30 women who have impacted Swati Bhattacharya’s life

Being a single parent who raised a daughter on her own, my mother is the greatest source of inspiration for me. However, apart from her, there are 29 women who I feel have had an impact on my life at different points in time. 

Ananya & Noyona: My daughters. Their guilt-free thick love has given a smooth flight to my career. 

Deepa Raghavan: My teacher who got me to write for a school magazine. When a teacher asks you to write, you feel visible. 

Zakia Pathak: My professor in Miranda House college gave me the courage to speak up. 

Madhu Rao: One of my early bosses in JWT (now VML) who loved me enough to share her food as well as credit with me.

Bindu Sethi: The woman who taught me how to love my consumers even when they are saying the most boring words in the research room.

Sucheta Govil: My incredible GSK client who gave me the reins of Horlicks. 

Vibha Rishi: She was my Professor Higgins. She made my writing sexy. I had my first drink with her in Leopold Cafe. A marketing head taking a copy trainee out, I think that's where I lost fear of my clients.

Sumeli Chatterjee: There was one woman who pushed me to go bigger, bolder and more ballsy.

Nomita & Srila Chatterjee: Nomita was the Anna Wintour of my ad films and Srila was a producer who could make you stammer if she arched her eyebrows at you. 

Nisha Susan: Sometimes we ad writers get scared to have a voice without a brand. She forced me to write a blog post, and when it became viral, I knew that brands also need me like I need them.

Susan Credle: This woman co-wrote the most glorious chapter of my career. She saw me when my hand was empty of metals and yet she gave me the big CCO shoes that no network agency had given to a woman before in India.

Nicole Purcell: The first award show that I judged was Clio in Tenerife in 2016. Nicole and her team put me at ease. 

Lisa Berlin: I don't know how this sisterhood blossomed by getting to be the 'see it be it' ambassador. It was one of the biggest highs of my career.

Vita Harris: She is my human filter of right and wrong. Before her, I didn't know that sometimes big wrongs lurk into right corridors and big rights lurk into dark corners.

Madonna Badger: On my low days, I find it easy to reach out to her and say - ok hold my hand and help me untangle the feelings.

Liz Taylor and Nancy Crimi Lamanna: I haven't seen anybody look harder or gentler than these two. When they were in the FCB judging rooms, I saw everything better with their gaze. 

Guneet Monga: My Oscar-winning girl with the biggest heart. She inspires me with everything she does. The two of us made a short film featuring Sayani Gupta where the crew was all-women.

Tea Uglow: All my conversations with her went into the making of 'the mirror' for UNAIDS and then Unbox Me.

Debarpita Banerjee: She made my writing better and sometimes made me better.

Anuja Chauhan: Anuja left advertising when she was ruling the industry to be the best-selling novelist. To be able to walk away when everybody wants you, is something I learned from her.

Paromita Vohra: My friend from college who has made #borematkaryaar her famous tagline. So, every time I shared a written piece with her, it was like showing it to the strictest school teacher.

Vidya Balan: Did her first ad with me when she was a student and then Parineeta happened. She believes in sisterhood. 

Zoya Akhtar and Barkha Dutt: Without their support, Unbox Me wouldn't have been this big,

Sumita Kaul: My one-woman PR army. I wouldn't have known about the power of unpaid PR without her. 

Vishakha Khattri: My 'make it happen' manager. No one has fought for my ideas than this lady.

Anusheela Saha & Kizie Basu: My FCB sisterhood. In the last few years, every piece of writing that I have done has benefitted from their gaze.

Sonia Bhatnagar: My oldest friend in advertising and newest crime writer. Sonia's poetry writing and daily conversations have kept me sane this year.