Witad Awards 2023 and Vijaya Shanthi Saripalli

In this year’s Women in Technology and Data Awards, Vijaya Shanthi Saripalli, associate vice president of strategy and operations at Standard Chartered Bank in Cyberjaya, a Malaysian town outside of Kuala Lumpur, won the wellness/work-life balance (end-user) category. Shanthi claims that the majority of her duties involve business management tasks like managing headcount, maintaining estate cleanliness, communicating with stakeholders, and engaging them. Additionally, she is in charge of organising town halls, technical fireside chats, women’s wellness sessions, regular communications on people and technical news, and newsletter production. Shanti has taken on responsibility for her group’s gender equality and diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives in addition to her regular duties. She has also started working on more wellness and work-life balance engagements.

Know About Vijaya Shanthi Saripalli

She is most proud of the programme “Let’s Talk,” which was designed as a “space” where female employees could gather and talk about anything and everything. We talked because that was our only intention, according to Shanthi. “Let’s Talk quickly developed into a safe haven for women to congregate, exchange stories, and work together. Over the course of 15 months, more than 100 women working in technology and data met regularly to talk about a wide range of topics, including fitness advice, overcoming bias against women in the field, travel experiences, and family ties during the pandemic.

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When questioned about the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns and the degree to which they had acted as a catalyst for change within the business, Shanthi focuses on the benefits that came as a result of what had been a particularly traumatic time for the vast majority of people worldwide. Digital collaboration tools have been widely adopted in both our personal and professional lives as a result of COVID-19, according to the author. “To improve our mobility, teamwork, and innovation, the bank continues to invest in cutting-edge digital capabilities and collaborate with cutting-edge industry players. We were also given more flexibility in terms of how, when, and where we work. By the end of 2022, 78% of our coworkers in 43 markets had flexible work schedules. As a result, our teams are able to work more closely with clients, coworkers, and their teams while also cutting down on travel expenses, carbon emissions, and commute times.

Due to family obligations, Shanthi began her career relatively late, but she has quickly risen through the ranks at Standard Chartered. I had to start from scratch as a technical writer because I began my career six years later than my peers, the author claims. “I soon understood that the only two things that no one can take away from me are talent and tenacity. I also had the good fortune to be hired for my talent rather than my years of experience when the right opportunities and people came along.

After working for Standard Chartered for a short time as a vendor employee, Shanthi left the company. However, the head of communications at the time remembered her from her involvement with a women’s network a year prior and rehired her. “A global head saw me conducting a roadshow, and that was my next big break as a communications lead,” she claims. “The right place, right people, and the right time, as well as the fact that I persisted, led to almost all of the roles that were subsequently offered to me.”