IEEE WiE Education Society (EdSoc) Kerala Chapter organized the Fireside Chat with IEEE EdSoc Women Professionals on 8th March 2022 from 7.00 PM to 8.10 PM IST as a part of the International Women’s Day Celebrations. Prof. Gayathri M (Asst. Professor Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham) and Dr. Bindu G. R (Professor, College of Engineering Trivandrum), the WiE coordinators of EdSoc Kerala Chapter were the guests of honor. The women members of IEEE EdSoc KC SLT ’22 and student ambassadors were the participants in the Chat.

The session was intended to mark the solidarity on International women’s day through an inspiring chat session with two experienced women engineers and the student volunteers. The event began with a pleasant welcome by the host of the meeting- Ms.Adithya P Rajeev, WIE Coordinator SLT. She gave a general introduction to the guests and then welcomed the guests and all the delegates into the session.

Following that Ms.Adithya initiated and put forward the first question. In response to that, Prof. Gayathri M and Dr. Bindu G. R. came forward and expressed their opinions from their life experiences. Prof.Gayathri shared her experiences in the industry and her change of track to academia later, while Dr. Bindu spoke about her substantial experiences as a faculty. It was both insightful and inspiring.

The open discussion continued with the active participation of the student team and the ambassadors. There were several questions about the various aspects of career and life being a woman engineer. The guests answered all the questions put forward by the student volunteers. Along with the student team, Mr. Abhinav Rajeev, from the IEEE EdSoc YP team also came forward and shared his question to which the guests responded happily and also gave suggestions for him to improve in his work-life. Alna Maria Ben, Akshara Manoj, Anusree Ajin, Veena R, Diya Anna Thomas, Aleena K, and a few other volunteers from the ambassador team also contributed to the chat session.

The session lasted about an hour and both of the guests conversed straight from their hearts. It was an extraordinary experience for the student team as well to get acquainted with two distinguished women engineers and acquire their valuable advice.

Following the chat session, in solidarity with International Women’s Day, all the participants came forward and took the oath recited by Ms.Adithya. Towards the end of the meet, all members turned on the camera for the virtual photograph, striking a pose demonstrating a ‘break the bias’ message. Ms.Adithya thanked Prof. Gayathri M and Dr. Bindu G. R for their contribution and for wonderfully engaging in the session. In addition to that, she expressed her gratitude to all the attendees for their active participation.

The very first chat session of the Fireside chat series of IEEE EdSoc Kerala Chapter thus came to an end with that thanking note.