I raise up my voice—not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard. … We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back
Malala Yousafzai
Whenever I read these strong words by Malala Yousafzai, all I can visualize is strong empowered women voicing out their opinions, burning the mid-night oil and riding towards the victory. One of the strongest women who not only achieved what she aspired but gave a platform to many female voices, who were denied the right to rise is “Shaili Chopra”.
Shaili Chopra is a business journalist, an entrepreneur and an author. She is also the founder of one of the biggest digital platforms for women i.e., She The People.
There was a time when women were considered as a misfit for the industry of business journalism but Shaili had a different outlook. Being an Economic Honours student, she wanted to apply her skill set of academic knowledge with her passion towards journalism which will further lead her into the primetime space of big screen anchor and editor. From interviewing personalities on both national and global level, to breaking stories in the sector of finance, to covering the Taj attacks in Mumbai in 2008, she proved herself in every aspect. And that was when she thought of experimenting and taking a chance on herself.
Shaili then launched SheThePeople, which is India’s largest digital platform for women. The platform is involved with more than 1,00,000 real women who have real stories to share. This platform does not only act as a stage for sharing the stories no one bothered to listen before, but holds an irreplaceable position in many lives who turned to She The People when in need of support, comfort, advice or confidence.
The Idea of She The People
After the experience of nearly 15 years in the media industry, as a primetime face anchor on ETNOW and NDTV Profit, Shaili Chopra was on a peak of her career. She had interviewed personalities like Tiger Woods, Steve Ballmer, Christine Lagarde, Warren Buffett.
Her remarkable skills were taking her to the skies. And, as a business lover who could think that there could be something beyond Warren Buffett. And that was the time Shaili knew it was time to go beyond boundaries and showcase the real stories of strong women. She The People gives a platform to the stories which make us believe that Feminism is not about making women stronger, women are already stronger. It is about changing the idea people perceive that strength.
Biggest Struggle in building She The People
Shaili Chopra is a lady with a voice, goals and a desire to achieve them. She mentioned in one of her interviews that it was not exactly an eureka moment when she had the idea of She The People in the very first place as one of the biggest struggle starts when you come up with an idea, you build on it and start thinking whether it would scale up or not?
The biggest challenge while building a platform like this is to beat yourself and come up with an out of the box solution for your hurdles.
What Does She The People talks About?
She The People is a woman driven platform which is diverse and engaging. It hosts bold journalistic narratives, meaningful events, engaging videos and challenging debates and summits that arm women with each other. She The People engages, empowers and elevates. There are different categories for content on the women’s channel “SHETHEPEOPLE”. Some of the top stories are from categories like
- #GirlsTalk
- She Talks Money
- Point Toh Hai
- Moms at Work
All these categories of content give voices to women who want to share. Content shared on this platform not only breaks stereotypes but also inspire every single woman to fight for herself and stand with what is right. SheThePeople talks about things which are to be normalized for women in our society. It widens the idea of growing for women and makes them believe they are not the shadow but the light which needs to be embraced.
In this immensely growing digital area, Shaili has taught all of us how to embrace the change quickly and get on towards our goal. Shaili Chopra is a personality who has not only proved herself in the world of work but has been a role model for many women working towards their empowerment in the working and non-working courses of their lives. She has set an example in front of the whole world that women are capable of multitasking. No matter, if the issue is at home, work or any random hurdle, we can make it through.
One of the major learning SheThePeople have given to all the women by showcasing real stories of real women is that we have took a long time in identifying and developing a voice and now that we have it, we are not keeping silent. Women with a voice are strong enough and capable enough fight and roar at the victory.
WOOW!!!!