Shikha Mittal
Biography
Shikha Mittal is a team member and contributor on SDG5. She is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) program for women entrepreneurs and has a BA from Delhi University and Master in Mass Communications/Media Studies from the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan SP College of Communication and Management. Shikha is the founding director of a for-profit social enterprise and an advocate for women, and also has experience in marketing, advertising, media, and event planning.
When she started her career, like most starry-eyed newly minted graduates, Mittal entered corporate life without any clue about how to handle her new money, how to assert her rights to a safe workplace, or any of the skills required to navigate the adult world. And even her senior coworkers could not guide her, as they were also unempowered and poorly informed. There was little social awareness in the workplace. So she founded Be.artsy in 2010 and created a viable business out of awareness programs aimed at the corporate world. During the Covid pandemic, the online versions of these programs received a huge boost, including direct customers.
Having suffered sexual harassment, Shikha’s first priority was that others facing it should be taken seriously and have the problem addressed. Sometimes women don’t fight for workplace safety because they are financially insecure, which prompted Be.artsy to initiate training on personal finance. She introduced a practical solution that works: a focused program on financial literacy for women. Shikha’s Be Your Own Lakshmi (BYOL) named after the Indian goddess of wealth, provides both basic personal financial competence and a full financial literacy course to India’s women and girls. India’s leading stock exchange has supported this financial awareness effort since 2016. With this help, BYOL has emerged as India’s flagship program for women’s financial health.
Mittal won recognition for her role as a respected awareness expert in the form of IIM Bangalore’s Alumni Achiever Award in 2019-20 for the impact category ‘Social’. She was one of 19 women featured as a trailblazer in the Forbes India W-Power Trailblazers List 2019. She is invited to radio and TV as a panel expert on preventing sexual harassment and financial literacy.
Her dream is that no future Shikha, Muhammad, or Leslie in India should be dumped into working life without proper awareness on how to safeguard their money, rights, and wellbeing.
When she started her career, like most starry-eyed newly minted graduates, Mittal entered corporate life without any clue about how to handle her new money, how to assert her rights to a safe workplace, or any of the skills required to navigate the adult world. And even her senior coworkers could not guide her, as they were also unempowered and poorly informed. There was little social awareness in the workplace. So she founded Be.artsy in 2010 and created a viable business out of awareness programs aimed at the corporate world. During the Covid pandemic, the online versions of these programs received a huge boost, including direct customers.
Having suffered sexual harassment, Shikha’s first priority was that others facing it should be taken seriously and have the problem addressed. Sometimes women don’t fight for workplace safety because they are financially insecure, which prompted Be.artsy to initiate training on personal finance. She introduced a practical solution that works: a focused program on financial literacy for women. Shikha’s Be Your Own Lakshmi (BYOL) named after the Indian goddess of wealth, provides both basic personal financial competence and a full financial literacy course to India’s women and girls. India’s leading stock exchange has supported this financial awareness effort since 2016. With this help, BYOL has emerged as India’s flagship program for women’s financial health.
Mittal won recognition for her role as a respected awareness expert in the form of IIM Bangalore’s Alumni Achiever Award in 2019-20 for the impact category ‘Social’. She was one of 19 women featured as a trailblazer in the Forbes India W-Power Trailblazers List 2019. She is invited to radio and TV as a panel expert on preventing sexual harassment and financial literacy.
Her dream is that no future Shikha, Muhammad, or Leslie in India should be dumped into working life without proper awareness on how to safeguard their money, rights, and wellbeing.
Roles
Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls