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Our Story
In 2016 March, WINGS CEO and Founder Ms. Waishampayan looked back upon her nearly three-decade career as a woman on Wall Street. She decided the lessons she had learned would be put to better use mentoring women who already were out of the classroom and in the workforce. She felt there is a need and the opportunity to have a mentoring and coaching program which is company and industry agnostic and focuses on developing women with leadership potential.
Her late father, a retired professor, was as insistent that she should return to teaching. He said, “You should give back with what you have learned. There is never a bad time to do good; it’s just a matter of priorities.”
Inspired by her father, she then founded WINGS for Growth, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Many senior leaders have joined Varsha, to deliver and implement this important mission.
WHAT WE FOUND
- Significant resources spent on women without long lasting impact
- High potential women feeling stuck
- Inherent limitations of internal programs
- Insufficient avenues for mentees to apply lessons learned in the short term on the job or outside work
- Lack of Outcome-based methodology
- Lack of learning environments that are fully personalized to Mentee’s needs
- Lack of good mentors/teachers who are willing to invest their time outside work
WHAT WE DID
- Created a 501(c)(3) organization to launch the cause
- Set up an expert team to deliver a holistic learning experience
- Select mentees who are passionate to be successful and are socially committed to help others
- Designed a curriculum that focuses on developing the mentee’s transformational leadership mind-set
- Created a program that is agnostic to the individual’s underlying subject matter skill set, career orientation or the industry/position in which the mentee advances
- Evolved current program based on lessons learned from the two successful pilots
- Developed “Mentor the Mentor” program to coach senior executives on how to be good mentors
WINGS' Mission
WINGS mission is to unleash the leader in women, accelerate their growth, and inspire them to create opportunities for the next generations. We envision a day when women leaders, role models, and change agents are universal.
#101WomenOnDeck We plan to bring 101 senior men and women to take a pledge with us to develop 101 women leaders.
Create a multiplier effect by training management of nonprofits that focus on women-related causes, it is our loss as a community if they fail.
Diversity in C-suite should be the criteria for the investments in businesses. We will work with business to develop and promote women in C-suite
Our Philosophy
We believe…
It is important to help women who need assistance. It is equally paramount to create women leaders who will continue to pave the path forward for others. WINGS has created a systematic way to do both by:
- Encouraging women to develop an Authentic Leadership Style that leverages strengths and traits
- Remaining socially committed. WINGS is a registered nonprofit, and mentees focus on giving back as part of their development
- Building unshakable courage and confidence as core learning experiences
- Creating supportive environments that allow women to thrive
- Experiential guidance enables women to break through barriers they face to be successful
- Leading with empowerment vs. leading with opinions