As a company that firmly values diversity and inclusion, Teleperformance is one with the world to have celebrated International Women’s Day. TP Women has been instrumental in supporting women to progress in their careers and empowering them both in and out of the workplace. Today, we feature one of TP Women’s many faces: Rupa Ramamurthy, Teleperformance’s Executive Vice President for Banking Operations.
Rupa has been working professionally for 33 years, and has been working with Teleperformance for the last 11 years. For Rupa, the journey towards growth didn’t come without challenges, especially during a time when diversity in the workplace was scarce. “I think I’m envious today when I look at the efforts made to get a more diverse population to help the cause of diversity because when I started off, this certainly wasn’t anything like that,” notes Rupa. “For the first 15 years of my life, I struggled with being able to cope not just at home and work, but just unshackling some of the barriers we women tend to put on ourselves. I think, more often than not—we try and tell ourselves we’re not fit enough for something that you’re actually may be good at, and you never know until you try that out,” she states.
“Maybe You Just Can”
Throughout it all, Rupa’s perseverance allowed her to gain confidence. “It took a lot of talking to myself— and a lot of proving to yourself—and our successes came by. I think confidence rode on it. And then you begin to think ‘maybe you just can,’ and that’s how my journey of growth has been,” Rupa shares.
Intensity and Devotion
“I think a woman’s contribution is very intense,” says Rupa, “and what she does at home is so intense. She loves intensely, and she does anything and everything for her family and she treats her workplace as an extension of that and the vocation that she chooses becomes an extension of that. So what you see is complete intensity and devotion, and she doesn’t rest until she gives it her best shot.”
The Power of Diversity
Today, the world is seeing progress towards making diversity and inclusion present in every workplace. Though slow, we are getting there. Rupa believes in the power of diversity and empowering women, and shares why every company should practice it. “I think having a diverse population helps the cause of every company today, because not only are you going to have a lot of section of the population and especially senior leadership—since the work is an extension of a woman’s home, in a way she does something that comes absolutely natural to work, and you don’t want the company to be deprived of that kind of population,” she explains.
Working at Teleperformance has been the most memorable journey in Rupa’s working career. “My daughter was exactly 1, you know, when I started working so to say. And today, I have a grandson who’s about 4 years, so it certainly seems like a long time. But with Teleperformance—it only seems like yesterday,” Rupa shares. “And for all my fear of travel, I pretty much live out of my suitcase. I have to travel to different parts of the globe and talk about and evangelize Teleperformance’s banking services, which I absolutely love.”
Other impacful stories