Stories of Skilled Women from Tata STRIVE

Shilpi Yaduvanshi, Mobilizer Lead @ Voltas Centre of Excellence, Thane, Mumbai

Life has a funny way of unravelling itself. When you are least prepared suddenly an incident or a word triggers off something inside you that grows and makes you want to make a difference – for Shilpi YaduvanshiFor it happened when she was travelling in a rickshaw in Mumbai one day. Like most of the days she got busy talking to the rickshaw driver and soon he blurted out his story.

Shilpi was amazed to know that he was an educated young man who had graduated in electronics and also had huge dreams. When campus placements did not get him any lucrative job he started applying everywhere. Within a year he had given 78 interviews, but to no avail, making him loose his confidence and feel that he was not in the right field. Dejected and down he decided to go back to his village but he met with an accident and with no money and nothing else to do he started driving a rickshaw.

Shilpi soon reached her destination and they parted ways. Days passed by but what remained was a thought of how she wished that she could help someone build a sustainable livelihood. It was during this time that she chanced upon an opportunity of a mobilizer role at Tata STRIVE.

She was in a big dilemma as she was not very sure of the job profile but still went ahead with the interviews and cleared all the levels. It was during one of her interactions with the leadership team @ Tata STRIVE that she understood the scope of this role and the capacity it has to touch and transform many lives .

‘Surely this was the job for me’ – said Shilpi and quickly accepted this job. Now she was in the position where she would be able to help,people like that rickshaw driver, find their confidence and be happy. Today as a mobiliser with Tata STRIVE, she has to travel, speak to people and encourage them to get skilled.  The job requires her to visit remote places and slums and connect with the under privileged youth, often this is a matter of concern at Shilpi’s home for her safety and security.

However, Shilpi has a very supportive team and never felt unsafe. Shilpi feels that – Being a woman has never stopped her; in fact she feels that since she is a woman, people are willing to listen and also trust her.

It gives her great satisfaction to find learners that she has mobilized and are doing well in their course. All this is something she has achieved without any serious exposure or training to the skill development / mobilization space. She feels proud that she is able to touch another human being and bring a difference to his/ her life, and yes, she ensures that Tomorrow will be better than today.