Why I Do What I Do: A Women’s Day Reflection on Reinvention, Courage, and Lifting Each Other Up
Every year, Women’s Day reminds us of something powerful. Women do not just live lives. They carry worlds. They carry families, dreams, responsibilities, hopes, and often the quiet weight of starting again. When I look back at my own journey, I realise that everything I do today is shaped by the many times I had to begin again, rebuild myself, and rediscover who I was becoming.
But my story does not begin with reinvention. It begins with my mother. From my earliest years, she taught me something that has stayed with me for life: the ability to access both my masculine and feminine sides with grace. She showed me that strength and softness are not opposites. They are partners. She taught me how to be firm without losing compassion, how to be gentle without losing my voice, and how to stand tall without forgetting to bend when life requires it.
She raised me to understand that womanhood is not a limitation. It is a power source.
And that lesson became the foundation of everything I later became.
As I grew older, my school and college friends added their own colours to this foundation. They were the ones who helped me wear my womanhood with pride. We celebrated each other’s victories, laughed through heartbreaks, studied through sleepless nights, and held each other through moments of doubt.
They taught me that sisterhood is not just a bond. It is a lifeline. They showed me that women shine brightest when they stand together, not when they compete. Those early lessons became my compass when life asked me to reinvent myself again and again.
I moved across multiple Indian states, then to Singapore, and eventually to Australia. Each move meant stepping into the unknown. I still remember sitting in a small apartment in Singapore in 2008 with my two daughters beside me, wondering how to rebuild my career in a place where no one knew me. I had experience, passion, and ambition, but I also had doubts. I questioned whether I still belonged in the professional world. I questioned whether I could keep up. I questioned whether I was enough.
Those moments of uncertainty taught me something important. Reinvention is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of courage. Women reinvent themselves more often than anyone realises. We reinvent ourselves when we move countries. We reinvent ourselves when we become mothers. We reinvent ourselves when we return to work after a break. We reinvent ourselves when life forces us to choose a new direction. And every reinvention requires strength, support, and the willingness to learn again.
Over the years, I met many women who reminded me of myself. Women who had paused their careers for their families. Women who had immigrated and felt invisible in a new country. Women who were brilliant but doubted their own abilities. Women who had dreams but no roadmap. Women who had talent but no confidence. Women who had experience but no opportunities. Their stories touched me deeply because I had lived parts of those stories myself.
I career-coached a woman who had spent her entire career working for others but felt a quiet calling to build something of her own. She was talented, capable, and full of ideas, yet held back by fear and the belief that entrepreneurship was “for other people.” Together, we worked through her doubts, clarified her vision, and built the mindset and structure she needed to step into entrepreneurship. Watching her shift from hesitation to ownership was one of the most powerful transformations I have witnessed. There was also a woman facing the uncertainty of leaving Singapore’s comfort and security to begin a new life in Sydney. She was moving away from stability, familiarity, and her established support network. Her concerns were genuine, but she had no one to guide her through this major change. After hearing about my recent experience with a similar leap, she reached out to me for help navigating her own path. Together, we focused on building her inner resilience so she could face the unknown with confidence.
These stories are not just examples of change. They are reminders of the extraordinary resilience women carry within them. They remind me that reinvention is not about starting over. It is about returning to the parts of ourselves we had forgotten, ignored, or underestimated and choosing to rise again.
And now, as a mother, I find myself passing forward the same lessons that shaped me and my coaching clients.
I teach my daughters to wear their womanhood with pride, just as my mother taught me. I remind them that they can be strong and soft at the same time. That they can lead with courage and still hold space for kindness.
That they can bring their best foot forward no matter what life throws at them. I want them to grow up knowing that their voice matters, their dreams matter, and their identity is something to celebrate, not shrink.
Women’s Day is not just a date on the calendar for me. It is a reminder of every woman who has ever felt unseen, unheard, or underestimated. It is a reminder of every woman who has ever put her dreams on hold because life demanded it. And it is a reminder that it is never too late to return to yourself.
This is why I do what I do.
My promise is simple. I will continue creating spaces where people feel safe to learn, safe to ask questions, and safe to start again. I will continue making upskilling affordable, practical, and human. I will continue reminding women that they are not behind. They are simply one step away from their next breakthrough.
This Women’s Day, I celebrate every woman who has ever reinvented herself. Every woman who has ever chosen courage over comfort. Every woman who has ever dared to dream again. And I celebrate the beautiful truth that when one woman rises, she lifts many others with her.
~ Shakun Narang, Director, BIRD MOIS (www,birdmois.com)
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