SHEconomy Stories

  Dr. Harbeen Arora, SHEconomy Story

What are you most passionate about and what drives you?  

I’m most passionate about working and learning. Goals and dreams may change, but what I have always enjoyed is the learning part and path. That constant opening up of the mind, broadening of horizons, change of perspectives, spiritual expansion and blossoming of the energy - all these are very important to me and drive me as a person. The values imbibed in childhood - hardwork, humility, sincerity, service; have all served me immensely in having a learning mindset.

What have been your personal challenges and how have they defined you?

My greatest challenge has been to understand myself and my purpose of life, and how to implement my highest vibration in my day to day work. Normally, we think that the highest spiritual goals are incompatible with pursuit of business and real life challenges. But my learning has been that it is possible to match both and lead a happy, fulfilling, balanced and successful life. 

How have professional networks empowered you? 

My life has been transformed by ‘Sisterhood.” Through our various platforms for women empowerment viz. ALL Ladies League (ALL), Women Economic Forum (WEF), Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (WICCI), and SHEconomy, we have truly created a solidarity of sisters beyond borders, in mutual support and empowerment. The She-for-She Bond has been integral to our journey of empowerment and blossoming. 

We also have an annual festival every year on Oct 5 to celebrate and honor our empowering bond as sisters called ShaktiBandhan: World Sisterhood Day. In Indian culture, Shakti is the divine feminine : it is both the trinity and infinity. She is the source and force of Nature, Universe and Creation. 

I think this strong aspect of honouring the Divine Feminine within and in other women is a great opportunity for All of us to remember and awaken our own power as women with greater self-belief and strength, and in order to walk in our own purpose and power. Our societies have to awaken to our ancient all-embracing wisdom that comes by embracing our inner divine feminine, and for that we must awaken as women first. When we remember our power, and when we resonate with this inner power, we reflect and radiate it, enabling others to feel it and honor it as well. 

Who are your role models and why? 

I owe much gratitude and learnings to my parents who offered the beautiful example of their own excellence, selfless service, and extending unconditional support to me at all times. 

The teachings of my Guru, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba bear a powerful influence in my life and vision. The highest vision therefore for me and inspired by Indian culture and the teachings of my Guru is to Love All, Serve All: envisioning the world and the Universe as One Big Divine Family, and to realise in every day thoughts and actions that we’re ALL on the same team, and we ALL equal souls on a spiritual journey of awakening and we are all works-in-progress - and thus retain our humility, compassion, non-judgemental vision and strive to help all and serve all with an innate understanding of oneness as sisters and brothers.

I’d just like to add here that in our Indian thought and culture, the spirit of sacrifice and ‘service’ are conceived a bit differently. Service is not viewed as something that we do for another... Hence, it is not to be done in the spirit or attitude of “doing a a favour to someone” (i.e. not as an expression of the ego), but instead with gratitude and humility toward the recipients as by their receiving they have given us the precious opportunity to cleanse our own heart and uplift our own divine essence in this act of service, which can help us in our own soul’s awakening. Service is our sacred duty toward society and also to our Self as our own lasting happiness comes from experiencing this endless seamless oneness with one and ALL.

Personally, these teachings have created an inner revolution for me offering a radical opening up of the mind, expansion of the heart, and upliftment of spirit and energy. It encourages and eggs me on everyday strive for greater equilibrium, peace of mind, purity of heart, clarity of purpose, spirit of faith, attitude of forgiveness, and self-confidence that springs from the awareness of one’s eternity and infinity, and faith in one’s own divine design and purpose. Once the source of the spirit is thus energised, our leadership in any field, including business, is also uplifted and enlightened.

What does Work-Life Balance mean to you ? 

I have a company that makes Ayurvedic products for holistic health and wellness. The creation of the company is a result of my lifelong passion for Ayurveda, an ancient healing system from India that is highly inspired and informed by everything Nature. The creation of the company further fuelled my passion for Ayurveda and made it an even more integral part of my lifestyle. So my Life inspires by Work, and my Work inspires my Life. 

How would you like the community at SHEconomy to help you? 

I would like to learn from fellow women in business and professional fields how we can further improve the platform to be of service to them, and how best we can further expand the reach of our philanthropic endeavours for empowerment to better include and energise communities and women worldwide. 

What would you like to share with the SHEconomy community? 

The purpose of starting SHEconomy was to help women economically empower themselves in a practical way through increased sales, branding and outreach to global markets, without having to invest upfront a lot of money into advertising, promotion etc. SHEconomy also wanted to help women in professions and services to be able reach out to customers and users globally, and we realised that there was no such platform connecting and empowering women for this purpose at such a large scale.

SHEconomy already had a massive community of women worldwide through its partnership with ALL Ladies League (ALL), Women Economic Forum (WEF), Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (WICCI), and so we could do this in a visionary way.

As we all know, empowering women economically is vital to empowering communities and societies and to make sure that women’s decision making is strengthened in all sectors and spheres of society.

I personally also want every woman to feel like a Queen of Her Inner Empire. With SHEconomy, SHE should truly feel, “I can do it!” So, Dear Sisters ! Dream, Do and Dare. You are Not Alone. We are there with You in loving Support and Sisterhood.