Shobha Prabhakar

I attribute my success to my consistency. You see, I've worked for 23 years and started my career 23 years ago, so I've not taken a break in my career, even during my pregnancy and postpartum period. That was my choice, and I had support from my family and my husband, so I was able to do that. But more or less, I stayed consistently at my work, sometimes slow, sometimes fast. That is what has brought me where I am. Maybe some other women would have reached this level sooner, but everybody's journey is unique. I didn't mind my journey - I reached this senior manager level after 20-21 years of service, and I've been a senior manager for the last two years. The next level after senior manager is MD level. So it's consistency, and I attribute it to my family who's been so supportive, specifically my husband and my parents, who supported when needed.

My advice to young women is that, especially as women, we go through that whole complete life cycle where certain demands are from the family or from the life cycle itself when compared to men. This is across all women, so I would say prioritize your work and your family based on the need at that point in time. Be consistent with your work. Don't quit your work because you have so many other things going on. Even if it means that you're taking a backseat and going slow at times on your career journey, it's okay. It's okay to take, you know, be slow at certain points, because sometimes it's like when you shoot an arrow, you first pull back and then you shoot to gather that momentum. So whenever there is a family demand or something else in life that demands your time, let's not shy away from giving that time, because that also has a larger impact on your life and the life of the person you're engaged with. That's what I'd say - being consistent with your job while you manage other things, and not to be bothered about how slow or fast you are growing in your career. You don't have to race. There is no competition, and take it at your pace.