"Sometimes male managers refused to accept me as the boss"-Shuchita Gupta, Cofounder, Care4Parents

Care4Parents delivers the plethora of best home healthcare services to the doorsteps of elders in India so that they don’t have to move out of their houses. Shuchita Gupta, Cofounder, Care4Parents talked about herself in the Women Power column in DQ Channels. 

The challenges of being a woman executive in a top role

A woman to succeed at home is a given. To succeed professionally, we have to step up and work hard and prove ourselves again and again. Even though we have made advances as a society, it is still largely patriarchal and to accept women at work, especially in leadership positions becomes a challenge sometimes.

A woman has equal responsibility for the house and the workplace. Maintaining a balance between the two can be challenging at times; especially when a choice has to be made for one over the other. As long as we communicate clearly to the stakeholders (family in case of house and client/CEO/ founder at work) the deliverables, timelines, and exceptions.

In terms of the attitude of others, there were certain hurdles when I was running the CA firm, as some seasoned accountants found it hard to accept the fact that they had a woman boss. At times, certain clients also believed in addressing the manager sitting next to me in the meeting. However, once the assignment started, they were all appreciative of the hard work and the effort put in by me, even when staff came and went, to make sure that the work did not suffer. As a consequence, my clients referred my name to more people and my practice grew. And they keep coming back even today.

Sometimes male managers refused to accept me as the boss and tried to go behind my back to the owner/ founder. Through patience, perseverance, and applying my knowledge and experience, I didn’t have to prove myself, rather the other person exposed himself.

Educational Background

DPS, R.K.Puram, B.com (h) – SRCC, CA with EY India

Family Background

My parents are both professionals (Father-CA and Mother – MBA Marketing) and they have worked with MNCs (Father – CFO-Bennett Coleman & Co., CFO Hughes Software Systems; Mother – All India Head – Market Research-Hindustan Unilever Limited).

As kids, we were always encouraged and inspired to become professionals and independent. I passed out of DPS, R K Puram and joined SRCC B. Com (H) and EY (S R Batliboi & Co.) thereafter for CA. After qualifying as CA, I worked with PWC for some time before joining my father in his CA practice.

My younger brother, also from DPS RKP, completed his engineering from VIT, Pune, MBA from IIT, Delhi and joined Infosys. He later set up and exited from 2 ventures.

My husband is an alumnus of St. Xavier's school, Delhi, IIT-BHU (engineering) and University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC) (MS and MBA). After working for Oracle & EY in Silicon Valley, he moved back to India to set up his software company, which was later acquired by 3i Infotech.

Where I come from a hard-core professional background, both my brother and husband decided to become entrepreneurs and proved to be successful in their businesses with successful exits. They have been very supportive and have guided me all along.

Working in the Male-dominated field of IT.  Does a Glass ceiling exist?

I am not an IT person by profession; I have become a program manager through my experience of working with various startups since 2011 at CXO levels. In my experience, I have not seen many women IT professionals make it to the top in startups. However, the same women have done well for themselves when they moved to a more mature and well-established organisation.

Hobbies

Music, Dance, reading, learning to play bridge now

Future plans

To add value to any company that I am a part of, as a CXO or as a director + enable other young professionals and entrepreneurs by mentoring and guiding them (part of TiE emerging entrepreneurs program + mentor at FLO startup cell)

High-Five:  
1. Your Fitness Mantra: 30-40 min. of an outdoor walk, irrespective of how tight the schedule is. If not morning, then in the evening. If not evening, then at night after dinner.

2. Your De-stressing Mantra: Chanting – I practice ND’s Buddhism. Taking mini-breaks of 5-5 min  in between long working hours for some breathing exercises and light stretching of the back and arms, along with some light music

3. Where do you like to shop?: Wherever I get what I want and/or like, irrespective of whether it is of some renowned brand or not.

4. Your favourite holiday destination: Phuket, Thailand

5. Five things you cannot live without: Family, Water, Exercise, Books, A sense of purpose in life

Workday:
1. Morning activities: Health ritual – 2 glasses of water, Surya Namaskar or walk, planning for breakfast, lunch and other day’s activities, physical newspaper (for editorial)
2. Ist half in office: answer e-mails, coordinate and plan for the day/ week, status update from the team
3. Post Lunch: calls for business development, thinking hat for articles and other marketing-related activities, evening status update from the tech team
4. How you spend your evenings: at home playing with kids (joint family) + occasional meet up with friends + a play or a Sufi night + TV with husband.

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