The Womens Empowerment Campaign, abbreviated WE, is a registered non-profit 501(c)(3) established to support women entrepreneurs. It is a networking & empowerment platform for Indian and South-Asian women in Chicago. WE was launched by Dr. Anuja Gupta, Shital Daftari & Rita Singh in Nov 2017.
“We wanted to form a group that showcased the power of Indian women in Chicago”. The philosophy of the founders and leadership team was to build a powerful community of support for Indian women in Chicagoland thru this platform. The founders are prominent businesswomen & community leaders in Chicagoland.
“I was looking for a networking platform specifically for Indians in Chicago. There was no major networks & the existing organizations seemed small. That’s when I thought there’s definitely a need for a big organized network” says Dr. Anuja Gupta who is a physician and real estate developer of Verandah Retirement Community.
Rita Singh who is an IT business owner and also has experience in show business says, “I had a very gratifying experience mentoring other people who wanted to start their own business and wanted to do it on a larger scale thru this platform. I wanted to make a meaningful difference in the Indian community”.
Shital Daftari who is an e-commerce business owner of Saris & Things had a different perspective, “when I came to this country on an H1B visa I didn’t know where to start to find friends and other like-minded people. Having a network like this makes it easy”.
Main Goals of WE are:
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To Celebrate Successful India Women in Chicago
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To Raise Awareness of Existing Women’s Groups & Services
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To Highlight Indian Women Professionals & Business-Owners
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To Explore Contemporary Indian Diaspora Issues
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To Support Causes Related to Indian Women in Chicago
“To a certain extent the initiative is still open-ended and will continue to evolve as more dynamic people get involved and come up with new ideas” says Dr. Anuja Gupta.
More information can be found on their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoWEC/