Many Roots, One Home: Building a Diverse and Compassionate Mom Network"

 The company I work for believes in giving back to the community, and that is one of the reasons I love my employer. I was awarded Volunteer of the Year for the Americas for my work with Desi Moms Network. The recognition itself is an honor, and it comes with a ten-thousand-dollar donation to a charity of my choice.

I was interviewed by the Indian Employee Network, and those questions really made me think about my journey—my vision, hopes, expectations, and limitations.

Here is the second question I was asked: *Talk about some inclusivity and diversity in the group.*

for the previous one - Please Click here.

Our journey as parents, moms and friends is interesting as our groups brings a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences.

We as a group have so many languages faiths, castes and socio-economic backgrounds. From many religion to region. That makes it very vibrant and interesting but at the same time brings some challenges. 

I tried to build groups based on geographical locations, languages, age of the kids, towns and hobbits and interests. Our main whats app group is a platform to bring everyone together, for announcements, to ask question so people from all age span can answer, sharing resources and just to bring everyone “home” but we have many small whats app groups too based on kids age, towns these families live in, area, interests and professions. They came together as mothers and then found their different villages. I am determined to create voices for everyone, paying attention to their quiet presence, private messages and answers to other questions. My drives are decimated to these phone calls. Our group functions  on mutual respect. Long ago I decided to keep religion and political opinions out of the group and that has been helpful. We don’t avoid difficult topics but we deal with compassion. We ask for help from experts in the field to help us understand complex issues. I invites speaker so the moms can learn and understand from the best. We also learn from each other, I hosted meet the mom session when one of them talked about her journey, experience, mistakes and triumphs.  

My hope and dream for the group is With every shared story , every question we continue to grow together- wiser, closer and stronger.  

A simple Orissa Ikat for a workday. Wearing Saree at work is my new norm. 

Below pics tell you another story

I was new to this town 22 years ago and no Indian in sight. I built the Desi Ladies community for very same reason. *Belonging*

Last month the women from my group performed Indian Bollywood dance on Franklin town stage. They all come from various backdrop but that day they were showcasing “culture of India”  

This was a victory, Anand went shoe shopping with me and we found 3 pairs :)