10
Top Pioneering
Women
in Business, 2022
Door to Success Leaders that We Need Today
Womanhood
Unlocking the POTENTIAL of WOMEN for WELFARE of the WORLD
Dagmar Symes An Exemplary Leader with a Compassionate Approach VOL-03 | ISSUE-12 | 2022
www.insightssuccess.com
Editor’s Desk The Forefront of Leadership: Women
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he only certain thing moving ahead in the business world is that there will be considerable turmoil. Business leaders will have to work their way on how to operate businesses by adapting to rapid changes without compromising their core values. Women leaders have been achieving new heights for years but lack adequate representation in leadership roles. It becomes essential to understand the intricate details of their standing to find a silver lining to bridge the gender gap.
Women are known for implementing their diverse experiences and viewpoints to bring a fresh perspective to foster innovation-led by better decision-making. They are keen on bringing new talents and building a strong structural and cultural foundation for organizations. Their methodology is effective, but it helps bring significant transformation with unique ideas while creating an encouraging environment. With an empathetic approach, women leaders perceive a quality that is often considered vital when interacting with the team. They are much more to hear the problems, find a fitting solution, resolve significant issues, and prepare their team for tremendous success. Women leaders are often seen communicating and collaborating in different aspects of the business. They have a deeper understanding of how open communication can enable clarity to carry out roles and responsibilities with a straightforward approach.
Challenges are not new in the business world, and often their numerous crisis that needs a quick contingency. Women leaders are taking the edge on this front by setting higher standards and inspiring the younger generation. Women leaders are often praised for their remarkable mentorship and for strengthening the roots for a brighter future. Sprouting their extensive expertise and celebrated efforts, Insights Success commemorates such women leaders in their latest edition, "Top 10 Pioneering Women in Business, 2022." Featuring on the cover is Dagmar Symes, the General Manager of Hill Robinson Project Management in Saudi Arabia. She is a result-oriented leader specializing in the Luxury Field with diverse experiences within the Luxury Retail and Hospitality Segments. Explore similar stories of strong women leadership in various business fields that are redefining the business world's terminology. Have a quick rundown of the articles written by the in-house editorial team. Have a good read!
Aditya Gaikar
aditya.gaikar@insightssuccess.com
C O N T E N T S
Dagmar Symes An Exemplary Leader with a Compassionate Approach
08
C O V E R S TO RY
A RT I C L E S
28
Door to Success Leaders that We Need Today
Adi Engel
Womanhood Unlocking the POTENTIAL of WOMEN for WELFARE of the WORLD
Helping SMEs Become Leaders in Digital Space
46
16
20
A Proficient Leader with Exceptional Leadership Traits
Cloé Caron
Guiding Leaders to Develop their True Potential
30
Training Your Dog to be PAW-SOME
Gowri Tirumurti
Karina Tiwana
Elissa Weimer
34
Jillian Weston
An Ardent Legal Professional Exemplifying Passionate Leadership
Unlocking the Power of Cultural Intelligence
Sherry Blinkhorn
24
An Exemplary Leader in Intellectual Property Prosecution and Litigation
An Astute Digital Marketer Leading with Relatability and Empathy
38
48
Alicia Asín Pérez
42 Lili Gil Valletta
An Accomplished Real Estate Broker and a Passionate Advocate for the Mentally Ill
52
Editor-in-Chief Hitesh Dhamani Managing Editor Anish Miller
Executive Editor Sharad Chitalkar
Assistant Editors Jenny Fernandes
Visualizer
Associate Designer
Co - Designer
David King
Shyam Sonawane
Sonia
Senior Sales Manager
Business Development Manager
Kshitij S
Peter Collins
Marketing Manager
Sales Executives
John Matthew
David, Martin, Irfan
Technical Head
Business Development Executives
Jacob Smile
Steve, Joe, Saurabh
Technical Specialist Aditya
Digital Marketing Manager Marry D'Souza
SME-SMO Executive Amol Wadekar
Research Analyst Frank Adams
Database Management Stella Andrew
Circulation Manager Robert Brown
Technology Consultant David Stokes
sales@insightssuccess.com March, 2022
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10
Top Pioneering
Women
in Business, 2022
Featured Person
Company Name
Description
Adi Engel CMO
vcita vcita.com
vcita is a compact, quick-smart app that keeps you fully connected to your business, whenever and wherever you are working from.
Alicia Asin Perez Co-founder and CEO
Libelium libelium.com
Libelium designs and manufactures wireless sensor network devices.
Cloe Caron President & Founder
o2Coaching o2coaching.ca
At o2coaching we strongly believe that any person or organization can acheive its goals by adopting simple fundamental shifts in mindset, attitude and behaviour.
Dagmar Symes General Manager Project Management
Hill Robinson Limited hillrobinson.com
Hill Robinson is the leading independent yacht management company.
Elissa Weimer Owner & Professional Trainer
Paw & Order Dog Training pawandorder.com
Paw & Order Dog Training offers certified dog training programs that are tailored to the individual dog and are successful with all breeds, ages, and temperaments.
Gowri Tirumurti Partner and Head of Department
Anand and Anand anandandanand.com
Anand and Anand is a full-service IP law firm.
Jillian Weston Owner/ Founder
Jillian's Circus jillianscircus.com
Jillian’s Circus is a full-service online marketing agency.
Karina Tiwana Vice President Legal
Infinera infinera.com
Infinera is a global supplier of innovative networking solutions.
Lili Gil Valletta Founder and CEO
CIEN+ cien.plus
CIEN+ is an award-winning cultural intelligence® agency.
Sherry Blinkhorn Broker/Owner
Blinkhorn Real Estate Ltd blinkhornrealestate.com
Blinkhorn Real Estat implements innovative technologies and offers virtual reality tours and drone videography to enhance the listings services.
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Dagmar Symes General Manager Project Management Saudi Arabia
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Top 10 Pioneering Women in Business, 2022
Dagmar Symes An Exemplary Leader with a Compassionate Approach
Providing specialized management services, sharing the responsibility for all aspects of tailor-made operations, and providing creative and extraordinary solutions.
