Women of Slang

On this International Women’s Day, we honour women of Slang who work behind the shadows and keep everyone going.

Startup… clients, code, bugs, funding, goto market, scaling up… With so much going on, every day is another firefight, another battle to be won. In these ups and downs, we often forget those who work behind the front line and keep supporting us. We take this International Women’s Day to honour these women and give them an ode.

Vanilla didi getting a small gift from Kumar. Ved and Nissim in the background.

Vanilla didi is as sweet as her name. She comes daily, be it a meetup on a Saturday or Holi on Monday. If the office is open, she will come and clean it. It’s because of her that we never have to worry about our cups or tables being dirty. She is a ninja.

Manju(named changed for privacy) getting a small gift from Satish. Kumar photobombing the picture.

If Slang is an aeroplane, Manju is its, chief air hostess. She keeps our pantry stocked, and our wallets full. She makes sure we get our reimbursements and our salaries on time. She is always there to help us with the smallest of the issues. (Most recently putting the fear of God in an MNC support personnel, to get sanitizers delivered to our offices :-P). I am yet to see a day, where she doesn’t have a smile on her face. Her smile is contagious. Yup, from Ninjas to warriors, we have them all.

Omana and her little one getting a gift from Giri. Glad no one is photobombing this picture.

Our team member’s spouses

Perhaps some of the most underappreciated and uncovered aspects of startup life are family members. Especially contributions of spouses of the team members. Our team members decided to write a couple of lines highlighting their contribution.

Kumar writes:

Inspite of your busy schedules as an surgeon, you take an active interest in what we are doing at Slang. You are my sounding board and our ardent tester and trustworthy critic. You not only helped us physically in setting up the office help but also emotionally.Saying thanks to each other is not our style, but today is an opportunity for me to do it and I want to grab it. Happy women’s day


Phani writes:

Dee, can’t thank you enough for putting up with this startup obsessive PIA person who still believes in making fool of himself by thinking ‘corporate life is dumb. This roller-coaster journey has taken a toll on you emotionally, professionally and financially. Despite all these, you’ve been a great sounding board and my best up for the pending roses’ and ‘date nights’ count, the least I can do today is to thank you for everything and wish you a very happy women’s day! cheer-leader throughout. While I hope to make


Satish writes:

Sandhya, I am at a loss of words when it comes to telling how I feel about you. You are my pillar of support:
मुखर नहीं है वाणी पर सब मौन तुम्हारा कहता है
अधरों पर आधी स्मित का अभिमानी अधिकार लिये
अभी जगत से जूझ रहा हूँ आशाओं का भार लिये
साँझ ढ़ले मधुबन आऊँगा सपनों का संसार लिये
And Arushi and Barkha, you lit up the place whenever you come to the office. Everyone here enjoys your drawings on the whiteboards. Looking forward to having you in the office next week during your spring break :-D

Giridhar writes:

Shilpa, everybody knows starting up is hard — but doing it twice in a span of five years, while relocating across continents, with an infant in tow, would’ve been impossible without your unconditional support and participation (You even came up with the names of both startups :))
For everything that you do for us every single day, I want to take this opportunity to say thank you and a very happy women’s day.

Thank you for being you and being wonderful, Women of Slang Labs. We won't be what we are, without all of you silently and consistently supporting us. Our goal of #LetsGetBharatTalking is not possible without them.