Your backbone is developed at the family dinner table- Mrs Zia Mody

Mrs Zia Mody is the Founder and Senior Partner of AZB & Partners and one of India’s foremost corporate attorneys. Holding her law degree from the University of Cambridge and enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa, she is also an alumni of the Harvard Law School. Zia worked as a corporate associate at Baker & McKenzie, New York, before moving to India to establish the Chambers of Zia Mody, which then became AZB & Partners in 2004.

Zia’s abilities are recognized globally, as is reflected in her appointment as a non-executive director of the HSBC Asia Pacific Board, a member of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal, Washington D.C. (2008-2013), and a Vice President and Member of the London Court of International Arbitration (2010-2013). Zia serves on various advisory committees of the Confederation of Indian Industry including its National Council and its committees on Corporate Governance, Financial Services, Capital Markets, Legal Services and Retail. Zia was a member of the Godrej Committee on Corporate Governance recently constituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. She was nominated to be part of the “Committee on Rationalisation of Investment Routes and Monitoring of Foreign Portfolio Investments” formed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. She was appointed by the Reserve Bank of India as a member of Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low-Income Households.

Mrs Mody addressed the students of Grade 8 to Grade 11 and held each and every student’s attention with her powerful words of advice. She reminded them the importance of time spent with the family at the dinner table where a lot of values were intrinsically imbibed. Friendships need to be valued and time has to be respected. She believed her success is attributed in being an obedient child, a respectful listener and a motivated learner. She believes hard work has no substitute and asked students to follow their passion. Exploring dreams, engaging in lively debates and rely on instinct. “Google fails and only the mind really works” was her advice to this year’s net-savvy generation. She wanted students to be courageous, be change-makers. Arrogance and egotistical natures were only stumbling blocks. She emphasized that only humility and integrity would pave the way to contentment. She ended her invigorating speech with the words, “ Go grab opportunities! They don’t come to you. You need to surge ahead!”

It is no means a small accomplishment that Mrs Zia Mody has received the “Outstanding Women Business Leader of the Year – 2013” award and listed by Forbes India (2014) as one of ‘India's 10 most Powerful women’ among various other accolades.