Palki Sharma

Host: Well, our next guest, ladies and gentlemen, is a well-known award-winning journalist and was previously managing editor of WION news channel and hosted India's only international primetime news show, Gravitas. Our next guest loves a good debate and has interviewed a huge range of political and well-known global industry figures throughout her time. She is now the managing editor of Network 18 Media and has her own show, Vantage with Palki Sharma.

To share the challenges and triumphs that have shaped her career as well as the passion and the purpose of her storytelling, I'm now delighted to welcome on the stage, please give a very warm welcome to Palki Sharma, managing editor of Network 18 Media. How are you? Thank you so much for joining us. This is very exciting you're here.

Yes, please do, take a seat. How does it feel to be, in the, in the other seat, answering the questions this time? Palki Sharma: Well, I will be more sympathetic to my There you go.

I suppose, to say that. Host: Brilliant. Right. I wanted to start off with a tweet that I read online from you and it says, "I hope I live to see the time where the world doesn't need a women's day to recognize the place of women in society, and that empowerment doesn't come from marketing drives, fancy quotes, and cupcakes."

Can you elaborate? I agree, by the way, but please do elaborate for us. Palki Sharma: I will. Let me also first start by thanking Manoj and IGF for having me here and for us to be able to have a conversation like this, and I totally sort of stand by what I wrote, that cupcakes will not bring empowerment.

Definitely. For empowerment, you need, to be acknowledged for what you bring to the table, which women often don't. You need freedom of choice, and freedom to express your opinion. You need financial independence.

You need to be in control of your life. And I think, I think being, rewarded and being appreciated for what you contribute to this world, not just in terms of words, but I think in our world increasingly financially as well, is very important. Host: And that's something we're gonna touch on a bit later on, because I know financial independence for you is a big passion sort of topic.

As a very successful woman in journalism, sort of what challenges have you had along the way as a woman in journalism? Has it been quite an easy road for you? Palki Sharma: I think, I think the challenges for women are near universal, and they are industry agnostic.

Though some. So for journalists, the time that we spend doing our work is, the hours are longer. It's more demanding physically and mentally, and you're, you find yourself in situations which are not always friendly.

So yes, it can seem more daunting from the outside, but I think any woman who manages both home and work, feels those pressures. Having said that, in, newsrooms still are a, are a man's world. I know there are a lot of women presenters, but the people who are, who are making the calls are, more men than women.