Celebrating HerStory: Converge Women’s Month Activities Roundup

Converge rolled out the red carpet for Women’s Month, hosting a series of events to honor the remarkable achievements, resilience, and contributions of women across the organization. These activities demonstrated the company’s firm commitment to gender equality, empowerment, and inclusivity.

Here are the highlights of the month-long celebration at Converge:

1. Purple Fridays

Every Friday in March, Converge encouraged employees to wear purple as a symbol of solidarity and support for women. By wearing the official color of the International Women’s Day, employees expressed their support for women’s continued fight for a more equitable and inclusive society throughout the month of March.

2. Converge Wonder Woman

In the second week of the month, the HR Department launched the Converge Wonder Woman form to allow employees to honor their female colleagues who they believe are role models in the organization.

One of the entries for Converge Wonder Women is for Jarra Mena and Melanie Abesamis, highlighting their exceptional qualities as supervisors. “They are very reliable and passionate about their field of work. Being a sales superior is very hard but despite the circumstances, we still see them as calm and composed, always giving us encouragement and compliments.They always treat us not just as their subordinates but as a family.”

3. Sexual and Reproductive Health Caravan for Women

Promoting employee well-being, the Converge Wellness Group launched a one-day health caravan where employees, both male and female, can get free access to reproductive health services, including medical consultations, free HIV testing and counseling, cervical and breast cancer screening, and family planning, among others. This was done in collaboration with the Pasig City Health Office.

4. Women Breaking Barriers Webinar

Converge University organized a webinar featuring Angelika Schmeing, a Cloud leader and advocate for women in tech, who led women employees on an insightful discussion about overcoming obstacles, achieving career success, and championing diversity in the tech sphere.

5. GRL PWR Dance Class

A dance class was also held, giving women a platform to unleash their creativity and self-expression through dance. During the class, participants were able to combine dance, character, finesse, and girl power to tap into their inner strength and grace.

6. Women’s Month Fair

Female employees who owned businesses had the chance to showcase their products and offer them to their colleagues during the Women’s Month Fair at Reliance Center in Pasig. The fair provided employees with the opportunity to avail themselves of products and services designed specifically for women, crafted by women themselves.

7. Executive Presence Workshop

Participants of the MentorSHE program were hosted in a bespoke Executive Presence Workshop designed for women in Converge. The workshop immersed several leaders and managers from different departments in a full-day session led by global image consultant and former Binibining Pilipinas Universe candidate, Karen Loren Agustin.

Throughout the workshop, the participants delved into topics such as presentation skills, corporate dressing, basic makeup techniques, and business and formal dining etiquette.

8. MentorSHE Program Commencement

To culminate Women’s Month, Converge President and Co-Founder Maria Grace Uy spearheaded a women’s empowerment talk for Converge senior leaders and managers as they marked the commencement of the first batch of the Grace Under Pressure: MentorSHE Program.

MentorSHE is the company’s women’s leadership program that aims to empower potential women leaders at Converge through the guidance and mentorship of women senior leaders. For the first batch, a total of seven managers were mentored, receiving guidance, support, and advice about their personal and career development.

“For me, mentoring is not just about guiding my mentee; I have also learned a lot. I see this as a two-way process, where us, mentors, also gain a broader perspective of how we do things in the organization,” said Ms. Jay-Anne Encarnado, one of the mentors under the MentorSHE program.

“MentorSHE made the mentors and mentees get to know each other. With my mentor, we got closer and we realized the same interests we have. And it will continue even after the program. That’s very helpful for all of us to have formed a sisterhood within Converge,” said Maria Elena Ramos Lim, mentee of VP and System and Process Improvement Head Ms. Mel Cabase.

“This mentorship program also serves to strengthen our leadership bench through the empowerment of these young women professionals. At present, there’s only one female leader for every two male leaders in the organization. We need to increase this number. Because I firmly believe that greater gender diversity in leadership allows us to come up with the best ideas and decisions,” said President Uy.

Veteran host and mentor for Women in News and Sport for the Asia Pacific region, Ms. Patricia Hizon, also graced the event, delivering a message of empowerment to Converge employees during the luncheon.