Women Power Series: Shilpi - Visual Experience Designer and Comic Creator

Shilpi Samson (@surviveofficedoodles on Instagram) is a creative powerhouse. In fact, we can even call it creative social service. After all, she says - "I doodle to survive boring office meetings :)". 

As part of our #WomenPower series, we asked her three questions around our theme #eachforequal. Below are her responses. 

Question 1: What do you do for a living?

Answer: My day job is that of a Visual Experience Designer but I am more excited about my individual project - I am the creator of the web comic called "Surviveofficedoodles" - which gives me the freedom to express myself and share my experiences with the world. The fact that my experiences are echoed by thousands of people, especially women, across the world is both overwhelming and empowering at the same time.

Question 2: Which is that one thing about being a woman which has helped you achieve success in your life?

Answer: I think from a very young age women are subjected to more judgment and have to keep proving themselves at every step. This attitude makes us women more adept at multi tasking and striking a good balance between different areas of our lives. For me, it has also resulted in a more determined, bordering on rebellious streak in me which means I wish to do different things and always put my full effort into anything I do, which in turn helped me learn and grow and become a more confident woman.

Question 3: This Women’s day is #eachforequal. What is that one thing which you feel should be equal for everyone, but is not for women?

Answer: Equal opportunity at work and studies. While I am lucky to have not faced any discrimination during studies but have definitely experienced it professionally and I feel in both these areas women with equal caliber are discriminated against for just being women. People tend to consider that achievements come easy for women, or they don’t really deserve it. For example, girls get more marks because they have better hand writing on women get better jobs just because of diversity requirements - these are unfair stereotypes that undermine women's achievements. This mindset needs to change and we need to celebrate women's achievements - coming as they are after fighting against a lot of prejudices as it is, rather than undermine them.

Based on the above, our product team picked three products that we made, keeping in mind someone like Shilpi.

1. Our Ladies Wallets were created to ensure they are compact, yet functional and can even fit a mobile phone inside them. An Ikat GreRed Chain Wallet is one such wallet for women, which is great on the inside and outside.
2. Our Handbags come in wide body, that gives full freedom to keep whatever you want, however you want. Check out our Ikat African Wave Handbag for example.
3. Our Office Bags for Women were made specifically since we saw that most brands made Office bags for men only. As a brand that stands for #eachforequal, we made a bag that fits all the needs of a women as well as the office laptop. See our Ikat Arrow Women's Office Bag, for example.