Introduced in collaboration with the Vedica Women’s Alliance (V-WA), the awards are created to shine a spotlight on women leaders
Western Digital®, a leading worldwide data infrastructure provider, today announced the ‘V-WA 50’ awards in partnership with the Vedica Women’s Alliance to amplify the voices of women leaders. Under this initiative, 50 professionals will be awarded for their contributions. This includes senior women professionals across various fields and men who have advocated for inclusion in their organisations. The application forms are available and will remain open till May 2021. An online award ceremony will be hosted by the end of June 2021. Through V-WA 50, Western Digital amplifies women’s voices and strengthens its commitment to a more diverse future. The initiative aims to create a platform to bring women together who are at the top of their fields, recognise their achievements, and help create a community of winners.
“We are excited to introduce the ‘V-WA 50’ to further augment the voices of women leaders and shine much-deserved spotlights on them. Celebrating women at the top of their organisations inspires young girls and working professionals to emulate them. This is a sine qua non intervention and change to help create better balanced gender diversity roadmaps,” said Supria Dhanda, Vice President and Country Manager, India, Western Digital. “I am confident that the ‘V-WA 50’ will empower women leaders across the country and catalyse the next generation of upcoming leaders, bringing in a new change in the ecosystem,” she added. “Women are 50% of the population, make invaluable contributions in the world, and, increasingly, in their workplaces – but remain under-recognised and unsung. With ‘V-WA 50’, we are committed to changing this and ‘making women visible’. By presenting strong role models for the generations to come, we will set the wheels of change in motion, irreversibly,” said Anuradha Das Mathur, Founder of the Vedica Women’s Alliance and the Founder and Dean of the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women. The forum will reach out to relevant hubs and networks from various industries to invite candidates for ‘V-WA 50’. The jury will include 15 plus renowned leaders across sectors, who will select the best candidates. This initiative will allow women to showcase their remarkable contributions, inspiring young aspiring professionals.
The ‘V-WA 50’ will commemorate senior women leaders who have excelled in their careers and made a great contribution in their respective industries. The forum will also honour male leaders who demonstrated their support for women leaders and equality in the workplace. Some of the award categories are Lifetime Achievement for exceptional leaders who have made an impact in their organisations and the community, Women in Technology/R&D, Government, Social Impact, Academia, Manufacturing, Finance, Marketing & Sales, and a special category for Men of Impact to recognise men who have demonstrated their commitment to equality and advocated for inclusion.
About Western Digital
Western Digital creates environments for data to thrive. As a leader in data infrastructure, the company is driving the innovation needed to help customers capture, preserve, and access and transform an ever-increasing diversity of data. Everywhere data lives, from advanced data centers to mobile sensors to personal devices, our industry-leading solutions deliver the possibilities of data. Our data-centric solutions are comprised of the Western Digital®, G-Technology™, SanDisk®, and WD® brands. Western Digital, the Western Digital logo, G-Technology, SanDisk, and WD are registered trademarks or trademarks of Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates in the US and/or other countries.
About the Vedica Women’s Alliance
The Vedica Women’s Alliance (V-WA) is a first-of-its-kind initiative built to aggregate, advocate, and amplify the voices of women leaders from across the country and shape an ecosystem that helps women professionals thrive. V-WA hopes to grow the cadre of professional women – in terms of numbers and influence. Through peer learning sessions to foster ‘collective wisdom’, monthly issue-based briefings on specific ‘women and work’ issues, curated masterclasses with a unique focus on personal and professional transformation, high-quality research products and regular surveys with an aim to create new knowledge and create awareness, mentorship opportunities with a chance to build an influential professional network and direct engagement with government, industry and academy to shape policy for women and gender in the workforce, our member services will equip women professionals to pursue successful ‘break-free’ careers and become catalysts of change.