08 March 2016: WeAreTheCity India, celebrated International Women’s Day and their 2nd Birthday by announcing their Rising Star Awards India Top 50 to celebrate and recognise the female talent in India.
Since 2014, WeAreTheCity India has helped thousands of women enhance their careers and businesses through dedicated events, networking groups and its own platform WeAreTheCity.in. Now in its third year, WeAreTheCity India is more committed than ever to highlighting the achievements of the female talent pipeline across the country. In 2015, WeAreTheCity set a strategic objective of promoting the achievements and supporting the careers of 500 women over the next five years, both in the UK and India. Through WeAreTheCity’s Rising Star awards, and with the support of a number of key organisations, WeAreTheCity plans to add to the list of 150 UK winners by recognising the efforts of an additional 50 women in India.
By highlighting the accolades of inspirational female talent, WeAreTheCity hopes to encourage organisations and business leaders to invest in and recognise women as leaders of tomorrow and individual contributors within their respective industries.
The Rising Star awards are the first to focus on India’s female talent pipeline below management level.
WeAreTheCity will use its extensive reach across India to find 50 high-achieving women across 10 key industries and professions.
Vanessa Vallely, Founder and CEO of WeAreTheCity, said: “I am so excited to bring our Rising Star awards to India. Over the past three years I have had the pleasure of watching WeAreTheCity India grow under the direction and guise of local women. Through our events and site interactions I have met some amazing and truly talented women. I sincerely hope that by raising the profile of our members and other women across India that we are able to highlight just how important the female pipeline is to Indian businesses and the Indian economy as a whole.”
Jo Gaglani, Chair of WeAreTheCity India said: “WeAreTheCity India has come a long way since its launch in 2013. We have had some unique events for our members supported by our sponsors and have grown organically. The Rising Star awards is a natural next step for WeAreTheCity India to highlight and celebrate upcoming female talent across India.
Recognising that careers for women may follow different timescales, the Top 50 India Rising Star awards will not have any age restrictions included within the criteria. WeAreTheCity feels it has a responsibility to ensure that female talent, regardless of age and background, receives the necessary support and skills to transition into key decision-making roles within our organisations.
“The need for more women in senior leadership roles is widely recognised. At Barclays, we want to go further – we believe in cultivating a pipeline of female talent across all levels of the organisation, from the executive assistant right through to the boardroom. These awards recognise the considerable achievements of talented women and our sponsorship reflects our commitment to support the women that come through our ranks to stay until leadership.” – Mark McLane, Managing Director, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Barclays PLC.
The WeAreTheCity awards, sponsored by Barclays, will be officially launched on 01 August 2016. Our supporting partners and sponsors will be announced in May.
The nominations process will open on 01 August for all 10 categories. Nominations will take place online via the WeAreTheCity.IN website. A shortlist of 10 women from each industry category will be chosen in September by an esteemed panel of judges. The shortlist will then be open to a public vote.
Final judging will take place throughout October when our judges will choose the final five winners from each of the 10 categories. The results of the public vote will also be factored into the final scores. The top 50 rising stars will be announced in early November and all winners, sponsors and supporters will be invited to attend a prestigious evening reception towards the end of November to celebrate and collect their awards.
Categories, likely to be:
- Banking
- Consulting
- Insurance
- Technology
- Hospitality
- Arts & Culture
- Health & Wellbeing
- Retail
- Others TBC
We will also have a category for Rising Star Champions. This category will support the efforts of senior male or female leaders who are actively supporting gender either within or outside their organisations.
Criteria for entries
- Open to all women regardless of age
- Nominees must be below senior/middle management
- Nominees must be working within the industry of the category they are nominated for
- Nominees must be working in India and be an Indian national
- Individuals can nominate themselves
How we define a rising star
- Someone who is a champion of women in their business or sector
- Someone who strives to achieve success and results
- Someone who gives back or inspires others
- Someone who is recognised by others as having the potential to become a future leader in their industry
The Process
- 01 Aug: Nominations open for all categories
- 31 Aug: Nominations close for all categories
- 26 Sep: Top 10 shortlist from each category announced/public voting opens for all shortlisted nominees
- 14 Oct: Public voting closes for all shortlisted nominees
- Mid Oct TBC: Shortlist celebration event
- 08 Nov: Top 50 Rising Stars for each category announced
- Nov TBC: Top 50 Rising Star reception and awards ceremony for winners, guests and sponsors
For more detail or if you are interested in sponsoring/partnering on the awards, please email
Phone: +919820758099
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