KE WE Bond over Women’s Day 2024

By Luvena Rangel (The Curvy Yogi)

The KE Women Entrepreneurs (KE WE) came together for an informal gathering over high tea at The Konkan, Bangalore, on 23rd March 2024. Despite busy schedule around work and the Holy Week, the women made it a point to come in high spirits aiming to celebrate International Women’s Day and each other.

The Women Entrepreneurs’ vertical, with Luvena Rangel at the helm, has been showing growing energy and enthusiasm with interaction among members both online and offline. The informal meetups were decided to bring in more opportunities for members to bond with each other and share their entrepreneurial journeys – both successes and challenges.

The afternoon had the right blend of camaraderie and take-home goodness. After the prayer, led by Leena Lobo, there was a quick one-word check-in how each of us were feeling in this moment. This moment of acknowledged centering and ‘present-ness‘ brought the members into a space of valid belonging. Luvena took the next few minutes to deliver a round-up the past few months and also gradually introduced the women into an exercise to arrive at the theme of the evening.

With three gradually progressive interactive exercises, members understood that the objective of the afternoon was to embody the power of appreciation – from giving and receiving compliments with grace and authenticity and also recognizing the power of appreciating and acknowledging ourselves and being able to state what they would need appreciation for in their business or personal lives -since most of our found the two were inevitably woven together.

This understanding was further cemented by an interactive discussion on ‘How was Appreciation important in Women’s Success?’ The conversation saw avid participation and voices from every member in the group bringing diverse perspectives, awareness and recognition about how we felt about our successes and what our challenges were.

While taking a quick inventory of volunteers and ideas for our next meeting and discussing some interesting projects that we were looking at for KE WE, we were just as lovingly surprised by Precilla Dsouza with some absolutely delicious manni.

The two and a little more hours together were a source of joy and togetherness as Sabitha Lasrado delivered the Vote of Thanks. The KE WE WhatsApp group was buzzing with feedback soon after the evening wound up. A selection of comments are mentioned below.

Thank you to the KE WE Core Committee members: Luvena Rangel, Leena Lobo, Rachna Rego, Reshma Saldanha & Sabitha Lasrado for the brainstorming and logistics management. Special thanks to the KE WE Executive Committee (Carol D’Souza, Charmaine Saldanha, Reena Serrao & Uma M) for the back end support towards a successful and very fruitful evening! Many thanks to the Board of Directors at KE for their unflinching faith and support towards leading with purpose.

KE WE member comments post the meetup:

“…I really felt that i have made friends who made me feel like family.” – Rose Thomas

“…this was my 1st time experience with this activity. The feeling has remained with me. Thank you for conducting this. In my opinion, it brought us women closer to each other and words weren’t needed. The activities really got us women community to appreciate each other better. Cheers to women entrepreneurs who manage to bring together family, business and everything else. ❤️ May we always pat each others backs’ and support each other. Happy womens day month to all.” – Carol Pinto

“…’active engagement’ were the key words there.  The theme of the evening was something that is most often overlooked. And it was something that resonated with everyone. To appreciate others and more important to appreciate ourselves and what we do. To be aware of our strengths…. To love ourselves.” – Charmaine Saldanha

“I’m really happy to be part of KE. You all are fabulous. Loved the idea of appreciation” – Smitha Jacob

“…It was nice seeing all women together connecting with each other with a common interest. It is wonderful to see women supporting women on this platform.  All thanks to the organising committee. Special thanks to Luvena and her team to bring us together. I was very happy to see all my friends though for a short time.” – Eliza Pereira

“Thank u so much to our ever energetic & lively Luvena , Leena & Sabitha” – Lavina Prakash

“Meaningful meeting on the topic compliments and Thankyou with yummy evening snacks and special snack made by Prescilla, manni made out of fish tail palm ( indache peet).” – Anitha Gomes

“I take this opportunity to thank wonderful smiling girls gathering and sharing, appreciation, caring.” – Precilla Dsouza

“It’s always wonderful when events bring people together in such a connected way. Sending appreciation to Luvena for her exceptional facilitation and to the organizing committee for their hard work. And big thanks to the Konkan team for providing such a fitting venue. Here’s to more successful gatherings in the future!” – Shelma Furtal

“There’s a great feeling at the end of the meeting, as always – learning, sharing, caring, and the warmth.  Thank you everyone for making it so beautiful.  Priscilla, loved the MANNI” – Veera Joshy

“What an evening with all the lovely ladies! Loads of encouragement, appreciating and being appreciated. Feeling rejuvenated and ready to face another week. Thanks to all the wonderful vibrant women who were present and to the organising committee” – Uma M.

“Great networking meeting and met 4 new wonderful women with great takeaway on self appreciation, good food and great work by organising committee specially Luvena, Sabitha and Leena.” – Rachna Rego

“Meaningful Women’s day celebrations today. Lot of new perspectives of seeing appreciation & ways to appreciate others with true heart” – Dr. Maria Pramila