The TiE Women’s Initiative(TiEWIN), the latest Special Interest Group of TiE Boston, hosted a lunch event on June 4, at TiECON 2004. The room was packed with over fifty people made up of entrepreneurs, professionals and students. The topic of discussion was “mentorship” a topic that TiEWIN found ranked number 1, in terms of importance, for women professionals.

Ms. Anu Chitrapu, introduced TiEWIN, discussed its goals, and highlighted the many initiatives that TiEWIN had launched to empower and support women’s career.

Ms. Poonam Ahluwalia, Executive Director of Youth Employment Summit Campaign at the Education Development Center, and a TiEWIN mentor, discussed in detail the programs planned for this summer. For details on these programs please visit www.tie-boston.org.

The keynote speaker for the luncheon, Mr. Hemang Dave, a charter member of TiE Boston, and a mentor for the TiEWIN group, discussed the existing TiE mentoring program. He stressed the importance of mentors in shaping the careers of professionals. According to Dave, “TiE is a living library within which there is a wealth of information. It is an extraordinary group that can help you help yourself.” Dave also described three cases where as part of the TiE Mentoring program, he had helped people with their business plans. The main takeaway from this event was the knowledge that there is a wealth of information and experience available within TiE and TiEWIN provides a channel for women to leverage this.

TiEWIN has several exciting events planned for this year. Amongst them the screening of Lemonade Stories, a film by award-winning filmmaker, Mary Mazzio, about extraordinary entrepreneurs and their mothers, will feature none other than Mary Mazzio herself as the speaker. The TiEWIN annual event planned for September will have Indra Nooyi, CFO and President of PepsiCo as the keynote speaker.

For more information on TiEWIN or TiEWIN events contact achitrapu@gmail.com.

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