She started as a teacher of young children, moved on to being research fellow on women’s issues and then emerged as an organisation and diversity consultant. Now, she consults to ‘not for profit’ organisations, facilitates long term women’s leadership programs and youth leadership programs for those entering career life. Integrating life enhancing planetary perspectives and working on conscious and unconscious suppression of brilliance to free oneself through mind- body- spirit work forms the central core of her leadership and empowerment work. Her feminist ideologies and passion for women’s work guided her work and personal life.
, professional accreditation in Applied Behavioural Sciences and Personnel management. She continuously updated her experiences and skills under wise teachers in both India and in U.S. She has been co-leading Womens Way in U.S. since 2001.
, women’s organisation working with women from multi cultural backgrounds in India and U.S.After her sabbaticals in 2002, Bhanumathy had redefined her work in the world and in life. The rich experiences of women’s work in Chamundi since 1991,her two decades of organisation consulting work in India had unleashed valuable insights, new ways of thinking and working and new forms of collaborations. Particularly, her consulting work with many Dalit and social organisations in the Border States in north east India has given rich insights and new consciousness. Consequently the realigned work demanded to be named differently based on the new perspectives gained, values and philosophy. The organisation ‘Chamundi’ is transformed from 14th of January, 05 as ‘Mayyam’ – a Tamil word for centre, gathering place, a location for collaboration, the centre of a storm, essence of a matter, and more. By this action, Bhanumathy acknowledges the strongly embedded and programmed inhuman exploitative and violent caste behaviours that have been going on for many centuries in the name of Hindu religion. She decided to leave behind her identification with Hindu Goddess Chamundi. The essence of ‘Mother of all’ lives in her as a guiding force in the law of nature than the law of culture.
Philomena Vincent and resource consultant Alexandra Merrill a five-year (2002 –2006 May) Collaborative Leadership Action Research programme for twenty women from multicultural backgrounds of class, caste, language, region, ethnicity, and religion. It included 5 modules of 35 days of residential experiential learning, reading and writing assignments, action research projects, bridge and half yearly regional review events, etc. The curriculum focussed on building the following eight skills among the participants as per their individual choice:
1. Understanding unconscious dynamics in self, group and systems
2. Understanding and handling emotions in self and groups
3. Understanding and working with boundaries in relationships
4. Working with differences
5. Integrating mind, body and spirit
6. Leadership in life, groups and systems
7. Earth friendly philosophy and living
8. understanding dynamics of Misogyny
The attempt is to build collaboratively an Indian context based model and theory for women’s groups and women’s leadership. Presently the graduates along with the leaders are engaged in publication of book based on the five year work on ‘women’s leadership’ and the group (Avani) continues on its own.
53&54, Cluster 6, Titan Township, Hosur 635110, India
For contact: mayyam@vsnl.net
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