Monica Kumar: President IBPW (Indian Business and Professional Women Association)

Background

I am the President of Indian Business and Professional Women since 1997. I work for Oracle Corporation as a Senior Marketing Manager. I have an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from India and MBA from San Jose State University. I came to the United States in 1991 with my husband. My biggest achievements is being a mother - I have a three year old son.

I joined Indian Business & Professional Women in 1993 and within six months joined the Executive Board. I found the meetings to be very motivational and inspiring, not only because of the excellent speakers but also because I met a lot of my peers who were great source of advice and information. Over the last few years, IBPW has become a big part of my life. I have made wonderful friends and mentors through this forum. I have gained incredibly from this organization both personally and professionally. There is no better place to network and build professional knowledge than IBPW.

Interests:

As a mother my first priority is my son. Everything else follows. I am absolutely passionate about community service be it through IBPW, or helping out with fundraisers like the Senior Citizen fund raiser which was organized by Deepka Lalwani. I want to help women and children who need help. I hope that some day I can spend more time doing so. Another area that interests me is politics. I believe that is critical that Indian immigrants to the US become more involved at local and state level in politics. This is the only way we can make our voices heard. This can be done by helping with fund raisers, participating in local city meetings, volunteering for schools etc. On a lighter note, I love to read, watch movies, theatre, opera and ballet - though sometimes its tough to make time for a ballet or opera when you have a little one at home.

IBPW:

IBPW\'s mission is as follows: IBPW is a support network for business and professional women and promotes leadership and self development through seminars and workshops. One of the key goals of IBPW is to make sure that we fulfill the needs of our membership. For e.g. a few years ago, we realized that the mix of business and professional women were about 50-50 and we needed to reflect that in the topics of our programs. Lately, keeping in tune with the valley culture, lot of our members are either thinking of starting a business or want to learn about what it takes to do it. Therefore, our last few programs have focused on all aspects of starting a business. Audrey McLean, a very successful angel investor is our speaker for IBPW\'s upcoming program on Monday, October 25th. I would urge both women and men to participate in this event. Go to http://www.ibpw.org to get further information.

Another goal of IBPW is to keep pace with the mainstream organizations and have access to their resources. We have partnerships with Professional and Business Women of California, NAWBO, Career Action Center and many more mainstream organizations. I am pleased that IBPW is now getting attention with mainstream media also. We were recently published in an Interactive Week article. Last but not least, IBPW wants to promote and advance women through mentoring. We have established a formal mentoring program this year.

Advice to Star-Ups:

Through the several sessions that we have organized on starting a business, some og the key nuggets of advice are: Passion is key for starting a company, you should love what you are doing. I would also say "do your homework, and find mentors. Mentors are key. They will give you sound advice without mincing words.

God:

I believe in God very strongly. However, I probably visit the temple once or twice a year. To me, God is faith. I don't believe in rigidly following all the rituals prescribed by various religions. I like to celebrate festivals because they are fun and I want to teach my kid the traditions that I grew up with.

Family Values:

The most important family value for me is to have fun, be happy. Be good to others. Help the community not just yourself. This is what I hope to instill into my son.