Unique celebrations for women by Citi

Tuesday, 25 March 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Citibank Sri Lanka celebrated the multiple roles played by women with a unique program that re-emphasised women as being true multi-taskers. With an unbroken record of celebrating international women’s day for over 130 years, the program in Sri Lanka re-emphasised the many roles that women play both in the workforce as well as society at large. Addressing those gathered, Citi Country Officer Sri Lanka Ravin Basnayake noted: “Women have continually proven that they are drivers of economic growth and in celebrating International Women’s Day, we honour the achievements and progress women have made here in Sri Lanka. "It really should be addressed as ‘Work, Family and Quality of Life’ instead. The constant balancing of work and family life and fighting with one’s own conscience can be exhausting – UK qualified Training, Learning & Development Consultant Dinali Bandaranayake Dandeniya" Among you, there are business owners and team members, women who are achievers and also multi-taskers, facing challenges on a daily basis with strength and commitment. These are the women we are proud of and hope that the program today will add to the skills and tools that you are already equipped with to be more empowered in these evolving times.” The 130 plus Citi customers and valued business partners discussed issues that arose for women in the workplace with UK qualified Training, Learning & Development Consultant Dinali Bandaranayake Dandeniya. Discussing work-life balance she stated: “It really should be addressed as ‘Work, Family and Quality of Life’ instead.” She mentioned that although this is a challenging topic and an area for working mothers “it also impacts working dads. The constant balancing of work and family life and fighting with one’s own conscience can be exhausting.”

Covering professionalism and business etiquette, she discussed the issues of bullying and

harassment in the workplace with the gathered ladies enthusiastically contributing with either their own experiences or others, gaining support and advice from each other and Dinali on solutions and remedial measures. Dinali’s final comment was based on an inspirational verse taken from renowned female author Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman, stating that “Phenomenal Women, that’s who we are and we should strive to be”. "Women have continually proven that they are drivers of economic growth and in celebrating International Women’s Day, we honour the achievements and progress women have made here in Sri Lanka – Citi Country Officer Sri Lanka Ravin Basnayake" Yet another exciting chapter was unveiled when Cinnamon Grand’s award winning Chefs, Sujith Ariyaratne from Nuga Gama and Chandana Dissanayake from banquets served up delicious waste, in a pioneering initiative based on minimising food waste and encouraging creativity with food. Having prepared melon temperadu, ash plantain skin pittu and stringhopper dodol while explaining the processes as they cooked, they invited the audience to have a bite of their ‘Too good to waste’ delectables, which were enthusiastically sampled by the audience. Stefan Andre Joachim, the creative head behind the label Andre Estefan as well as Partner of Salon Chagall and Design Cafe, whipped up some magic tricks to looking and feeling fabulous. Having first picked a member of the audience for a surprise feature in the show with the Chagall Team, he walked among the audience, discussing dress mode in office including what to wear on dress down days, company functions especially in the evenings, grooming and even how to mix and match stylishly, to look professional. “Having spent my childhood and 95% of my career amongst women, let me be very clear on the fact that the fashion and beauty trade is only the visible outer layer of what lies beneath,” he explained. “Women are the rulers of this economy!” The surprise was indeed a makeover for a member of the audience, where positives were highlighted and transformed to create women who would truly stand out in a crowd.

"Having spent my childhood and 95% of my career amongst women, let me be very clear on the fact that the fashion and beauty trade is only the visible outer layer of what lies beneath, Women are the rulers of this economy! – Andre Estefan Designer and Partner of Salon Chagall and Design Cafe Andre Estefan"

And there was Entertrainers’ Owner and mum of two, Eli Usma whose passion for fitness and healthy habits was quickly translated to the ladies, giving them tips on how to relieve stress, anywhere anytime. Eli, who holds over 35 international fitness certificates and including CrossFit, Zumba, Pilates and is also an internationally qualified fitness accreditor, got the ladies up and about as well, creating a fun environment that also broke the ice, allowing for the celebrations to continue for the rest of the evening. Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe