A graduate from Delhi University with an MBA in HR from IMT Ghaziabad, Dipika Trehan started her career in training and development, with American Express. Accompanying her husband around the world for about a decade, she soon ended up working for the Indian embassies, both in South Africa and Moscow. She even worked on a project with the Tata Medical Centre Trust in Mumbai and was a senior manager for a start-up, before she decided to set out on her entrepreneurial journey in Bengaluru, as founder of a wellness forum.
According to her, “The Health Of Women (HOW) Forum was formulated as a result of a self-wellness journey. Women often give up on themselves in terms of their health and fitness, post marriage, childbirth and lifestyle disorders such as thyroid, PCOD, etc. It all started with me. I weighed a whopping 94 kg when my second child was born. From there, what began as a weight loss journey (where I was able to knock off 30 kg), led me to an understanding that there’s much more to fitness and wellness. What is important is the way one feels about oneself. Self- acceptance and self-love further result in a feeling of self-worth leading to a disciplined lifestyle. I wanted to create a forum, enabling holistic wellness of women by encouraging them to put themselves on their own list of priorities and making a woman fall in love again, this time with herself.”
The HOW Forum hosts various workshops and seminars. Each workshop is custom made to suit individual corporate requirements. From sessions on yoga at work, wellness, self-awareness and stress management to seminars on corporate grooming and etiquette training, corporate power dressing, and motivational talks and self-development sessions, Dipika curates all kinds of programs for her clients. She also conducts Corporate Diva (an event hosted from time to time by the HOW forum) that celebrates women at work for their strength, substance, and intellect.
Ask her what it has been like to run this forum, and she says, “If one is determined to do something, analysing how tough it is going to be, might just get you off the starting line. What is important is an honest intent, backed with the perseverance to make it happen, no matter what. Nothing in life worth having comes easy, I constantly shake hands with challenges, but the outcome is rewarding beyond bounds.”
That said, she admits, “There is huge awareness about healthy living, eating, exercise, stress management, etc. The biggest challenge is translating the awareness into action. And that’s where we come in with our innovative concepts to bridge the gap.”
Being her own boss is great but she feels, “The strong intent of making a qualitative difference, changing perceptions, enabling self-love and self-acceptance in others, building an army of women supporting each other, and channelising them towards health and wellness, are immensely satisfying and encouraging factors to keep doing more. What I love most of the work I do is building a community through human bonding in a lonely mechanised world, resulting in happier, healthier self, translating in a happier, healthier society.”
Looking ahead, Dipika informs, “The HOW Forum and Corporate Diva are on the threshold of expansion. There are a few interesting projects that my team and I are developing, so 2018 looks rather promising at the moment.”
(This column profiles those who choose to veer off the beaten track)
