We were fortunate to welcome Rita Kakati-Shah, a KCL alumna.  Rita is the CEO and founder of Uma where she with her team aim to empower women to re-enter the workforce through networking events, workshops and Umaship placements. Before that, Rita graduated from King's Business School and pursued a career in finance, at Goldman Sachs, and in the pharmaceutical industry.

 

The team of King’s Junior Consulting received an incredible insight into Rita’s work, from her 10-year journey at Goldman Sachs to becoming an award-winning career strategist. She raised interesting points for diversity and inclusion and the importance of balancing personal and professional lives.

 

We would like to emphasize what we thought was one of the most interesting point that Rita raised, about embracing diversity: “If you have people from different countries and you are not hiring them, you are not hearing from different points… Different countries are different markets, if you cannot understand their markets, you cannot serve them ultimately”. Creating valuable relationships is essential and it does require everyone to go out of their comfort zone.

 

The meeting ended with an inspirational Q&A session. Reflecting on her journey with UMA, Rita emphasised the need for empowerment in helping and guiding women through the process of gaining back their self-esteem and re-entering the workforce. The King’s Junior Consulting team is impressed and honoured to have hosted Rita and benefitted from an honest and unique conversation.

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We would like to share the personal insights and key takeaways from our team members: 

 

Thibault: "I really enjoyed listening and interacting with Rita. She really welcomed us to break into her past professional and personal experiences. Really inspirational, Rita has taken the time to answer all of our questions with honesty and clarity. I was very impacted by her vision of adaptability at work, she reminded us of the importance to  «read a room» when interacting with an audience and I think she really did this perfectly."

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Hamza: “Rita was an inspirational persona, who helped me challenge my deep-rooted beliefs. She raised interesting supporting points for diversity & inclusion, whilst simultaneously discussing practical concerns with the approach. It was an honest & unique conversation. My main takeaway was the way she subtly convinced the whole room to her point of view”.

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Pearl: "I think the cause that she’s taken up is really relevant because I have witnessed it first hand on how women tend to give away everything to become mothers. They forget to take care of themselves, their personal needs and goals take a backseat, and as a result they lose the confidence required be in the work place. They need a source of empowerment in these times, someone who guides them through the process and helps them regain their self-esteem. This is exactly what Rita is doing. I believe her own work-life balance and confidence is inspirational for all!"

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We would like to express our sincerest thanks to Rita for her insightful and inspiring talk. Most importantly, as Rita said: “Don’t be scared of challenges, embrace them”.

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Written by Gia Linh Diep