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n the business world, success is not driven by a specific gender, but by quality performance of business acumen. Women leaders engrave their tales in the world and lead by example with their skills and abilities. Akin to similar leadership is Dagmar Symes, the General Manager of Hill Robinson Project Management Saudi Arabia. Dagmar is a result-oriented leader, specialized in the Luxury Field with diverse experiences within the Luxury Retail and Hospitality Segments. Influenced by her parents, she learned about the morality of life, being grateful, and appreciating simple things. Discipline, respect, and perseverance being key pillars at home, generosity and kindness have been deeply engraved within Dagmar’s principles. Having gained lessons throughout her life, she leads with empathy whilst setting a high bar in the business world. Her expertise supports Hill Robinson in offering unparalleled services to international clients in running their estates safely and efficiently. The Profound Journey Aspiring to succeed at an early age, Dagmar spread her wings to pursue a career path unperturbed by the social environment and the prevailing norms, having a sound educational background at the renowned Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne (EHL). Dagmar's multifaceted path led her initial years through luxury hospitality at the age of 28, when she was entrusted to her first role as General Manager. Throughout the later years, she decisively assumed a sidestep in senior leadership positions into the luxury consumer goods industry at Louis Vuitton and Bulgari; before returning to her true passion, Luxury Hospitality. Project Management and diving into the new and unknown fast-developing KSA market, had a most vital component to take on the role and somewhat break new grounds as a company and as a female leader. Dagmar was scouted as
General Manager with the intriguing prospect and undertaking in setting up a new company in KSA, within the country's Vision 2030 as a female Executive and Leader. Challenges are always a part of life however, Dagmar never let herself be affected by the opinion of others and continued to develop her skills in a targeted manner. She has always taken a sportive attitude towards all aspects of competition, in selecting the right companies and moving on whenever she feels that she can no longer positively inspire and impact the work environment. Having a management style and a robust career plan, Dagmar paved a path for herself to be rapidly entrusted with leadership positions. Tapping into the unknown is a most stimulating factor in exploring new opportunities. Her optimism, daring, and undoubtedly unconventional attitude paired with a persistent positive mindset have primarily contributed to her career path. Excellence at the Forefront Recently, Hill Robinson has celebrated its 20th anniversary as the leading global player in the Yacht and Estate Management on a world stage. Its KSA entity Hill Robinson Estates Ltd Saudia strives to establish itself as the most reliable and reputable business partner for private Estate Management and business opportunities within the Kingdom, with pushing further beyond. Dagmar notes, "We provide personalized tailor-made services, creative and extraordinary solutions, a highly skilled workforce, and most importantly, the highest degree of confidentiality and discretion with all our clients." Values are powerful and are the heart of every organization and capture collective motivational drivers. Hill Robinson's key pillars are integrity, respect, trust, responsibility, independence, authenticity, and passion. The company breeds a culture of improvement and genuine empowerment, leading to finding creative and extraordinary solutions for its customers, relying on its most valued asset in the organization, its team.
Strong Leadership Advocating Compassion Dagmar's leadership is reflected in empowerment paired with a persistent positive, empathetic attitude, open-door policy, and transparent communication. She believes in leading by example and an ethical work environment as key elements to a successful, diverse, and rewarding workplace that drives results and deepens the talent pool to retain talents worldwide. Being a fierce advocate for education and community services, Dagmar guides these endeavors on numerous occasions. For years, she has initiated and supported various educational organizations and charities in the region. These activities include orphanages, hospitals, homes for the elderly, universities, speaker panels, and much more. She is passionate about her goal to inspire and proactively source female talents, aligning with vision 2030. Dagmar asserts, "There is no glass ceiling! Believe in yourself. The hard work endowed regarding women's
empowerment over the past years and decades has finally started to bear fruit. The increasing number of female recruits in various professions is highly recognized. Women are perceived as passionate, professional, and hardworking individuals. Women possess various qualities such as inspiring others, effective communication, high standards in work ethics and empathy, that enhance any work community by default.” Spearheading into the Future Dagmar states that there are abundant opportunities in the current market, reflected by the vast development within Saudi Arabia's vision 2030. The high level of our client satisfaction has led to new business opportunities in areas such as Private Aviation and Estate Management. She asserts, "It goes without saying that expanding with a fast pace in our business segment of Estate Management is key, leading us to be a major player in the market within the upcoming years.”
We provide personalized tailor-made services, creative and extraordinary solutions, a highly skilled workforce, and most importantly, the highest degree of confidentiality and discretion with all our clients."
Female Empowerment in the Kingdom and the Region Working in the Middle East has greatly influenced me on a personal and professional note. The various norms, cultures and traditions have implanted an aspect of curiosity in learning the different traditional mentalities in both the career and individual attributes of things. As a female General Manager in the region, I apprehended what it means for the Middle Easterners to have a woman in a leading position. This infrequent dilemma during my early years, has indeed given me an opportunity to inspire the young ladies of this region to aim at reaching their goals and following their dreams. In Saudi Arabia and various Middle Eastern nations, the embraced culture, women's roles were traditionally more restricted within household, marital and motherly duties. However, with the opening-up of society, the female community is adopting the ways of education, career and female empowerment. The sky is the limit! This region holds the world's lowest rate of female labour force. Overcoming cultural barriers within the aspects of education, family and career and legislative barriers, women will achieve lucrative prospects in all various industries. It goes without saying that diversity and inclusion are base pillars for healthy demographics in all business facets. Time has never been a better ally to female leadership than the present. The region is undergoing significant change in embracing new ways of life and focusing on female talent by creating unprecedent opportunities for women. Female empowerment and gender equality is steadily increasing as the region is continuously evolving and modernizing. Saudi Arabia, a nation known for its imperative traditional norms with regards to the male vs female role within society, the country has begun a significant change to women's rights in all of its puzzles pieces ever since 2018. However, many still view this vital empowerment far from the average rights and barriers compared to the international norms.
Saudi Arabia's vision 2030, is not solely aiming at considerable development and tourism, but this new era that has commenced and will further progress hand in hand with the Kingdom's future, is establishing women not homemakers, but as basic pillars in the country's workforce, guiding the Kingdom into Vision 2030 with full force. In line with the Kingdom Vision 2030, many modern reforms for women's empowerment have been launched. In fact, a primary goal of this vision is the increase of the female workforce, participating in the labor market. In previous days, women were never a compound with the nation's education and workforce, whereas nowadays there are striking numbers of these young ladies aspiring to join universities locally and internationally, where they are majoring in all fields such as business, engineering and medicine. The expediting social parameters, especially in the empowerment of women, would firmly endorse the nation's much aspired economic growth and development. 2018 represented a transition year of holding various milestones for women in the Kingdom. Women were allowed to get behind the steering wheel and cruise their way towards the Kingdom's future. They were allowed, for the first time to enter sports stadiums, movie theaters, concerts and serving in the Military. Following up to the launch of loosening the restrictions, they were granted the right to live alone, apply for a passport, travel without the accord of a male guardian and build their own business in the country without their guardian's approval. The past few years were marked by incredible achievements for women in the Kingdom and the level of freedom has significantly enhanced. There is no doubt that the Vision 2030 is the driving force of empowerment, under the visionary guidance of HRH Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Great progress has been made and far more stimulating prospects are in sight, as female empowerment is embraced by society, and this is expected not only to continue, but to further progress in the coming years.
