From the age of four, Joya Dass knew two things: She wanted to become a TV anchor, and due to growing up in a home plagued with domestic violence, she had to leave. To get through college, she asked for financial help. A Bucknell University alumnus in the Midwest had created a scholarship for aspiring journalists, and all of her letter-writing bore fruit when she successfully became a recipient. She took out loans to finance the rest. “I funded college, graduate school, and every move from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., to Boston to New Jersey to New York to Wyoming and back to New York City to realize my dream.”
For 20 years, Dass has covered the financial markets from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for networks such as Bloomberg, CNN, ABC, CBS and NY1. She fondly remembers her broadcast appearing on the Jumbotron in Times Square and recognizing that she had done it. She had achieved her dream.
Dass credits her success to the support system she built. “In the absence of family,” she explains, “I installed strong men and women as the folks I leaned on as I built my career.” Today, that mission drives her business. She founded LadyDrinks, a professional network for South Asian executive women, in 2012. She took the dynamic of interviewing leaders in business from behind the TV camera to the front of a live audience. “I am creating teaching moments and putting like-minded women in the same room. Now you choose who gets to become part of your support system for success.” With 1,800 members and an outreach of 8,000 women across social media, Dass’ goal is host an event in every major city of the world, so the network of resources grows. The networking platform supports South Asian women between the ages of 35 and 55 who are mid- to senior-level professionals or entrepreneurs. Her out-of-the-box thinking translates to out-of-the-box networking events. For example, this September, she hosted a private tour of the Metropolitan Museum during New York Fashion Week, allowing up to 15 women to explore the evolution of fashion over the years.
Dass left anchoring in November 2018 to pursue LadyDrinks full-time.
“Be direct. When you reach out to someone for advice, be it a mentor or a sponsor who is going to make important introductions, be very specific in terms of your ask. State two times you’re available. Have a clear sense of what you plan to do with their time.”
Dass advices women looking to build and develop their own careers?
Dass also believes that women should focus on nurturing their professional relationships along the way. “Don’t wait to reach out until you need to leverage the relationship,” she says. For example, relationship-building can be something as simple as emailing an interesting article about Napa Valley to someone if he or she mentioned plans to travel there soon.
Dass hopes that by helping South Asian executive women forge relationships that can support big careers, she can also help them develop the capabilities needed to get there. Her professional support system helped to make her own dreams a reality, and by hosting LadyDrinks events, Dass hopes to get other South Asian women to all the places they’re dreaming of, and faster.
