Emerging Leaders : Sai Pratiksha Balaji
Safecity is celebrating the journey of people who have emerged as leaders as our campaigns progressed in their communities through our blog series “Safecity Emerging Leaders“. Read the inspiring stories of these individuals who are passionate about making their neighbourhoods safer with Safecity and have taken action in their own special ways.
Pratiksha Balaji is Sociology student from Kamala Nehru College who always stands up for a good cause. According to her, gender stereotypes and expectations should give way to gender equality.
Safecity Emerging Leader : Sai Pratiksha Balaji
I am Sai Pratiksha and I am a final year student of Sociology. I took up this course as it studies different aspects of society which would help me in working towards a good cause. I believe in equality irrespective of gender or religion. I am strong supporter of the LGBTQ community and feel that people should have the right to be who they want to be and should not be confined to the societal norms of what is right. Stereotypes should not control your life.
When I got to know about Safecity from my friend who was already interning with them, I felt that it would be a great opportunity for me to become a part of it. I felt that it would help me develop as a person. At the same time I knew I would be working for something that I strongly believe in.
When I first joined Safecity I had to collect data of those people who were victims of harassment. It was disheartening to see huge numbers of people, even your close ones, who have been sexually harassed and didn’t had the courage to tell anyone. But Safecity provided them an opportunity to report what they went through which actually helped more people to talk about it openly.
I even had an opportunity to curate their Twitter handle @pinthecreep for a week and participate in weekly tweetchats. It really helped me in broadening my perspective on issues and these interactive sessions helped me in developing my views and accept others points of view too. Currently, I am handling interns and guiding them how to go about social media sites which actually helped me develop leadership skills.
From collecting data as a Survey Collection intern to being part of Safecity’s Social Media team to being in charge of their Twitter handle as a Communications intern to finally taking charge and guiding interns as a Senior Social Media intern, it has been a great and knowledgeable journey.
This has helped me grow personally as well as given me the satisfaction that I am doing something good. It had been a wonderful experience to be part of this organisation and surely helped me a lot. I know for sure this experience with Safecity will help me greatly in future and I am looking forward to working with them again.