Top 10 Pioneering Women in Business, 2022
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Door to Success
Leaders that We Need
Today
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ife is a struggle that revolves around personal and professional challenges. And, when you are struggling, seeking advice from genuine friends always helps you. But instead of following people and their advice, create your own opportunities that help you find your own path. Because fate is by far the greatest mystery of all, and you can never know where it will take you. But the real question is there an alternative to all of this? While everyone speaks about these complicated things, let’s discuss the solution through this article. Our lives are connected to technology and social media, as they play a key role in today’s modern world. As business leaders, we have to accept the fact that the vision to bring change in the lives of the people and transform the world is possible with technology. But, promoting compassion and wellbeing among the people is also equally important. Understandably, everyone wants to create their identity and influence the world. But developing leaders just for the sake of business output and profits will degrade the quality of the leadership. And, we don’t want such leaders, especially in tough times like today. We want leaders who can get the best out of their team, which is possible only without the fear of judgment. It is a great way to lead, discuss, guide, and help each other in crucial times. A ray of hope is all people need, and leaders can bring that hope through these sources. For example, if any employee knows that he/she does not have to face the issues alone and there is someone to talk about it, it gives hope to that person. Yes, that’s the alternative for a leader – to connect - to help those who feel down and try to bring the best out of them. That’s what the leader should be recognized for, and this is the shift leaders need to bring currently. As an organization and as people, we should develop compassion and ethics that reflect our outlook on the world.
and well-being among the people. Now that we have got the alternative solution for the leaders. The next question is, how do you recognize that you need help? Most of us today are too busy making a living. We exist only within our daily routine, as we are preoccupied with massive responsibilities in many aspects of our lives, like academic, financial, career, household chores, etc. And due to this, it becomes too late to realize that you are already struggling – emotionally and mentally. We no longer listen to our body & mind, and finally, we do not appreciate our actual/real life. There appears an absence of self-care. Taking care of yourself can be overlooked against all the professional pressures of our life. But it is important to take time to care about your physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health. Before you extend your compassion and authentic care for people, you must first practice self-care. Why? Because you can never give what you do not have. Below are things that can help you in practicing selfcare: Ÿ Start your day doing things you love the most and boost your mood. Ÿ Be grateful for things you have, no matter how small or big it might be. Ÿ Have sufficient sleep, healthy food, and exercise regularly Ÿ Do activities and interactions add value to your life There are much more things that you can discover yourself to practice self-care. After following all the things, you will appreciate your life, even more, resulting in a healthy work-life balance. With peace of mind, you will achieve your life goals. You will know yourself better – see a better version of yourself and attract positivity in your life.
It is only with this approach we can make it possible to sustain and impact lives for longer, creating a better world for all. This is a much-needed alternative in today’s pandemic situation – promoting compassion
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Top 10 Pioneering Women in Business, 2022
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Elissa Weimer Training Your Dog to be PAW-SOME
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f you are a pet owner, you may understand that the bond between a dog and owner is impeccable. You might have come across several videos on social media where a dog is happy, carrying out his shenanigans, spreading smiles on millions of faces. However, many efforts go into training these dogs, considered as an essential part of canine companionship. Elissa Weimer takes dog training to her heart to deepen the bond between the owner and the dog to widen their smile. Elissa is the Owner of Paw & Order Dog Training and is a Professional Trainer, with numerous certifications to her name. Through Paw & Order, she offers professional, balanced, dog training and behavioral problem solving throughout the Pittsburgh area. Paw & Order recently expanded its reach to Southwest Florida, Houston, TX, and Central Ohio through franchising.
different feeling than seeing an agent or police officer at your door. I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I did not know where to start. I spent a long time figuring out what I was good at and realized I am good at teaching people. I just had to decide what I would be excited to teach! I realized that I love animals and that they had the power of making people feel good in so many ways. I realized that so many people have dogs, so I decided to shadow many other dog trainers and attended a ton of schools to learn as many techniques as possible to help people ENJOY their dogs. To this day, I continue to learn and better myself and my team of trainers to help as many people as possible. We not only continue our education with behavioral problems, but also
Insights Success caught up with Elissa in our endeavor to find “The 10 Most Successful Businesswomen to Watch 2022” and talked about how she is instilling pride in dog owners, as well as making dogs safer in the community as a whole! Below are the highlights of the interview: Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position at Paw & Order Dog Training. What challenges have you had to overcome to reach where you are today? I joined the military right out of High School. Being a Military Policewoman led me to the path I am on now. During college, I acquired a paid internship with the Attorney General’s office and later with the Federal Bureau of Investigations on their Violent Drug and Gang squad in Philadelphia, PA. After two years of interning there, I applied for a Special Agent position, but quickly realized that just was not what I genuinely wanted to do for the rest of my life. I wanted to help people and wanted people to be excited when they saw me arrive at their homes—a
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“We pride ourselves on solving behavior problems and teaching good behaviors for the long term, not just for the moment. We will investigate and solve your dog's behavior problems.” with other areas of dog training such as trick training, Therapy Dog Training, Canine Good Citizen, agility training, large field socialization classes, and K9 Detection training (my Belgian Malinois and I won 1st Place Narcotics at last year’s Police K9 Competition in Kentucky). We realized how much we have to offer and how unique our company is that we decided it was time to franchise in 2019! Tell us something more about your company and its mission and vision. Paw & Order’s mission is to improve the lives of as many families as we can by providing quality and effective individualized dog training. Our vision is to continue spreading Paw & Order nationwide and have an amazing training program to ensure that the quality of our local Pittsburgh market is mirrored in every major city in the United States. We train our trainers to the highest standards and treat our employees like family. All our trainers are extremely valuable to us, and we make sure that they are well taken care of. It builds their loyalty to our brand, making them want to work even harder to ensure that our clients are happy and excited to refer us to their family and friends. Enlighten us on how you have impacted the training niche through your expertise in the market. Our training is unique to each dog and family. We have also made training simple and effective for families and dogs. So often, we hear that “my dog will only listen if I am holding treats or the leash/some other piece of training equipment.” Or a client will say that their dog knows all basic commands (sit, down, come, stay) but will not do it when there are other distractions around or the environment does not look the same every time for the dog. Dogs do not generalize things well and need hundreds of repetitions in as many situations as possible to reliably understand what you are asking them to do. We have mastered our communication with dogs and their owners to
train SIMPLE. We have found that overloading our clients with a bunch of training jargon that means nothing to them is not helpful. Dog owners want their dog to be a good family dog they can trust and be proud of! They are not competing in shows with their dog where they need to learn fancy tricks and unrealistic positions to their family situation (there is nothing wrong with competitions, but most pet owners do not care about that). Most people do not have perfect timing when it comes to communicating with their dog, so we use methods that allow a delay between rewards and consequences once their behavior, like/dislike, has been identified. This helps tremendously so that their dog will listen even if their owner does not have food or a leash in their hand. We pride ourselves on solving behavior problems and teaching good behaviors for the long term, not just for the moment. Our clients have lifetime access to our trainers and they have access to a free private adventure group after their training is complete to make sure that they continue to be successful. It introduces them to an amazing community of other dogs and owners to experience fun things with. At least once a week, we meet up at trails, parks, stores, lakes, bars, etc., and go hiking, camping, kayaking, or just enjoy a nice day outside with our dogs and a drink! We want people to experience how life-changing our dog training programs are. Once your dog is well trained, your world becomes more fulfilling and exciting! Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run, and what are your future Paw & Order Dog Training goals? We recently started opening new locations nationwide and want to continue doing so. We strive for the QUALITY of our trainers instead of quantity. Paw & Order is my “baby,” and we will only expand with individuals that match our integrity and motivation to work hard, be proud of what they are doing, and continue to improve the quality of the business.
