk about the global macroeconomic situation through an Indian lens by Dr. Rajat Kathuria, Dean of SNU. Along with the personal guidance and direction by Fr. Paul Fernandes S.J, Director XLRI, Dr. NS Rajan, member of the XLRI board of governors and Prof. R K Premarajan, Program Director, PGDM (HRM) program, and Pankaj Bansal, Co-Founder and Group CEO PeopleStrong.

We are excited to start the Career Management journey with the cohort who are part of the 1st batch with a planned engagement over the next few months equipping them with not just the skills but the ecosystem that will support them to be successful. We are also looking forward to formally announcing the launch of the Leadup Club for emerging CXOs soon.

Success is a mantra and an evident growth of each other is our endeavor. Freedom from old thoughts and to new beginnings