#WomenLead turns two! 🎈
A note of gratitude as this newsletter completes another year
Dear readers of #WomenLead,
It’s our birthday today! 🎈🎉🎂
#WomenLead has turned two, just days ahead of its 100th edition! Please excuse me if I can’t keep calm, because frankly, I can’t! :D
#WomenLead started in May 2020, in the middle of a stringent lockdown. I’m sure all of you know what those days were like, so I won’t dwell upon them too much. My diary notes from the time show my initial plan for this newsletter. It was only for twelve weeks - I wasn’t thinking long-term at all - so you’d sense how surreal it feels to be completing two years.
This has been possible only and only because of YOU ALL, the vibrant and generous community of readers who have subscribed to this newsletter in the past 24 months.
So today, as I take a day to pause, reflect and celebrate this milestone, I have only gratitude to offer. Thank you for reading, for sharing this newsletter, for all your shout-outs, for recommending this to others. Thank you for all your notes of suggestions, support, feedback and love that you keep sending across from various corners of the world. I hold all your words very dearly.
A special thank you to all of you who have taken the time out to share your insights for specific editions and pieces I have written. #WomenLead’s work stands on the shoulders of so many giants who have done/are doing some stellar work in this area. I have learnt so much from so many of the newsletter’s stellar readers.
A HUGE thank you to all of you who have chosen to pay for this newsletter as a way of support. Your payments have helped me sustain this - all the money I have received and will receive only goes back into building #WomenLead - whether it is getting the logo designed, or accessing paywalled content, buying books, or to pay interns (in the future).
I hope reading #WomenLead has been a fruitful experience for you - that it has helped you find some inspiration, or helped you learn something new, or strengthened your resolve to make politics more sensitive and representative. I hope I will continue to have your love and support for many more months and years to come.
Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription today, and give #WomenLead a birthday gift. (I promise not to spend it on cake 🙃).
I am an independent writer and researcher, and #WomenLead is a product of love. Your payments ensure that I can run #WomenLead sustainably.
Substack (the tech platform on which #WomenLead runs) only allows me to set up monthly or yearly paid plans, but you can choose a monthly plan if you wish to contribute a small amount (INR 350/less than USD 5). (You can choose this plan for one month/multiple months depending on how much you’d like to pay, and then go back to the unpaid plan).
The annual plan allows you to contribute more (INR 3,500/USD 45 approx.). The Champion plan is open-ended, you can pay any amount you like.
Thank you so very much!
With love and warmth,
Akshi
Also read: Five lessons I’ve learned while tracking women in politics for one year