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Elissa Weimer
Owner & Professional Trainer Paw & Order Dog Training
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Top 10 Pioneering Women in Business, 2022
Gowri Tirumurti An Exemplary Leader in Intellectual Property Prosecution and Litigation O
ften life leads on various paths to find the one that an individual resonates with the most. One such life is that of Gowri Tirumurti, who has donned multiple hats in her life from being an international tennis player to being the spouse of a diplomat and a mother of two, while juggling all her roles to make some sense out of it all. Nearly two decades after completion of her bachelors in law,and an eventful life journey, Gowri is now the Partner and Head of Department (Trademarks Exports) at Anand and Anand. Gowri's first valuable experience came in 1996 in the form of a glorious opportunity to intern for Prabha Sridevan, a leading woman lawyer, a force to reckon with, a truly emancipated woman, who went on to become Judge of Madras High Court and Chairman of Intellectual Property Appellate Board. However, Gowri could not sustain this for too long then due to her family commitments. Unexpected Turns A few years later, a retired Director General of Patents and Trademarks, India, who saw a glint of promise in Gowri took him under his wings. Without even realising what she was doing, Gowri assisted him with his futuristic attempts to sensitise Government Departments about the indispensable nature of Intellectual Property and its future role.
journey had commenced on a sound footing and before I realised eight eventful years had passed. I was exposed to Trademarks, Copyright, Patents, Litigation, Transactional work, Geographical Indications, and learnt how to interact with clients with professionalism." A Profound Learning In due course, Gowri had to move to Malaysia with her husband on his first Ambassadorial assignment. She was readily welcomed into a leading Malaysian firm, Shearn Delamore & Co, which had a distinguished 100-year-old history. However, she learned that India and Malaysia had no bilateral understanding to enable Diplomats' spouses to work for a profit. While Shearn Delamore offered her a role in their Trademark Department, a work permit could not be obtained.. Gowri's Diplomatic status stood as a bar against her getting a work permit. Undeterred by the situation, she worked as an intern for three years without remuneration while performing the role of a full-fledged lawyer. This was probably one of the best experiences that redefined her as a professional. The Transformative Shifts In 2018, after returning to India, Gowri was quickly made a Partner and Head of Trademarks Exports, of Anand and Anand, which was simply an extension of her role in Malaysia.
Almost a decade later, when Gowri realised that her role as a mother was nearing fruition, she felt a strong need to redefine herself. On a chilly morning in February 2008, Gowri arrived at the Library of Anand and Anand for an interview with a Senior Partner of Anand and Anand. Lacking in prior experience in IP law; Gowri wondered what she was going to bring to the table. However much to her own surprise, Gowri was recruited into Anand and Anand and soon realised that it was her maturity that was required to be in the forefront of her work profile. Even while she tried to understand this, she slipped effortlessly into her role. Gowri notes, "My
Offering full-pledged Intellectual Property service.
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Gowri heads the Exports Department of the firm, responsible for Trademark prosecution and contentious matters relating to brands in International jurisdictions. This vastly pertains to two kinds of activities-taking care of the interest of Indian clients abroad and those of Foreign clients in neighboring countries, where the firm believes it has a linguistic and cultural affinity and functional understanding. The Managing Partner of the firm, Mr.Pravin Anand has been a pioneer in the field, has set up robust associations with some of the best legal brains in the world. These associations provide a sound footing for expeditious, efficient, and high-quality services in practically over 150 countries. Additionally, Gowri has been instrumental in securing Geographical Indications registrations for several leading products such as Tequila, Munich Beer and Bavarian Beer to name a few in India. Today Gowri comfortably performs her role from distant New York, while appreciating the firm's broad perspective as well as the technology which makes her connectivity possible. The Sheer Testament of Excellence Anand and Anand is a 98-year-old law firm that provides comprehensive IP solutions, its forte being developing new law and precision-navigation of grey areas. The firm offers complete IP services encompassing protection, enforcement, advisory, licensing, and litigation for patents, designs, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, domain names, geographical indications, and more. Credited with lawsuits that have transformed the IP landscape in India, the firm's litigation arm has decades of unmatched experience in dispute resolution. It has maintained a patent grant rate of over 93%. Its trademark team recorded 1800-plus successful trademark oppositions recently. The firm is committed to pushing the envelope to change in substantive and procedural law at the highest level.
subject to copyright protection, while the logo itself as a whole is protectable as a trademark. Similarly, a Company name is registered under Company law under the Ministry of Company affairs, while the same is also a subject matter of trademark protection. It is crucial to integrate the different forms of Intellectual property law seamlessly so that the client enjoys holistic protection for the end beneficiary. When Gowri advises her clients, she sensitise these concepts, particularly when they seek assistance from a brand development agency to choose a suitable brand for adoption, use, and registration. Adding to this basket is the need for Customs protection of trademarks and Copyrights. Bequeathing Women Entrepreneurs Gowri expresses that the importance of Intellectual Property has always been grossly underemphasised, undervalued, and underrated. Many do not realise that the practice of Intellectual property law requires and develops soft skills. The law itself is nascent and evolving every minute, with new judgments and precedents being created in some part of the world. While India has a vast body of IP precedents, there is still much reliance on International Jurisprudence, creating a need for effective expressions of ideas and concepts to produce results for clients. Gowri says, "All Entrepreneurs need to bear in mind the importance of adopting and protecting their brand while launching their business. The interface of their business activity would be their brand. Therefore, the brand needs to communicate to the public what they plan to sell, in simple terms." "While creating one's own identity, it is important to ensure that one is not seen taking mileage and unauthorised advantage of an existing brand power," Gowri concludes.
