{"id":10257,"date":"2018-03-14T09:45:33","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T09:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fortude1.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/diversity-inclusion-forum-empowers-aspiring-women-it-professionals-at-fortude\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T05:50:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T04:50:42","slug":"diversity-inclusion-forum-empowers-aspiring-women-it-professionals-at-fortude","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/fortude.co\/blog\/diversity-inclusion-forum-empowers-aspiring-women-it-professionals-at-fortude\/","title":{"rendered":"Fortude D&I Forum Empowers Women in It"},"content":{"rendered":"
What happened?<\/h6>\n

Last week was International Women\u2019s Week 2018! In the spirit of gender equality, Fortude teamed up with the Association of Human Resource Professionals and Diversity Collective to host the \u201cDiversity & Inclusion\u201d (D&I) forum. We had a full crowd with folks represented from diverse industries and professional tiers, all eager to discover how they could make a difference with D&I.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s so important about D&I?<\/h6>\n

When an organization commits to diversity and inclusion practices in the workplace, it\u2019s doing more than just the right thing. It\u2019s also doing the smart thing, as talent and employee ROI can result in big returns from a business standpoint. So, everybody wins!<\/p>\n

Take us through the event!<\/h6>\n

Carmen Niethammer, Program Manager of Sri Lanka\u2019s Women in Work Program, gave the keynote speech on the importance of D&I. She talked about the lack of talented women in the workplace, and offered excellent tips on how to attract and retain a diverse workforce.<\/p>\n

Fortude\u2019s CEO Arjuna Sirinanda spoke about his passion in recruiting and retaining a talented, diverse team. His life experiences have inspired him to think big beyond borders, and this plays into his inclusive management philosophy.<\/p>\n

Chinthi Weerasinghe, President of Diversity Collective, talked about why women leave the workplace and provided insightful ways of bridging gender division. As she spearheads Diversity Collective, she is fully committed to driving necessary change across the board.<\/p>\n

Following these thoughtful talks was a panel discussion moderated by Kavitha Gunasekara, Group Manager \u2013 Learning & Development at WNS Global Services. The panel fielded great questions about some of the biggest challenges in D&I initiatives, and obstacles that women encounter, such as the need to be \u201cperfect\u201d or \u201cwonder women\u201d in order for D&I to be \u201csuccessful\u201d.<\/p>\n

In addition, the panel asserted that it was critical that male professionals and other well-represented demographics do their part to support D&I initiatives, since this benefits everyone.<\/p>\n

Sounds awesome!<\/h6>\n

It is! And as a company, Fortude is passionate about implementing the values of diversity and inclusion promoted by the forum within our own corporate culture.<\/p>\n

Our CEO, Arjuna Sirinanda, believes that talent manifests across age, ethnicity, religion, and gender, and he emphasized his commitment to ensuring equal representation at Fortude. For example, since 2012, Fortude has made tremendous strides in increasing the number of talented women professionals within our teams \u2013 an incredible feat in the IT space. But we\u2019re not stopping there. Arjuna declared that Fortude will aim to reach a 40\/60 gender distribution by 2020. That is a Diversity and inclusion WIN!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/h6>\n

If you\u2019re interested in working with a diverse, international team of talented folks, we want to hear from you!<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to find out more about our current openings.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14384,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":""},"industry":[],"service":[55],"class_list":["post-10257","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"blog_render_type":"legacy_acf","sections":[{"section_title":"What happened?","section_content":"

Last week was International Women\u2019s Week 2018! In the spirit of gender equality, Fortude teamed up with the Association of Human Resource Professionals and Diversity Collective to host the \u201cDiversity & Inclusion\u201d (D&I) forum. We had a full crowd with folks represented from diverse industries and professional tiers, all eager to discover how they could make a difference with D&I.<\/p>","section_image":"","table_rows":null,"pro-tip":""},{"section_title":"What\u2019s so important about D&I?","section_content":"

When an organization commits to diversity and inclusion practices in the workplace, it\u2019s doing more than just the right thing. It\u2019s also doing the smart thing, as talent and employee ROI can result in big returns from a business standpoint. So, everybody wins!<\/p>","section_image":"","table_rows":null,"pro-tip":""},{"section_title":"Take us through the event!","section_content":"

Carmen Niethammer, Program Manager of Sri Lanka\u2019s Women in Work Program, gave the keynote speech on the importance of D&I. She talked about the lack of talented women in the workplace, and offered excellent tips on how to attract and retain a diverse workforce.<\/p>

Fortude\u2019s CEO Arjuna Sirinanda spoke about his passion in recruiting and retaining a talented, diverse team. His life experiences have inspired him to think big beyond borders, and this plays into his inclusive management philosophy.<\/p>

Chinthi Weerasinghe, President of Diversity Collective, talked about why women leave the workplace and provided insightful ways of bridging gender division. As she spearheads Diversity Collective, she is fully committed to driving necessary change across the board.<\/p>

Following these thoughtful talks was a panel discussion moderated by Kavitha Gunasekara, Group Manager \u2013 Learning & Development at WNS Global Services. The panel fielded great questions about some of the biggest challenges in D&I initiatives, and obstacles that women encounter, such as the need to be \u201cperfect\u201d or \u201cwonder women\u201d in order for D&I to be \u201csuccessful\u201d.<\/p>

In addition, the panel asserted that it was critical that male professionals and other well-represented demographics do their part to support D&I initiatives, since this benefits everyone.<\/p>","section_image":"","table_rows":null,"pro-tip":""},{"section_title":"Sounds awesome!","section_content":"

It is! And as a company, Fortude is passionate about implementing the values of diversity and inclusion promoted by the forum within our own corporate culture.<\/p>

Our CEO, Arjuna Sirinanda, believes that talent manifests across age, ethnicity, religion, and gender, and he emphasized his commitment to ensuring equal representation at Fortude. For example, since 2012, Fortude has made tremendous strides in increasing the number of talented women professionals within our teams \u2013 an incredible feat in the IT space. But we\u2019re not stopping there. Arjuna declared that Fortude will aim to reach a 40\/60 gender distribution by 2020. That is a Diversity and inclusion WIN!<\/p>","section_image":"","table_rows":null,"pro-tip":""}],"bottom_sections":[{"section_title":"What\u2019s next?","section_content":"

If you\u2019re interested in working with a diverse, international team of talented folks, we want to hear from you!<\/p>

Click here<\/a> to find out more about our current openings.<\/p>

Let\u2019s talk soon!<\/p>","section_image":"","table_rows":null,"faq":null,"pro-tip":""}]},"yoast_head":"\nFortude D&I Forum Empowers Women in It | Fortude<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fortude's 'Diversity & Inclusion' forum during International Women\u2019s Week fosters empowerment and diversity in the workplace.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fortude.co\/blog\/diversity-inclusion-forum-empowers-aspiring-women-it-professionals-at-fortude\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fortude D&I Forum Empowers Women in It\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fortude's 'Diversity & Inclusion' forum during International Women\u2019s Week fosters empowerment and diversity in the workplace.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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