Every year we see a number of initiatives that focus on making a difference in the lives of women and recognize their efforts and contribution to their respective fields. The Pond’s Miracle Journey (PMJ) – now in its fourth year – has been consistently empowering women and celebrating womanhood with utmost panache.
Continuing its tradition of appreciating women for effortlessly juggling a dual role in life – one at home and the other at workplace – Pond’s honoured 10 successful mentee-mentor pairs from the Pond’s Miracle Journey 2018 on Tuesday (March 12) at the Beach Luxury Hotel, Karachi.
A collaborative effort of Pond’s and designer duo Sana Hashwani and Safinaz Muneer, the celebration took place just a few hours before Sana Safinaz’ solo show kicked started the Fashion Pakistan Week Spring/Summer 2019.
This year, Learning Coach Aliyah Mohyeddin selected a total of 10 out of 64 mentees who came closest to achieving their goals in the year 2018.
Host for the evening, Sidra Iqbal welcomed the 10 pairs onstage and showed their introductory videos that gave audiences a peek into their struggles. Later they shared their experiences and explained in detail how they had progressed over the course of the mentorship program.
The pairs that were called onstage included Javeria Irfan and owner of Angie’s Salon, Angie Marshall; Javeria Kaleem and COO of Gul Ahmed, Shehnaz Basit and Fatima Zara Malik and designer Sanam Chaudhri.
Apart from them, Anusha Sachwani and founder of Special Needs Pakistan, Rabia Aziz; Madiha Mohammad and founder of Necos, Nilofer Saeed; Maryam Ashraf and Learning Coach, Aliyah Mohyeddin; Farah Vayani and founder of Kiran Fine Jewellery, Kiran Aman; Sadia Khalid and Learning Coach, Aliyah Mohyeddin; Rukhsar Rashid and founder of Diya Women’s Football Club, Sadia Shaikh and, Mahvish Aziz and Founder of Flavours of Mediterranean, Sehr Hafeez Pirzada were among the 10 mentee-mentor pairs.
One of the mentees, Anusha Sachwani, who works at Brandsynario, has a passion for social work that drove her to form a small program called ‘School of Hope’ – a platform she uses to hire volunteers with the aim to transform the lives of those with disabilities. She shared that she received hands-on experience from her mentor Rabia Aziz on how to handle volunteers. “The volunteers who work with me still need extensive training to be able to help the needy,” she noted. “I regularly try to share my own experiential learning with them because I believe that even if one of them goes out and uses his learning to serve humanity, I have made a difference.”
Besides, Madiha Mohammad, who is a self-taught chef, shared that her goal is “to open a restaurant that will be run by women”. Talking about her mentor Nilofer Saeed, Madiha said that she helped her build confidence and establish her business online.
Their enriching experiences certainly were a true portrayal of how Pond’s Miracle Journey has assisted them in taking the ‘first step’ towards achieving their goals.