Gowri asserts, "My journey thus far has epitomised the possibility of a late start provided one's abilities and experience can be optimised. There is, of course, the need to keep abreast with the times, whether intellectually or technologically. I am also fortunate to belong to a Firm that thinks and helps you think "out of the box." "Many do not realise that different kinds of Intellectual Property rights spill over into each other even without one realising it" states Gowri. The artistic work in a logo is
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Jillian Weston Owner/Founder
Jillian's Circus
Top 10 Pioneering Women in Business, 2022
Jillian Weston An Astute Digital Marketer Leading with Relatability and Empathy
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he effectiveness of the leaders is mainly figured out by their ability to cooperatively work with their team and lead that team effectively to deliver great results. Learning how to teach and motivate people who have different values, goals, and motivations than you do, is tough. Leaders need to deal with a variety of people in the team. They need to have good soft skills to relate with all the people in the team. They need to empathize with people and bring out the best in them to drive organizational success. Leaders who relate to the people in their team deliver remarkable results for the organizations as well as their clients. One such leader who has cultivated the art of relating to the people is Jillian Weston. Understanding people and becoming more empathetic has made her a better leader. She is the Owner/Founder of Jillian's Circus. The company’s finely-honed balancing act identifies its clients’ goals and achieves them utilizing a wide array of online marketing tools. Inspiring Employees to Meet Needs of the Clients Jillian believes that as the owner of a digital marketing agency, it is important to create a strong foundation with the right pricing and service offering, hire motivated people with positive attitudes and natural skills, teach them how to do their specific job, and finally continue to teach, check-in and motivate each person in her company. On-going encouragement and education keep her employees current with their clients’ needs. Being Competitive by Maintaining Solid Online Presence Talking about the significance of digital marketing, Jillian mentions that it is impossible to reach your company’s full potential without digital marketing. The return on investment is insane. Digital marketing saves an incredible amount of time and money because the internet provides a
place for people to do business anywhere in the world at any time without the expense of an office, staff, etc. For example, a boutique might spend $10,000 on their online website, but that isn’t even close to what they would spend on rent, utilities, and staffing in just one year at a brick and motor location. And their website will last at least 3-5 years. Another example she gives is of coaching. A coach can put their lessons online as videos or host them virtually, allowing more people to view/ attend each lesson and raising the amount of money they could earn. Scheduling individual appointments or having a physical classroom limits both your time and the number of people who attend each lesson. Jillian states, “Even if you cannot sell your products/ services online, it must be said that maintaining a solid online presence is still relevant. The presence alone increases your opportunity to gain new business, increases customer loyalty, repeat business, and referrals; and allows you to stay competitive. Few business owners achieve success without a digital marketing strategy.” Being Adaptable in Unprecedented Times Everyone can agree that the Spring of 2020 was a difficult time for everyone due to the pandemic. However, it forced many businesses to realize that their business needs to adapt to this digital era. Jillian opines that if entrepreneurs did not know before, the pandemic showed them that they needed to energetically sell their goods and services online. In any disaster, some industries suffer, and others benefit. Jillian’s Circus adapted by having employees work from home/ remotely and working with current and new clients on getting their business online as quickly as possible. Jillian states, “That’s all part of business- sometimes you’re up and sometimes you’re down and must find a way to adapt.”
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“Jillian’s Circus is a
full-service online marketing agency that regularly makes magic happen for clients.”
Celebrating Success of Each Other When it comes to driving an organization’s success, maintaining a positive work culture is essential. Jillian’s Circus strives for a positive work environment. Its training manual goes beyond basic skills/rules. It stresses interoffice relationships and collaborative strategies by encouraging a non-competitive environment, offering ongoing training/team meetings, and hosting several parties every year for all employees and clients. Jillian’s Circus celebrates one another’s successes and provides incentives to reward excellence. Besides, Jillian expresses, “If there is even one negative Ned/Nancy in your office- get them out!!! Like right nowstop reading and fire them. If you’re the person who is negative, then you need to stop because it’s killing your business.”
who has or can do it, then book a meeting with them to see if what they offer makes sense. If it does, move forward. If it doesn’t, let them know and thank them for their time.” Creating Strong Base and Building on that Jillian advises aspiring businesswomen to start by creating a strong base. She instructs, “Think about your client’s journey from hearing about your business to working with you for 10 years. Think about what they will see, what they will hear, what they will receive, etc. when they interact with your business and employees. Will they see a professional website? When they call how does someone answer? What does follow-up look like? If they walk into your office, is it comfortable? Then create a consistent, professional, branded flow every customer will experience.” Creating Authority in Digital Marketing Space and Growing Like a Wildfire
One Desired Change If given a chance, one change that Jillian would bring in the way brands and people connect is to remove people's skepticism when it comes to sales. She states, “Every business is in business because it fills a need. If there is something you need or want, and you hear about someone
Over the next 5 years, Jillian’s vision is to establish Jillian’s Circus as an authority in the digital marketing space, work on digital advocacy, and grow like wildfire.
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Top 10 Pioneering Women in Business, 2022
Karina Tiwana An Ardent Legal Professional Exemplifying Passionate Leadership “
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t takes dedication and laser focus to find success, not to mention rolled-up sleeves and dirt under your finger nails”, states an ardent leader, Karina Tiwana. As the General Counsel, Vice President and Corporate Secretary of ALE USA – the U.S. entity name of AlcatelLucent Enterprise - Tiwana has been an integral part of the success of the company. Her passion for the business side of law and sheer dedication has led Tiwana to where she is today.
After spending almost 15 years at Alcatel-Lucent, first as a Contract Manager for five years, Tiwana moved up through the ranks of the legal department, where she landed a corporate counsel position supporting the most innovative business divisions of the company. Eventually, became a primary legal resource to one of these divisions, the Enterprise division, in 2006. Thereafter, she was tapped to support one of the highest revenue-producing divisions in the company. She did that up until 2014 when she was invited to support the planned divestiture of the Enterprise division as General Counsel in the United States. Tiwana would be charged with building a department to support all the legal needs of Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, the new stand-alone company, in North America. This was no small feat but, she said, “many talented and professional people carried my torch.” Reflecting on the experience, Tiwana recognizes she’s grateful for the men and women along her path that buoyed her up when she felt she might be drowning. Helping a new company be born is a daunting task. The Enterprise Business Division, turned Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, contains a close-knit group with many employees boasting long tenures with the company. Let’s know more about Tiwana and her contribution to the industry through an interview conducted between her and Insights Success.
