🎙️ The Conversations Begin — Introducing Iron Lady Speaks, the official podcast from Iron Lady.
This podcast brings forward the voices of women from the Iron Lady community who are building, leading, and creating impact in the real world. Through honest conversations, they share their journeys, the challenges they navigated, the decisions they made, and the solutions they discovered along the way.
The One Notch Up: A Global CEO's Blueprint for Leadership
Most people wait to feel ready. Simon Newman has spent thirty years watching what separates the ones who move from the ones who wait.
In this episode, Suvarna Hegde sits down with Simon Newman, Co-Founder and Chairman at Iron Lady, who has led billion-dollar organisations including Aviva Singapore, Hong Leong Bank, Barclays and Prudential.
He lays out the blueprint he has used to build businesses across three decades, explains why being a high performer does not qualify you to lead, and shares the piece of advice that changed how he walks into a room. What feels extreme to you is almost never extreme to anyone else. It is just one notch up, and that notch changes everything.
🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tT-LGiF8J3k (https://youtu.be/tT-LGiF8J3k)
4 Aug 2026
The ‘Remote Factory Girl’ – who rules Manufacturing Boardrooms now! | Iron Lady Speaks - Episode 05 ft. Priyanka Singla
Priyanka Singla did not build her leadership from the safety of an office. She built it where business gets tested — on factory floors, in difficult markets and inside rooms where she was often the only woman.
Her journey proves that when women understand the business from the ground up, they do not merely enter boardrooms — they influence what happens inside them.
In this episode of Iron Lady Speaks, Priyanka shares her journey from remote factories and mining sites to manufacturing boardrooms.
With two decades of experience across finance, sales, manufacturing, strategy, factory management and P&L leadership, Priyanka learned to make her voice count and connect her work to measurable business impact.
In this conversation, she reveals:
• How working in remote factories shaped her leadership
• Why diverse roles became her greatest professional strength
• How she made her voice count in male-dominated rooms
• Why professionals must connect their work to business impact
• How she moved a distressed business from red to dark green in 18 months
• How she built the case for a leadership role that did not exist
• Why her mother refused to let her give up her financial independence
• The three practical actions women can take to accelerate their growth
Watch The ‘Remote Factory Girl’ Who Now Rules Boardrooms, featuring Priyanka Singla.
Watch full episode on Youtube:
https://youtu.be/ZwFbODBs6A4 (https://youtu.be/ZwFbODBs6A4)
A powerful conversation for every woman ready to move beyond her designation, think like a business leader and claim a bigger seat at the table.
Iron Lady Speaks brings forward the real journeys of women leaders — the choices they made, the barriers they crossed and the lessons that shaped who they became.
14 Jul 2026
From Invisible to Unstoppable | Inside the Mind of a Global Technology Leader | Iron Lady Speaks - Episode 04 ft. Charu Sharma
In this episode of Iron Lady Speaks, we sit down with Charu Sharma—a global technology leader with close to two decades of experience—who opens up about the one word that sent her down the wrong path for years: “grooming.”
She talks about what it is like to build a career in spaces most people do not fully understand, chase technical depth to fix a problem that was never technical, and discover the truth through a twelve-minute video that finally showed her what she had actually been living through.
In this conversation, she shares:
• How she went from being a “super below-average” student to becoming one of the leading voices in security and privacy
• Why she spent years pursuing certifications and deeper engineering expertise to solve a problem that had nothing to do with skill
• What it took to unlearn years of being told she was not fair enough to be seen
• Why she believes, “You get what you ask for—but you need to ask for it”
• How “The Question Behind the Question” helped her move out of victimhood
• What she wants every woman navigating bias in silence to know before spending another year misreading the feedback
A raw and honest conversation for every woman who has been solving the wrong problem for years without realising it.
Iron Lady Speaks is where women who have already made it come back to show others the way.
28 Apr 2026
"My Work Will Speak for Me" — The Biggest Myth She Broke After 21 Years | Iron Lady Speaks
21 years in quality. Always the head of the department. Always interacting with CEOs. And still believing that her work alone would take care of everything.
In this episode of Iron Lady Speaks, Mohini Hanwate, Global Quality Lead at a top MNC, opens up about the one belief that kept her comfortable and stuck at the same time — "my work will speak for me."
She talks about what it's like leading a function that's always seen as "support." The challenge of doing everything right and still not being noticed. And the moment she realised she'd never once negotiated her salary in 21 years of her career.
In this conversation, she shares: How she went beyond basic quality compliance to driving real business value Why support functions are the first to get cut and how she survived The myth of "my work will speak for me" and what actually speaks Why she says "I get what I negotiate for, not what I deserve" What she wants to do for women in the quality function going forward
A raw, honest conversation for every woman in a support function who's been doing the work but not getting the recognition.
Iron Lady Speaks features real journeys from women leaders in the Iron Lady community.
👉 Explore the 100 Board Members Program: https://iamironlady.com/100-board-members (https://iamironlady.com/100-board-members)
#IronLadySpeaks #Leadership #WomenInLeadership #QualityLeadership #SupportFunction #LeadershipMindset #IronLady #IAmIronLady
30 Mar 2026
From Invisible Legal Head to Global Board Member | Iron Lady Speaks | Episode 2 ft. Lakshmi Nayak
In this episode of Iron Lady Speaks, Lakshmi Nayak — one of India's top ten legal specialists, Senior Director, and board member at a global MNC — shares her extraordinary journey.
She opens up about the reality of leading from roles that rarely get noticed. The behind-the-scenes work that keeps organisations running but never gets the recognition. The moment she asked herself — "Am I really enough to be on a global board?" And what it took to move past that self-doubt.
In this conversation, she talks about: The invisible weight of protecting a company's brand with ethics and integrity What happens when you have the answers but can't influence the room The self-doubt that comes even when you're the most capable person at the table How the right tools and ecosystem changed everything for her
A raw, honest conversation on leadership, influence, and what it really takes to move from being an overhead to being undeniable.
Iron Lady Speaks features real journeys from women leaders in the Iron Lady community.
👉 Want to build enterprise-level leadership capability? Explore the 100 Board Members Program: https://iamironlady.com/100-board-members (https://iamironlady.com/100-board-members)
#IronLadySpeaks #Leadership #WomenLeadership #LegalLeadership #BoardMember #WomenInLaw
16 Mar 2026
The 11×11 Mission: Building a Healthcare Ecosystem | Iron Lady Speaks
In this episode of Iron Lady Speaks, healthcare entrepreneur Pushpalatha shares the vision behind her 11×11 Mission — building 11 healthcare organizations to create a comprehensive healthcare ecosystem.
She reflects on the realities of leadership beyond titles: the weight of decisions, building strong teams, moving out of comfort zones, and continuously creating impact through purpose-driven organisations.
A powerful conversation on leadership, entrepreneurship, and building meaningful impact in healthcare.
Iron Lady Speaks features real journeys from women leaders in the Iron Lady community.
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