How a New York-based support group is mentoring Bengaluru women

BENGALURU: Visual designer Avishya Shetty, 23, always wanted a woman mentor. In her two years of work, she never found the right person. Last month, Shetty stumbled upon the event, Ladies, Wine and Design (LW&D).

Started in New York by American graphic designer Jessica Walsh, LW&D was conceived as a movement that connects women in creative fields. Since its inception two years ago, LW&D spread to around 180 cities around the world. It came to Bengaluru a few weeks ago.




Shetty attended its first event that brought woman writers, designers, entrepreneurs and fashion designers among others. Sanjana Bhatt, an art director, and Roshini Kumar, a fashion photographer, spoke about creative burnout, struggle with mental health and terminal illnesses. “It was such a relate-able experience,” said Shetty.

This week #sagmeisterwalsh opened a retrospective at the @designmuseumholon and @jessicavwalsh had the chance to meet with women from the Tel Aviv chapter!

A post shared by Ladies, Wine & Design (@ladieswinedesign) on Jun 6, 2018 at 7:20pm PDT

Founder of LW&D’s Bengaluru chapter, Shrishti Ambani, had long followed Walsh’s work. “I faced issues like sexism. I always felt a dearth of female leaders who could be a support system for young professionals like me. To fill this void, I decided to bring LW&D to Bengaluru,” she said.

More insights from our last event 💫💫💫 Almost everyone on the panel talked about how rejection often turns out positive in one way or another. Irene Pereyra said "Sometimes rejection is about not being a good fit, nothing personal…” and others went on to echo that saying that if its not the right fit for the job, its often ultimately best that you didn’t get the work. Working on or at a job when its not the right fit based on personalities or style can often lead to a negative experience on both sides. Meera said “I constantly reach out to people that I admire and that are putting out work that I respect, and ask to work together. I always put my first foot forward out, I go for it. I’m rejected all the time, but if someone doesn’t hire me, I just keep trying. Also, I just hire myself.” We think this is such good advice, when you’re slow on client work, hire yourself! The self-initiated projects gives you the chance to strengthen your craft, build up your portfolio, and show future potential clients what you’re capable of doing. Perrin Drumm talked about how when she’s rejected she tries to understand why so next things she can make things better. Ask the person rejecting you their reasons or for an honest critique, so you can use that to improve on what you are doing or making, or improve your portfolio for the next time around. Paula Scher said “rejection is normal. I just keep trying to make more work than what’s rejected.” Debbie Millman ended the panel by saying "Every rejection I got was a catalyst for every positive thing that came after. So if that hasn't happened in that moment I wouldn’t be sitting here right now.” 🔥🔥🔥

A post shared by Ladies, Wine & Design (@ladieswinedesign) on Jun 24, 2018 at 8:35am PDT

The first event, on June 30, was for a select audience, 25 of who attended. The idea was also to keep it an intimate gathering, where speakers could interact with attendees personally. “We chose people who would benefit from the workshops based on a questionnaire. In future, as we scale up, we intend to make this an open and free event,” Ambani said.



Says Nikita Dixit of Be Badass, an online woman empowerment portal, who attended the meet: “I realised that I am not alone. I met other women from creative professions with whom I not only connected professionally but gained valuable insights.”

Meanwhile, Avishya Shetty found her mentor.