In celebration of its tenth anniversary at Singapore Management University (SMU), the Shirin Fozdar Programme (SFP) partnered with Women In Asia to produce an original photo story exhibition launched in tandem with the SFP Annual Lecture on 2 September 2019. Taking place at SMU’s Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium, the event drew an audience of more than 120 students, advocates and members of the community.

The photo exhibition featured more than a dozen women who are making an impact in industry and society. Titled Connecting Dots, the exhibition represents a tapestry of bold, courageous women in Singapore, who have connected the dots in innovative ways for the Singaporean community. (Refer to Annex for listing of stories featured in the exhibition.)

“At the Shirin Fozdar Programme, we believe women have the power to shape resilient communities with their intuitive ability to integrate industrial excellence and societal needs. It is an honour to celebrate these powerful women and their impact in partnership with Women in Asia on the momentous occasion of our 10th Anniversary,” said Priyanka Shahra, SFP Advisory Board Member.

SFP Chairperson Ms Claire Chiang introduced Ms Vivian Lim and Ms Divya Parmar, co-founders of Women in Asia, thanking them for partnering with SFP to launch the Connecting Dots photo exhibition. Ms Chiang commented, “We are honoured to have these outstanding and diverse young women with us today. Each of these women are driving change and making impact on society and we do hope that platforms, such as today’s Lecture, help to connect you with these trailblazing leaders.”

In her welcome remarks at the Annual Lecture, Christy Davis, Director, Lien Centre for Social Innovation said, “Since 1993, the Shirin Fozdar Programme has championed initiatives that include educational, training and capacity-building opportunities in fields that are beneficial to disadvantaged women in particular. SMU’s Lien Centre for Social Innovation is honoured to host SFP as an example of how innovative approaches and opportunities can generate positive change in the lives of women in Singapore and across the region.”

Ms Davis introduced Ms Cassandra Chiu, Ms Melissa Chan and Ms Vanessa Paranjothy, thanking them for sharing their inspirational stories of rising up against challenges. With grit and resilience being important traits necessary to thrive and succeed in a volatile, complex and ambiguous world, the session provided a platform for the three women to distil the insights they had gained from their personal and professional struggles.

Cassandra, who manages the Safe Harbour Counselling Centre, shared about her work with individuals experiencing depression and anxiety. As a lecturer, psychotherapist, social advocate and author, her vision as a person living with blindness is to change what it means to be disabled, within the Asian context, for the individual, the community and society. Cassandra was the first woman to use a guide dog in Singapore, having advocated for acceptance when the social environment was not quite ready. The challenges she faced led to her passion in creating equal opportunities for persons with disabilities.

Melissa is Head of Community and Outreach at Homage, an on-demand senior home care solution that matches trained caregivers to deliver personalised care through smart technology.  She spoke on her diverse experiences tackling issues in the sphere of ageing and dementia. She founded Project We Forgot (PWF), a community for caregivers to persons with dementia and serves on the steering committee for the World Young Leaders in Dementia (WYLD) Network, driving the development of innovative dementia solutions across disciplines and borders.

At the Lecture, Melissa shared how her personal journey in caring for her father, who was diagnosed with young-onset dementia, inspired her work in social innovation and community growth. As an example, she and her mother had to lock her father at home for his own safety, when their work and study schedules did not allow either of them to stay home to care for him. With Homage, there are now technologies, platforms and services that allow one to care for those who need personalised attention.

Vanessa, an alumnus of SMU, delivered insights into her entrepreneurial journey as a co-founder of Freedom Cups. Freedom Cups, a social enterprise that aims to make menstrual cups available to women in developing and developed societies, works on a buy-1, give-1 model that sees one cup donated to a woman from an underprivileged community for every one sold. Freedom Cups today operates in ten countries across Asia and Africa, resulting from the success of its founders in overcoming stigma and apprehension towards discussing the topic of periods and sanitary products.

Vanessa, who has been recognised on the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list, shared how she had engaged with different Heads of State to discuss the importance of sustainable periods. She was selected as one of twelve in the inaugural cohort of Obama Foundation Scholars at Columbia University and was awarded the Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in Development Work representing Asia.

During the Q&A that followed, moderator and SFP Board Member, Ms Chan Ee Lin, underscored the focus of the SFP led by Chairperson Claire Chiang, which is to connect students, advocates, policy-makers, businesses, institutions and the public to foster a resilient community. Panellists weighed in on how nurturing empathy among youths might help to inspire more changemakers and discussed the idea of placing a dollar value on the work of caregiving.  

Vivian Lim, co-founder of Women In Asia and resident photographer of the Connecting Dots photo exhibition, commented, “Using portraits as a storytelling medium, we aim to uncover raw and authentic stories of women in our midst. This year’s edition of photo stories curated together with SFP includes many women whom have worked towards inclusion and equality of our society. We hope that this would spark dialogues and open conversation, helping us work towards building an inclusive community. They are connecting the dots to help us bridge differences in our society. We want to amplify these stories and help create genuine connections within our community.”

 “We want women to celebrate their stories - stories of courage, achievement, love, failure, adaptation, resilience, empathy, trust, patience, success, connection,” added Divya Parmar, co-founder of Women In Asia. “We hope our photo story exhibitions can help us connect with each other on a much deeper level and extend our support to build an inclusive society. We hope men would find these stories intriguing and encourage the women around them to share their story and journey.”

[Featured Photo: (from left) Ms Chan Ee Lin, Ms Christy Davis, Ms Margie Warrell, Ms Cassandra Chiu, Ms Melissa Chan, Ms Claire Chiang and Ms Vanessa Paranjothy at the Shirin Fozdar Annual Lecture 2019 held at SMU.]

Annex

Connecting Dots features the stories of:

Yip Pin Xiu, Paralympian Gold Medalist, Youngest Nominated Member of Parliament

Nurul Jihadah Hussain, Social Entrepreneur, The Codette Project

Dipa Swaminathan, Social activist, Founder of ItsRainingRaincoats

Siti Noor Mastura, Singaporean of the Year 2018, Founder Back2Basics

Cassandra Chiu, SIngapore’s first guide dog trainer, Author of Place for Us

Vanessa and Rebecca Paranjothy, Founders of Freedom Cups

Nur Syahidah Alim, Team Singapore Paralympic Archer, World Archery Para Champion

Ivy Singh, Founder of Bollywood Veggies, Food Security and Sustainability Champion

Ayesha Khanna, AI Technologist, Co-Founder and CEO of ADDO AI

Melissa Chan, Health and Social Care Innovator, Founder of Project We Forgot

Nicol Ng, Co-founder of The Food Bank Singapore

Sharul Chana, Stand-up comedian, Theatre Director

Elizabeth Tan, Humanitarian, founder of Sight to Sky

Venezia Wee, Water Activist, Founder Global-Water-Crisis-Awareness International Movement

Joy Lim, Social Impact Entrepreneur, Founder of Tomal Global

The physical exhibition is on display for one month (after its launch) at the library@esplanade. The exhibition also features two other female photographers, Laxmi Koul and Himani Ishar Sindhwani.