Below are the highlights of the interview: As a business leader, what is your opinion on the impact of the current pandemic on the telecommunications industry? The pandemic’s impact on people, in some cases, has been horrifying and deadly. I will in no way minimize my feelings of empathy toward families that have lost loved ones and those who have fallen ill from the virus. And, of course, to parents trying to cope with both at-home working and at-home teaching of children ripped from schools and their friends. This at-home working and teaching has created an increase in the need for tools like the AlcatelLucent Enterprise Rainbow Unified Communication Platform, as well as infrastructure solutions, such as the company’s OmniAccess Stellar wireless LAN and the OmniSwitch network switches that make everything connect to support the increased communication needs spawned by the crisis. In this way, many telecom industry segments are reaping the benefits of the “new normal”. It’s a shift from in-office to home working and from in-person school to home school. Even events and what used to be live entertainment have gone online as we all try to cope with the restrictions required to keep all of us safe through the pandemic. I hear through news reports that many companies will continue the work-from-home options in some form or other so, it looks like the need for telecom industry tools, solutions and infrastructure is going to continue to grow. What is your opinion on the necessity for businesses to align their offerings with newer technological developments, especially when it comes to Digital Transformation? I think that when it comes to digital transformation, businesses that align their offerings to advances in technology further drive the evolution. Technology
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How do you bring your General Counsel skills in establishing strategic direction and delivering results globally? I do this in many ways, but one of my greatest pleasures in the recent past has been contributing legal advice to our team of women and men that have created the Diversity and Inclusion Employee Resource Group (ESG) under our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program. With the executive sponsorship of Rukmini Glanard, our Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Services and Marketing, the ESG hosted our second global online summit to highlight that diversity and equality are life issues and, definitely, a business issue impacting financial results. An equal world in business results in an enabled and better world for business. We need all of our minds and all of our hands, as a company, to compete and succeed. Diversity and inclusion – across gender, ethnicity, age, religion, etc. – enable a better, balanced environment for economies and communities to thrive.
participate in the toy and food distribution portion of the event. I strongly believe in the empowerment provided by serving a cause much greater than yourself. I get this empowerment through working within our American Legion Family. I currently serve on the Executive Board as Sergeant-at-Arms and have served in the past as Post Commander. At the time I served as Commander, I was the very first woman everto serve as Commander in the Post’s 77-year history.Today, I’m proud to say, as other notable “first women” leaders are saying more and more, “I may have been the first, but I won’t be the last.” If given a chance, what change would you bring in providing growth opportunities to Women? I am very lucky to have been given the chance at AlcatelLucent Enterprise to effect real change in my role as General Counsel at ALE USA. I hired student interns in 2014 as a creative way to augment my staff. We showed so much success with training and utilizing student interns in our legal department that it inspired the company to adopt an Internship Program and now, many departments are hiring student interns. In fact, a recent hire is going to supplement our global CSR endeavors. She will be graduating from college soon with a degree in Ethnic Studies. I think these internship programs are vital to creating opportunities and success for everyone, especially
In what ways have you contributed to the community? In my community, as a woman Veteran, I am very active in our American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary. This “American Legion Family” provides support to local Veterans, their families and the general community where Veterans live and work. One example of a recent project in 2020, we recognized the needs of so many children in our community around Christmas time. We sponsored, locally, Toys for Tots supported by the United States Marine Corps Reserve. We served over 300 children and all of them received gifts and a food donation for their families. Supporting this kind of “all-volunteer” community event brings me great joy because I saw the power of giving in action. College students, home for the holidays, stood alongside their Parents, Grandmothers and Grandfathers to
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Step-up and lead from the front.
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continues to be instrumental in our lives and the growth of business. In particular, I think, as a strategy, aligning business infrastructure with Cloud technology builds a mindset that pushes innovation, agility and problemsolving. Our company’s Cloud technology products and services have helped our customers push beyond digital transformation plans and overcome the challenges of working through a pandemic. It’s clear to me that Cloud delivers the benefit of scale and adapts to opportunities, while being reliable and secure. It just makes sense to me how flexible technology enables businesses to adapt the work environment, ensure efficient operations and manage costs.
Karina Tiwana,
General Counsel, Vice President, and Corporate Secretary,
ALE USA Inc.
for women. In my case, all of my interns moved on to become practicing lawyers and have secured positions in law firms. I’m very proud of all of them. As an established business leader, what would be your advice for the budding women entrepreneurs?
colleagues, and your professional network. They will help you navigate. But, above all, do what you love. Do it a lot. If you do what you love and you do it a lot, you will get really good at it. If you get good at it, you will likely make money at it and you will be wealthy. Wealth is not money alone. Wealth includes not only professional success but also self-fulfillment and realizing your dreams.
Make sure you know a good lawyer! Not a shameless plug. No, seriously, it’s very important to build a strong network of diversely talented individuals that can be asked for the help you need along the way. Be yourself because your authentic self is your best face. Have a clear picture of what your authentic self is. Remember, there will be roadblocks on your journey to success and some may be related to your gender, your age or any number of things but the roadblocks are just hills to climb and there are plenty of people to give you a helpful push so you can keep going. Leverage your mentors and allies. These are your friends, your classmates, your teachers, your family, your
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Unlocking the POTENTIAL of WOMEN for WELFARE of the WORLD
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Womanhood
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here is a tremendous amount of potential in every living entity. Untapped potential should be trapped for the welfare of the world. Where women are empowered that place flourishes in abundance. Empowered women leads to the prosperity of families, societies, nations and the world. Deep down, every person likes to live with dignity by contributing something to the world according to one’s capabilities and potential. Therefore, that potential should be nurtured in everyone and especially in the girls and women. Nothing can dim the light in every person that shines from within. All girls and women has to do is to be aware of their own inner potential and they can contribute to any field of their choice. The world is currently going through the unprecedented times due to the ongoing pandemic. This is certainly challenging time for many people but some exceptional women leaders see the positive opportunity even in such unprecedented time and actually that is the hallmark of good women leadership. Exceptional women leaders are always aware and they understand that the unprecedented times always call for unprecedented actions, innovative, thoughtful, and win-win solutions. The world may be filled with lot of negativity due to inevitable challenges and causes, but exceptional women leaders call upon their inner light and they use such unprecedented time to develop and nourish their skillsets so that they can be an instrument of positive contribution to the world in the coming times. Now more than ever, women and girls need to call on their inner light to utilize the toughest times to tune into their conscience, learn new things by using virtual platforms and make themselves competent. In the difficult times of pandemic it is essential for women leaders to be detached from the negativity around themselves. Unless and until one is detached from the negativity, it is very difficult to focus on the positive and to make the most out of that positive. Exceptional women leaders prefer to be courageous to confront issues more diligently and deal with people with empathy and due consideration. Exceptional women leaders choose to think deliberately and act on the conclusion of logical, rational, analytical, systematic, and cognitive-intensive thought process. That is really the most important part of exceptional women leadership. Leaders are supposed to think deliberately and act on the basis of logical conclusion for delivering the efficient results. Educating and empowering a girl child creates a ripple effect and it creates a positive influence in the community. Empowered women invest time and energy in creating the stronger next generations. The future leaders of tomorrow can be more talented, dynamic, and competent to deliver maximum contribution for the welfare of the world if they are raised by the empowered women. Empowering women is beneficial in so many ways and their contribution play a
very important role in creating the genuinely exemplary future leaders. Gender equality is beneficial for the whole world. Promoting gender equality is not just responsibility of women leaders or women issue but it is a societal issue and everyone should support in promoting the purpose of gender equality. United nations is again and again promoting the empowerment of women. That’s very crucial. The greater number of women in every field is a sign of growth and evolved culture. The empowered women are boon to the world. That is the reason ‘Gender Equality’ is one of the most important sustainable development goals. Empowering women is essential for the sustainable development of the world. Empowered women become great asset for businesses, families, societies, communities, nations, and that is ultimately beneficial for whole world. There are plenty of fields where women have opportunities and they can contribute immensely. The world is in desperate need of genuinely exemplary women leaders to make a difference through businesses, science, research, technology etc. Women can become the leaders in the field of businesses, science, research, technology and in any choice of their field if they are willing to be bold and courageous enough to pursue their career in such fields relentlessly. They have the potential to make a difference in the choice of field they go and therefore women should not shy away from utilizing their best capabilities and they should deny the world of their valuable contribution. Empowered women are the secret weapon of creating a positive change in the society and the world at large. Empowering and enhancing women and investing in them unlocks a tremendous potential for the world. Empowered women are the most important weapon and resource in the fight against the global poverty. The untapped resource of women has the tremendous potential and that should be recognized by the people in the world especially by the people who have the opportunity to create awareness related to this. The empowered women have the potential to significantly improve livelihoods, productivity, economic outputs, and the overall human life itself. The basic longing to live with dignity, the fundamental desire to have control of one’s lives and one’s future and to be part of determining the course of our communities and our nations are very much universal in the empowered women. These longings burn in the women and girls, and with these longings they can be a great dynamic force in the world to be an agent of change and make a significant contribution for the welfare of the world with their talents, skills, and abilities and that will lead to the ultimate welfare of the world.
