Hyderabad, April 07, 2022.

I dislike and despise the word ‘expectations’ said Actress and TV Presenter Mandira Bedi. She was speaking to a gathering of FLO Hyderabad Chapter members at Hyderabad today. Speaking to a jam packed hall of women entrepreneurs and professionals at a talk session titled Wired for Challenges, Mandira Bedi said that expectations are a bad thing. I don’t like that word. Expectations mean that we are set to do things in a certain way. ‘What will people think?’ was the question that I grew up with. My mother used to always question me. It was always there in everything. When I grew up, I gave up that. I don’t care about what will people think, Mandira said. The event was attended by Shubhraa Maheshwari, Chairperson, FLO Hyderabad Chapter; Gunjan Sindhi, Hon Secretary; Nishita Manne, Treasurer; Shilpa Raju, Hon Joint Secretary; Maya Patel, Joint Treasurer and other office bearers.

In an interesting session Mandira Bedi touched upon her shared her experiences and life lessons. Giving advice to the women at the event, she said that seeking validation is not good, be the best of what you can be. Don’t give a damn about what people think. Live life on your own terms, he opined. Sharing her advice to women entrepreneurs and professionals, Mandira Bedi asked them to believe in themselves. Self-belief is very important, she said. If you believe in yourself, you can do it. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one will, Mandira said.

Mandira asked women entrepreneurs and professionals to reach out to their support system and seek help. Don’t shy away from taking help. Don’t do everything yourself, she declared.  Reach out, take help from your family, friends, etc., she said.

She recalled and reminisced about her journey into the world of TV, Film and Cricket. Mandira Bedi said that Cricket taught me a lot. Two important lessons were ‘Not everybody has to like you’ and another very important thing was ‘be in the moment’; because moment is all we have, she said.

Speaking further Mandira said that she has no regrets in life. The only thing that she regrets is having her son at the age of 39. She said that it was the only thing that she regretted. She wished that she would have had her son earlier. Recalling her journey, Mandira said that she faced lot of insecurities in her 30s. She said that in her 30s entertainment industry is always riddled with insecurities, But in her 40s, she has don’t the most satisfying work and in fact got the most work, she said.

Speaking prior to her Ms. Shubhraa Maheshwari, Chairperson, FLO Hyderabad Chapter said that her vision for the term is “Stronger SHE” - an endeavour to provide systematic and tailored resources for women to build long-term and sustainable livelihoods for themselves and for society. Our theme this year is ‘Financial Literacy for Women’ through a series of learning sessions and workshops, Shubhraa informed.

Giving details about various initiatives undertaken by them, she said that on ground level, we will work to impart skills to women and increase basic awareness of financial decision making for women to better support their families, For middle level and white collar women, we will organize programs that broaden their horizon when it comes to Financial decisions such as investment and growth, Shubhraa said.