Sejal Ray: Founder and Social Entrepreneur, Taare Zameen Par

1. What is your philosophy of efficient leadership in a corporate setting?

I am an IT professional working in IT organisation for around 20 years now. I think efficient leadership is all about setting an example. It is about having a purpose that everyone can relate to and are inspired to be part of. It is equally important to be able to empathise when needed and balancing it with being straight, specific, compassionate along with ability to say “No” when needed.

2. Given the chance, how would you redefine woman entrepreneurship?

Women entrepreneurship is about having confidence to create a vision, walking the path, having courage to unfold the unknown and creating other leaders to support the vision. Number of women entrepreneurs are increasing with time and it’s great to see women coming out of their cocoon and exploring their talent and skill.

3. What is “Taare Zameen Par” all about?

My group “Taare Zameen Par” is a social initiative and for a community cause. I would call it social entrepreneurship which is not for profit. It’s about creating awareness on importance of mental and emotional health of kids n families in general. There are eight psychologists and counsellors who have joined me in this cause from all over India who are experts in this field for 14+ years namely Romal Surana, Nivedita Singh, Riddhi Doshi, Dimpaal Sahy, Darshana Aradhye, Prachi Rathi, Pallavi Patankar, Arpita Kathane

The purpose is to create a platform for parents to connect to expert psychologists and get support with no additional cost and encouraging kids to pursue their passion and provide visibility to their passion through this platform.

Some major personalities associated with Education and Parenting like ECA President – Dr Swati Popat Vats, Founder iQube – Mr Pranay Oswal, Parwarish Founder – Mr Sushant Kalra, Child Psychologist and TEDx Speaker Riddhi Doshi are supporting my initiative by being part of it.

4. What are your organization’s vision and core values?

Taare Zameen Par is purely created to make this world a better place. The primary vision of creating this group is to have more and more happy and lively families all over the world. It is important that parents realise what happiness means to them and what happiness means to their children. When this is clear, having a happy family is easier. This group facilitates positive parenting, having open communication with kids which in turn would bring joy to their lives

5. What would you choose between following your passion and being practical? Why?

I would go mid-way, just the way I am doing right now. Being Computer engineer, IT is a profession for me. I am an IT professional for 19+ years. I love my work and enjoy doing what I do all 5 days a week. It’s my bread and butter.

At the same time, I would love to follow my passion. That’s what i am doing through this initiative and my FB group “Taare Zameen Par” to reach out to the world. This gives me a sense of fulfilment and happiness of giving back to the society that I live in.

I am fortunate to have best of both!