#56: Anisha Singh on Taking a Leap for Her Daughters… and Women Everywhere

THE IDEALISTS.

In this episode of THE IDEALISTS. podcast, host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa interviews Anisha Singh, entrepreneur, former CEO of Mydala.com, and Founding Partner of She Capital, India’s leading early-stage venture fund devoted to nurturing and growing the next generation of female-focused businesses.

Anisha’s own journey as an entrepreneur has been full of breaking stereotypes, glass ceilings, and shifting traditional perceptions. Now as she dons a new role of investor, she is on a mission to cultivate female unicorns and role models that resonate with younger women aspirants.

A role model herself, Anisha was ranked amongst the Top 7 Global Women CEOs by Crunchbase in 2018. Prior to Mydala.com, she founded and ran a digital content company called Kinis Software Solutions. Anisha began her career working with the Clinton Administration on an initiative that’s still close to her heart—Springboard helped women entrepreneurs raise funds to start new businesses and lives. Inspired by these women, Anisha knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur back in India. Now recognized as one of The Top 100 Global Diversity Leaders in 2019 and ranked among the 50 Most Influential 2018 in Asia, Anisha is also the President of the jury of the Cartier Women’s Initiative for South Asia.

In this remarkable episode, Anisha shares what it means to bristle at being labeled a “female” founder, and how that notion shifted with the birth of her daughters when she realized there simply weren’t enough women’s voices in the mix, and that real representation needed to start with her—even if it was only one voice. She reflects on what it means to take a big leap, how to persist to get to the breakthrough, and how the startup journey is never quite what you think it’s going to be. She also discusses her journey from founder to investor and potentially back again. More than anything, Anisha’s audacious wish to create an international community of role models that women everywhere can access will leave you asking who your role models are and how can you be a better one?

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- Anisha starts off the episode by talking about how she has always believed in taking the leap—that jumping in the proverbial deep end and having to figure it all out has always served her best because, in the end, there’s never any sure path. She also reflects on how women are so often trained to overthinking things, which can leave you on the sidelines and missing the key moments of your life.

- She shares her journey of growing up in Delhi, being raised by a conservative father who was a struggling entrepreneur, then going to graduate school in the US, and on to work in the Clinton Administration to help women entrepreneurs raise funds to ultimately return to India to become an entrepreneur—as founder and CEO of Mydala.com.

- Anisha then recounts how her discomfort (or annoyance) being thought of as a “female” founder shifted with the advent of her daughters. She also recounts the hardships of raising funding only to lose it in the 11th hour, and also relates her humbl

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