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Lili Gil Valle a Founder and CEO CIEN+
Top 10 Pioneering Women in Business, 2022
Lili Gil Valle a Unlocking the Power of Cultural Intelligence
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n immigrant from Colombia, who didn’t speak English, came to the U.S. alone at the age of 17, leaving her entire family behind. Today, she managed to become a recognized corporate executive turned business owner and tech innovator.
Meet Lili Gil Valletta, the Founder and CEO of CIEN+, an awardwinning cultural intelligence® consultancy and marketing firm.
We at Insights Success got into conversation with Lili to learn more about her journey and how she is helping leaders successfully turn cultural trends into profits. Below are the highlights of the interview:
After landing in the U.S., Lili quickly realized that there were some misconceptions about her origin. Instead of being discouraged by the stereotypes often tied to being from “Colombia”, she was motivated to become a bridge to educate and elevate understanding. This motivation became the catalyst for what she and her team
To me, an inclusive approach to business and marketing is not an altruistic mission, it's a business superpower, and the only path to growth given today's shifting demographics.
do today with CIEN+ and Culturintel, bringing the power of Cultural Intelligence® to the biggest corporations and brands around the world.
Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position at CIEN+. What challenges do you have to overcome to reach where you are today? I never ever thought I wanted to be a business owner or founder. However, that entrepreneurial spirit activated within me while at Johnson & Johnson, where I spent a decade in a fast-rising career across Global Supply Chain and Marketing roles. As one of the youngest executives then, as Global Director of Marketing Services in the Pharmaceutical sector, I realized I had the unique advantage and perspective to challenge how we look into commercial strategies, consumers and avenues for growth- and that ignited my business curiosity to push beyond the “obvious” definitions and application of diversity and inclusion. That intrapreneurial mindset moved me to pioneer the first ever enterprise wide multicultural marketing strategic roadmap, and co-founding the Hispanic Employee Resource Group
“HOLA”, to establish a compelling case for action to turn cultural trends into impact and business growth. And this was the pivotal aha! Moment for me; recognizing that I couldn’t find the company or agency that I wanted to hire driven by data and inspired creatively by culture to tap into these high growth market opportunities- and CIEN+, XL Alliance then, was born. Draining all of my stock options to self-fund the start of a new venture, my co-founder and business partner Enrique Arbelaez and I both left a promising corporate track to design the marketing company of the future. We knew there was white space to help corporations and brands future-proof themselves as the market shifts continue- a trend well ahead of today’s awakening toward equity and inclusion. With the rigor of data and technology for insights and the creative power of inclusive minds that weave cultural inspiration into everything we do, CIEN+ was born as a Cultural Intelligence® Engine. Today, we have the privilege of guiding and influencing some of the most iconic global companies and brands like Google, GSK, Merck, PepsiCo, Prudential, among other Fortune 100’s. I am currently one of the few former corporate executives and Latinafounder seen almost weekly on national television as a business commentator seen on Fox News, Fox Business, CNN en Español, among others- always bringing the power of numbers and business analysis into today’s news. I also have the honor to
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be one of only 2.6% of Latinos serving on a Fortune 500+ public board, as an independent director at Zumiez (NASDAQ: ZUMZ). Other boards I serve on include AUA Private Equity Partners, Harvard Women's Leadership Board, and the National Board of Directors of the YMCA USA.
majority-minority country, and those shifts call for a business mind-shift that makes inclusion everyone's job and inclusive of all. The math is quite simple; you cannot anticipate and drive incremental growth without investing in the consumer segments that are driving ALL the growth.
Tell us something more about CIEN+ its mission and vision. CIEN+ is on a mission to empower every corporate leader and brand with the power of Cultural Intelligence®. We strongly believe that given today’s shifting demographics it is mathematically impossible for any company to achieve their full potential and future-proof their growth without an inclusive approach to their business strategies and marketing- and that’s why we exist.
And that is why we have made it our mission for over a decade to empower leaders with inclusive data, strategy, and marketing that is designed to future-proof opportunity and stay relevant. The bottom line is simple, and the numbers tell a clear story...making it mathematically impossible for companies to achieve their full potential in society and business without cultural intelligence.
