Shilpi Choudhary, the immediate past chairperson of YFLO, who recently handed over the baton to Isha Patodia, chatted with t2 about leading the organisation to connect her members and her takeaway from the tenure.

How has the journey as the YFLO chairperson been?

It’s been very exciting and a huge learning experience. I started off feeling that I didn’t know what I could do. My theme was “connect” and I thought of only connecting people because people used to come to me and say, “Shilpi, we cannot come to the event because we don’t know people.”

So the reason for me choosing the theme was so that members come for the event and even if they didn’t know anybody, they start knowing people. So I started with the YFLO Book Club and YFLO Cares initiative and I finished with the YFLO finale that saw around 60 ladies participating in a fashion show and that completed my journey. So, in a nutshell, I have accomplished my agenda. 

How did you juggle motherhood, your business and YFLO?

Everyone gets 24 hours in a day, so it’s all about prioritising. My son had a crucial year as he was in Class X when I took over as the chairperson. But my son, my dad, my family, my committee and my office staff helped me manage time well and supported me a lot.

What, according to you, was the highlight of your tenure?

I would say the finale because it connected women from different walks of life as we felicitated celebrities, entrepreneurs, social workers and our members on the same stage. The audience also got to know our members and their professional achievements. At the end of the day, YFLO is a business organisation and it is not just about having fun at events. The retreat that I had organised to Ranthambore in November 2017 was also a highlight of my tenure as for the first time, 42 members attended it. 

What was the most challenging part of being the YFLO chairperson?

There was no challenging part as I have been in this organisation for the last nine years and in the committee since the last five-and-a-half years. I have always been able to connect to people, so for me, taking over as the chairperson was not challenging. I knew the system, the pros and cons and the regulations, so it was very easy for me.

Was there any personal achievement for you in the last year?

This one year has been a huge boost to my confidence. It helped me in grooming myself better and increased my patience. It has been a learning experience as I learnt to adjust and make others adjust as well. 

I was very scared of standing on the stage and speaking but I overcame that as towards the end, I even delivered speeches without having any paper in front of me and even moderated the session with Miss Malini (Malini Agarwal of missmalini.com). 

ON HER CALENDAR

Number of events: 32
Number of celebrities hosted: Around 15, including Vidya Balan, Tabu and Mahesh Bhatt
New initiatives: YFLO Cares, Book Club

Text: Anannya Sarkar
Picture: Rashbehari Das