Ritha Chandrachud, Vice President-India Business, Dr Reddy's Laboratories

A mother of two daughters, Khushboo (18) and Deepa (10), Ritha Chandrachud leads a 2000-strong sales team (of which just 48 are women)…

Gone are the days when women were considered successful only as doctors or in research. Now, women are all set to explore different worlds. However, sales and marketing are still the departments mostly dominated by men. An exception to this rule, Ritha Chandrachud has not just survived, but thrived in this vertical for 22 years. Heading a national business team with a strength of 2000 people is undoubtedly a major achievement, but Chandrachud does it with natural ease.

Standing tough times

There are no free lunches in this world and everyone has his or her share of struggle. After completing her MBA in marketing, Chandrachud joined JB Chemicals (now known as Unique Pharmaceuticals). However, post marriage, career took a second seat for some time. But she did not let tough times effect her determination. She continued to work. "Women need to strike the right balance between professional and married life. It is a big responsibility," she says.

So does all this success come at a cost? No, Chandrachud would rather term it the need of the hour. "There is a right time for everything," she says. "The first eight years of my career were difficult because I was then learning the tricks of the trade. While I got married, I had to attend to my family. That was the need of the hour. I gave birth to a child who was not keeping well and it was my responsibility to attend to her as well. So, I was unable to devote much time to my career in those days," she narrates. But she has no regrets. According to her, if you are determined and have the capability you can always make it. "It is a choice that you have to make," she declares.

Leading a team

Success never comes easily, irrespective of which sex you belong to. You need certain qualities to become a leader and being a man or a woman should not matter, but unfortunately, that is not exactly how it works most of the time.

"At work, they tend to look at you with scepticism because you are a woman. For a woman, it is mandatory to perform. In case of men, people take it for granted that they will perform, but for a woman, demonstration of success is important," says Chandrachud. However, with performance comes respect. "Once I performed and demonstrated success in my job, I garnered respect and as a woman, it is very important," she avers.

But what about leading a team with a majority of men? Are women capable of being leaders? According to Chandrachud, women are very capable of leading teams. "Once you are in a task whether you are a man or a woman does not matter, what rather matters is your performance," she declares firmly.

While the world is male dominated and always ready to suppress women, it becomes even more important for women to stand out in terms of being a woman in a man's world and according to Chandrachud, all it takes is to realise one's own potential. "Women generally underestimate themselves. It is anyways a male dominated world and if women themselves do not realise their potential, they cannot achieve success. What is also important is to support other women in realising their potential and making full use of it," she suggests.

The lady who claims to have never aimed to chase position or success in life, wishes to contribute maximum to society. "Success for woman is not just about being career oriented, but one should do what her heart tells her to do and not stop herself from that," says Chandrachud.

Last but not the least, ask her if she is to live a lifetime as a man…and pat comes the reply, "I would like to build an organisation full of women and would prove to the world that women are capable of anything and everything."