What we do transcends traditional “marketing agency” offerings, which is why we are trusted by some of the most iconic brands around the world. We bring the power of A.I. and data for human understanding with our Market Research Tech CULTURINTEL. We accelerate organizational readiness and strategy design with our CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE ACCELERATORS. And ultimately, put theory into practice with our MARKETING AND CREATIVE execution to engage and reach consumers with relevance. However, none of this would be possible without the power of our people and the anchor of our values, which are the guiding principles for how we do what we do everyday. Enlighten us on how you have made an impact in the Marketing & Advertising niche through your expertise in the market. What we do is not niche, but the new American mainstream. In fact, by the year 2040, the U.S. will become a
In an era when everyone recognizes the importance of inclusion as part of business strategy and ESG requirements, we- CIEN+- have been ahead of that trend for a decade. That has enabled us to lead in our ability to bring AI-powered insights that are inclusive, agile, and scalable and apply these into strategies and marketing campaigns that are always data-driven and inclusive. This is why, in my most recent TEDx Talk, called “Diversity is Overrated”, the notion of diversity is challenged and flipped on its head, highlighting why inclusion is not a program or an HR mission but a mindset for activation cultural economics and growth. And that rewrites the rules of graduation from “doing multicultural marketing” to “marketing to a multicultural nation.” Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run, and what are your future goals for CIEN+? I see myself as a catalyst of change as one driven to “culturize” boardrooms around the world to drive purposeful
profits in all they do. Just as people thought of Covey when it came to Leadership Principles, I envision a world where leaders around the world think of us when it comes to Cultural Intelligence in business. Our end goal is to globalize and embed our inclusive data and creativity in as many F500s as possible to accelerate business as a force for social impact and business growth. What would be your advice to budding women entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the multicultural sector? To entrepreneurs venturing into the multicultural market I would say 3 things, which typically align to what I’d like to call the “marketing macarena”, getting to the heart, mind and wallet, in that order. First, get to the heart of the matter, becoming a student and master of the cultural dynamics that move and influence people, and that can only happen with a learner mindset and a cultural curiosity and exploration that is ALWAYS ON. Culture is lived not just read about. Second, get to the mind, decoding and mastering the power in numbers. Multicultural or inclusion matters are not an altruistic mission but a business imperative, and that can only be fully contextualized getting to the “minds” of decision-makers with the undeniable power of the numbers to tell the story behind the cultural shifts. And finally, third, get to the wallet. None of this works without daring to APPLY and execute on the opportunities, get started in DOING beyond pondering on the numbers and research. And to do so successfully, recognize that scalable impact happens as a collective, that you must surround yourself with people smarter than you and tap into circles of influence that can shortcut credibility and impact from the bottom up.
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Sherry Blinkhorn Broker/Owner
Blinkhorn Real Estate Ltd
Top 10 Pioneering Women in Business, 2022
Sherry Blinkhorn
An Accomplished Real Estate Broker and a Passionate Advocate for the Mentally Ill
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t is easy to say be the change you want, but it is quite difficult to really understand the struggle one goes through to change oneself. We hear stories about people who have achieved success and paved their way to the top of their field, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Numerous factors drive one to make desired changes to be the change they want. In our search to find such a persona, driven to adapt to change, we came across Sherry Blinkhorn, who perfectly fits the definition of 'be the change you want.' Currently, Sherry passionately leads her venture, Blinkhorn Real Estate Ltd., with her dedication to being the best of the best. The Thorns and The Roses Sherry's journey hasn’t been an easy one. She came up through the foster care system and went through many challenges in her life, but she made some conscious decisions that would change her life for the good after her children were born. Sherry began her professional journey as a commercial and residential property manager in her initial years then in 1998 she pursued getting her salesperson’s license. She began to achieve one milestone after the other by utilizing her extensive knowledge and experience to accumulate record-breaking sales. It resulted in her receiving national recognition in 2002 and 2003 and in 2004 she received the 'Platinum Award' for her sales achievement, placing her in
the top 5% in Canada's total sales volume with Royal LePage National Franchise. Subsequently, embarking on the success, Sherry's adaptability to change led her to the quest of incepting her independent real estate firm, in 2005, Blinkhorn Real Estate Ltd., and she has never looked backed since. She sowed the seeds of efforts and dedication, forming a team with likeminded colleagues that reaped her and her firm the fruit of gaining a solid reputation for providing exceptional services and supporting many non-profit charitable organizations. Adding Different Ingredients to the Recipe of Success Plunging forward in her path of success, she says the learning process never stops. Sherry holds a diploma in adult psychology, social work, and counselling skills. Being amply trained in the mental health field, she understands how stressful it can be to buy or sell a house. Sherry has fostered an environment where she puts people first and encourages her colleagues to do the same. She’s created a caring and natural positive atmosphere in her workspace. She knows how crucial it is and is humbled to be part of the most significant transaction of one's life and is overjoyed to help it to become a reality. “We don’t see ourselves as good salespeople – we are good Realtors; there is a big difference,” says Sherry. Sherry has focused her work approach around her buyers and sellers making them the utmost priority. It was vital to
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her to create a familial workspace which gives a feeling of comfort and smoothens the work process. She truly cares about her clients and understands their real estate needs, which is why she implies a friendly and professional atmosphere in her unique way. She has sculpted a valuedriven team that strives and implements effective marketing strategies with honesty and hard work. Cherishing The Victories The amount of hard work and dedication Sherry puts in her work is commendable in itself. Her work ethic has set an example, and her efforts have been acknowledged with numerous awards, including the ‘Community Mentor Award’ from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Pictou County. She also received the prestigious ‘Business Leader of the Year award at the Pictou County Chamber of Commerce Gala in 2012. Sherry is the first female to receive this honor since its inception in 1991. Her achievements don’t stop there and go further; in 2018, Sherry received the ‘Volunteer Vision Award’ from the Nova Scotia Mental Health Foundation. The following year she was also recognized with the ‘Women in Business Award’ at the Chamber Business Achievements Gala. Aside
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Blinkhorn Real Estate is dedicated to selling your home or nding you that dream home creating the best possible experience throughout the entire real estate transaction. Professionally we serve, personally we care!
from awards, Sherry was featured in 2020 in the International ‘Top Agent Magazine’ and her life story in the Nova Scotia ‘At Home Magazine’. Leveraging Technology to Provide Upscale Services At Blinkhorn Real Estate, Sherry has created a work culture driven by values to make client's lives easier and delivers high-quality products. The company implements innovative technologies and offers virtual reality tours and drone videography to enhance the listings services. They do their best to ensure that clients get the best prices for buyers and sellers by through their experience and expertise. Above and Beyond for the Community The journey that Sherry embarked on has been a challenge in itself, she’s worked hard to forge her path to be at the position she is today. Her experiences have all contributed to finding transparency in her life. She has been a passionate advocate for the mentally ill for years. She was also the public relations director for the Canadian Cancer Society, Pictou, volunteered for years on the Palliative Care unit and made it part of her life to give back to her community. Sherry has built Blinkhorn Real Estate from the ground up and contributed to many community organizations in various ways along the way including sponsoring sports teams and is routinely involved with multiple non-profits and other organizations across the county. The Guiding Flame Unfolding the pages of Sherry's life, it is crystal clear that despite hurdles she’s faced, she always has come out on top. She always empowers, inspires, and encourages a TEAM environment at her work. She ensures an ambiance of professionalism, integrity, and superior client service. She leads with a positive attitude, high ethical values, and hard work and says she will persist in doing the same into the future. Last but not least, Sherry has asserted herself in a firm spot being a leader in the field of real estate. She is an inspiration to numerous people and continues to change many lives. Her compassion, dedication, and her drive to change have made her a successful businesswoman. She is truly an example of taking charge of her own life and being the change, she wants.
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