How I found my purpose running an All- Women’s Community
A science student with no measurable talent and neither a gut-wrenching passion, I always struggled with finding a purpose. One quiet metro ride home, while reading Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg it hit me.
“Get up and make a Change” Sheryl said.
And so I did. Texted my close friend Parina, and after a long incoherent rambling, I received a 1-word reply. “Lets.” That moment Climb DTU was born and we haven’t looked back since.
We had a vague vision of creating a safe space for the women of our university. A place to share ideas, opportunities, and insights — a community replete with love and camaraderie. We wished to change the culture that subconsciously attributes all female accomplishments to diversity and fails to uproot the internalized misogyny in both male and female students.
Today, 12th April 2020 marks the 1 year anniversary of Climb DTU’s first event — an orientation with us pitching this idea to a small group of girls in a classroom. However, our journey started almost 6 months earlier. It started with Parina and I having heated discussions and arguments till 3 in the night. It started with us cornering every girl in the hostel mess to explain to them our vision. It started with on-boarding our wonderful friends Sanjana and Apurva, followed by a month-long ordeal to come up with a name.
We often questioned ourselves why we were doing this. A final year that could have otherwise been spent partying and lazying around, we were canceling trips, holding meetings, and making google forms and creatives. We remember being told that the college admin would never support something like this and were discouraged to pursue it. We were asked the need of a women-only community, accused of being discriminatory to boys, heckled on a stage in front of 500 people, trolled, and had memes and parodies made on us.
However, each of these discouragements was met by an even greater support. When we opened the recruitments for our organizing team we realized the extent of the support and love Climb has. As we grew bigger we had numerous alumni too commending us and wanting to contribute to the cause. Each time those low turnout events became a success in terms of quality, or when a skeptic friend turned into a supporter, we were reminded of our resolve.
Today, Climb conducted its third webinar with over 250 registrations and an audience of 100 students (full capacity). Today Climb also crossed 3.2k followers on LinkedIn and started its 3rd week of the Mentorship Program for female students.
I know this somewhat sounds like an Oscar acceptance speech (or a TED Talk?), but today I honestly feel proud of myself and my team, who have come so far. I’m genuinely overwhelmed by the impact (albeit small) we are creating and the cultural shift we’re trying to bring in our university. Now, I don’t claim to change the world or make every person understand our vision, but if at the end of my 4 years at DTU, I’m able to give back to my college, I see that as a win.
