Sushma Gaikwad is an experienced professional in India’s event and media industry, bringing over 30 years of knowledge to her work. As co-founder of Ice Global, an experiential agency, she has played a key role in event management and leadership development. Her commitment to education led her to co-found the Wizcraft Management Institute of Media and Entertainment, where she supports new talent in the field. Sushma also chairs WE CARE, an EEMA initiative promoting equal opportunities in the event sector, and serves on the Media and Entertainment Skills Council of India. Her focus on inclusivity, skill development, and growth reflects her practical approach to strengthening the industry.
In an interview with EVENTFAQS Media, Sushma Gaikwad highlighted the visibility gap for women in the event industry, urging women to step forward and inspire future leaders. She emphasized mutual support through mentorship and genuine recognition over tokenism. Sushma also discussed the importance of a safe, inclusive workplace and suggested leadership training in skills like strategic thinking, branding, and public speaking to help women stay relevant and adaptable.
Do you think women entrepreneurs have got the desired visibility in the industry? If not why?
The Event Industry in India has a significant number of women in both leadership positions and entrepreneur roles. While there are many successful female entrepreneurs who serve as role models, I see a substantial gap in the representation of the woman gender in many forums which include industry events where panel discussions, award presenters and speakers are predominantly of other genders. This could be possibly because most entrepreneurs (not only women) are focussed on driving their enterprise – industry initiatives may not be on the list of priorities.
Nevertheless, women entrepreneurs play a pivotal role in ensuring that the industry is perceived as gender equitable. There is a strong and urgent need for women entrepreneurs and leaders to step up into the spot light. This is extremely important because equitable visibility of all genders and abilities will inspire the future generation of talent. And yes, of course, there are a few women entrepreneurs who have taken the initiative to become the voice of influence in the industry, and yet, my perspective is that there is room for many more.
How can we as women support each other?
Over this past year, I have been coaching several Women entrepreneurs and leaders across Industries in various aspects which include Leadership Mindset and skills. One of the top grievances that I needed to address was that most of the women felt unsupported by other women in their organisations and industry. In the event industry, we require to be mindful of how we can enable another by creating opportunities to mentor younger professionals, network and collaborate to share skills, leverage strengths and expand reach, support initiatives that promote gender equality, Advocacy of policies that benefit women in business and create a strong collective voice by celebrating and promoting each other’s success.
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What is required for us to do to increase visibility of women leaders?
I personally feel that we should discourage tokenism when it comes to profiling and acknowledging women leadership. I have been on the receiving end of this tokenism, even though I have been an integral part of the event industry for over 3 decades.
There are various steps that could be taken to increase visibility of women leaders and promoting gender equality. These include supporting women-focussed initiatives, promoting representation of women in industry initiatives, highlighting contributions in media and industry publications, implementing diverse policies, highlight success stories, Collect and disseminate data on the impact of women leaders in various fields to underscore their importance and contributions.
What steps do we need to take to create a safe work environment?
It is important for all organisations to understand the importance of creating a safe work environment especially in today’s time and age. Various steps include (a) Setting up a POSH committee and establishing clear policies regarding safety, harassment and discrimination (b) Training and awareness of safety protocols (c) Creating a culture of mutual respect and open communication (d) Implementing safety protocols for all employees which include emergency procedures, mental health resources (e) Regular assessments and audits (f) Promote diversity and inclusion efforts to ensure all employees feel valued and respected (g)Setting up a system of accountability.
As a leader, what are the biggest challenges to create a diverse and equitable work place?
As a leader, creating a diverse and equitable workplace can present several challenges which need to be addressed. The first one is enabling the team to overcome Unconscious Bias which in turn affect various aspects of an organisation such as hiring, promotions, communication, daily interactions and decision making at all levels. Another challenge is addressing resistance to change as implementing diversity and equity initiatives often face a pushback from employees and leadership who are sceptical of its importance. Here effective communication and sustaining momentum play a key role to shift organisational culture to create an authentic diverse and equitable work place.
What specific traits do you think women in leadership must cultivate to stay ahead and relevant?
Leadership is a role which is distinctly gender neutral. Women leaders should realise and embrace this fact. It is important to view oneself as a professional first and a gender later. Nevertheless, women leaders need to understand that they are blazing a pathway for generations to follow, and this needs to be taken seriously. The key traits that any leader must harness are (a) Cultivating Empathy and fostering strong relationships (b) Cultivating self-confidence to assert Ideas and decisions (c) Strategic Thinking, Agility & Resilience (d) Cultivating the ability to create and communicate a compelling vision to inspire and motivate the team to work towards shared goals (e) Committing to lifelong learning and professional development (f) Authenticity especially because being true to oneself and embracing individual values fosters trust and credibility
What type of workshops do you think we require to skill up as women leaders?
I have been deeply entrenched in the field of Learning & Development for fifteen years. As a leadership coach, I have worked with a varied set of senior leadership to enable them to meet their full potential as they navigate their enterprise and career. In fact, as a Leadership coach, I cover various aspect which I think are important for women leaders which include Mindset, Skills and Personal branding. I think women leaders require to attend workshops or get coached on various facets like develop the required leadership mindset, adopting agile leadership styles, heighten decision making abilities and learn to optimise strategic thinking skills. Key skills of impactful communication, media handling, public speaking & story telling are also extremely critical. Also, personal branding, networking and increasing leadership presence beyond the industry are important.
