In an era when men predominantly held top positions in the corporate sector, only a handful of women managed to shatter the glass ceiling through sheer hard work and merit. One such woman was Shamima Akhter, who not only embraced the challenge but also navigated her career path with grace and determination, driven by her desire to give back to society.

Raised in a typical Bengali household during the 80s with her older sister, Shamima's world revolved around school, extracurricular activities, and hanging out with neighbours in the government colony where she lived. Inspired by historical figures like Florence Nightingale, she aspired to become a nurse and even wanted to be a national-level athlete in sprinting or high jump. While pursuing her studies in Philosophy at Dhaka University, Shamima found a supportive group of friends engaged in volunteering and social work, which fueled her passion for making a positive impact.

Her journey into the professional world began as a translator at UNDP Bangladesh while she was a student. She engaged with rural women in remote areas and translated their speech. These projects enhanced her communication skills and self-confidence. Her work led her to pursue a Master's degree in Gender Studies from Dhaka University

After graduation she joined USAID, focusing on empowering women in government and municipality regions. Despite having a strong support system, Shamima struggled with work-life balance after becoming a mother, leading her to a more laid-back job in the US Embassy. However, in three months' time she realized that this job was not for her. She quickly joined Steps Towards Development as a Director, overseeing Monitoring & Evaluation in projects.

During her time there, Shamima noticed that NGO activities were largely dependent on donor interests. She started appreciating the result-oriented, market-driven communications of corporate organizations, who have far more control on their own activities compared to NGOs. She joined Qubee as a Marketing Executive, completely scratching off her years of work in the Development sector. Anyone would say that she took a career nosedive, but Shamima was just getting started. As a marketing fresher, she got plenty of time to learn, and in four years time, she became a successful manager at Qubee.

Transitioning to Coca-Cola Bangladesh was not too difficult for Shamima. Coca-Cola also had a startup environment as it reopened in Bangladesh, and needed someone skilled in managing stakeholders, government bodies, media, and other parties. Shamima handled her role as Director of Public Affairs in Coca-Cola Bangladesh extremely well. She successfully implemented global strategies in regional settings to attract foreign investment, which generated massive employment.

Her work caught the eye of Unilever, who sought her out and offered her to become the Head of Corporate Affairs. This was certainly a career step-down for most people, but for Shamima this was yet another opportunity to prove herself. Working in Unilever opened her to plenty of challenges. She found that she was not taken seriously, especially among government employees, salespeople, distributors, and business leaders who were mostly men. She managed to level the playing field with her impressive abilities. Unilever now has a gender equity worth being proud of. 50% of the employees are women.

Shamima Akhter believes that career and family is not everything. One should always have a personal passion. She is a certified climber, having participated in four international expeditions. She also goes for cross-country cycling trips every year with her peers as a detour from work. She believes that time away from family and work really helps someone to self-reflect and accept new challenges readily.

Shamima Akhter believes that the 'Stellar Women' recognition will inspire other women to see her as a role model and fight through challenges fiercely in the corporate sector.