In the successful fifth edition of the ‘Ignite Possibilities’ series, Sonya Singh Verma, renowned corporate doyenne, HR practitioner and thought leader, recently enthralled the attendees on how to pay it forward in times of pandemic.
She started the session with an engaging domain naming contest for the attendees. All the participants enthusiastically shared their creative website names. She pointed out the differences between teaching, coaching and mentoring and then explained the importance of having a mentor for professional, personal and overall development.
Sonya has worn several hats during her career which spanned three and a half decades. She has vast work experience in the hospitality sector, travel, banking, telecom, retail, media, IT and public sectors.
Currently, Sonya is mentoring groups and individuals pro bono as her pay it forward initiative during the pandemic. She is also on the governing board on Vidya (www.vidya-india.org) – a not-for-profit organisation which works with disadvantaged women and children in 78 projects across India.
During the engaging session, Sonya emphasised the importance of having interpersonal relationships, understanding and having confidence in each other between the mentors and mentees. The distinguished speaker reiterated the concepts of ‘A Mentor must always realise that they don’t ‘know it all’’. She also stressed ‘the beautiful coincidence of mentoring’ that enables reverse mentoring, in which a mentor learns from the mentee making the mentoring journey that much more bilateral.
Another subset of mentoring as mentioned by Sonya was ‘Referenced Mentoring or Sub Mentoring’ that empowers the mentor to refer the mentee to a subject matter expert or a mental health counsellor as the case warrants. Once the mentee goals are achieved through sub mentoring, the mentor and mentee might resume their journey.
‘Ignite Possibilities’ is an online keynote series initiated by ICC Advanced Toastmasters Club, inviting internationally acclaimed speakers every month for the meetings held on first Saturday of the month in which renowned speakers across the world share their experiences, motivations, lessons learnt and tips to unearth the potential of the attendees.
Alar Mel Mangai, vice-president, Education, said that the attendees were thoroughly engrossed in the knowledge being shared. The enlightening session ended with an entertaining Q&A session, anchored by her own mentee Nalini GP Mathur, leaving lasting impressions in the ignited minds.
President Christopher Almeida and past president Philip Cherian adjudged the three winners of the website naming contest. The winners are namely; Rammohan Rai, Abhijit K and Ameerudeen Moulana.
‘Ignite Possibilities’ team includes Thayalan Kailayapillai, District director 116; Philip Cherian, former president of ICC Advanced Toastmasters Club; Christopher Almeida, Alar Mel Mangai, Nalini GP Mathur, treasurer; and M I Farid.
In the successful fifth edition of the ‘Ignite Possibilities’ series, Sonya Singh Verma, renowned co
