Archana Parsai Gehlot
Archana Parsai Gehlot is an IIT Bombay alumni and ex. director- Product Strategy, Oracle USA with 20+ years of corporate experience with top IT companies. Her roots in our scriptures and Gandhian family made her question the true meanings of meaningful and conscious life and she decided to leave her established corporate career and move back to her roots Bharat in 2014. A mother of 2 self learners (her daughter attended school till 8th grade and her son never went to school) and a learner who is passionate about education, environment, sustainability, minimalism , architecture designing, spiritualism, natural farming, film making and entrepreneurship. She strongly believes that education should be focused on finding more about your inner environment (self-explore) in harmony with outside nature to experience a meaningful and conscious life.
After her successful experiments she founded three social impact startups – Self Learning Cafe and Asmakam focused on life oriented education and self learning and Cotfoo – connecting through food , focused on natural food for medicine free life. She along with her family also doing natural farming in 20 acres near Indore and working on water conservation and growing forest for last 10 yrs. A 6 mins short film “The Lost Gift” made by Asmakam in 2017 has gotten many accolades and won international and national awards.
Anuranjita Kumar
Anuranjita Kumar – Entrepreneur, Accomplished Human Resources Professional, Author and Investor
Anuranjita Kumar is a human resource veteran with over twenty-six years of experience working across the globe managing various assignments, including senior human resource roles in Asia, North America and Europe through her stints at Citi Royal Bank of Scotland, and P&G.
Before joining RBS, she was the Head of Human Resources for Citi, South Asia. She is equipped with cross-cultural experience as a woman in the global corporate world and has deep-seated knowledge about the working culture and dynamics in various countries. Throughout her career, Anu focused on developing and executing commercially viable HR strategies, fostering global talent and cultivating a responsible and enriching culture that believes in the progress of its people and customers.
Anu is now the Founder and CEO for WiT- ACE. It is a global platform focused on engaging, enabling and employing women in the industry. In a short time, the platform has over 100 clients and few lakhs of women engaged for products and services. She is also engaged in investment decisions of early stage companies through various funds. Her seasoned experience is being leveraged for growth and development for the new start up eco system.
Anu has been recognized and featured on The Economic Times ‘Women Ahead List 2018’. She was further recognized in 2019 for being an astute role model for India Inc and by the leading Asian D&I organization – House of Rose Professionals as a Visionary Diversity and Inclusion Leader. She has also been recognized as amongst the ‘Most Powerful Woman Leaders’ by Fortune in 2013, Top 100 HR professionals by World HRD Congress in 2015 .These are amongst many other recognitions bestowed earlier in her career.
She Chairs the Board of the American India Foundation and is a Director on the Board of Plaksha University – a new age modern thinking tech university geared towards future-tech learning. She is also on the Advisory board member of SHRM India. Earlier, Anuranjita has been on the board of Citi Services India Limited, and RBS Services India Limited in the past. She is an accredited executive coach and a gifted author having launched her second book – ‘Colour Matters?’ primarily addressing the issue of racial and color discrimination still prevalent. Hear earlier bestseller book ‘Can I have it all’ addressed the opportunities of being a woman in today’s life – and in the need to opening oneself to accept these as privileges. Anu is also a philanthropist involved in volunteering with underprivileged children and a mentor to several upcoming start-ups.
A management graduate from XLRI, specializing in Human Resources. She attended Welham’s Girls School and is a gold medallist and topper in industrial psychology from Delhi University. Apart from her regular work, Anuranjita spends considerable time coaching Senior Executives and Start-up Leaders around the world.
Bidisha Banerjee
Bidisha Banerjee is the Global Group Vice President Talent, Culture and Employer Branding at Welspun Group. Bidisha has close to 20 years of rich experience industries like Retail, Insurance, and Telecom with MNCs and Indian Organizations. Bidisha is known for her forward-thinking attitude. She is an expert in driving Organization Culture Change Initiatives, DEI initiative, HR Strategy in line with the business. She is passionate about incorporating skill development for the differently abled as well as working with members of the LGBT community. She has been a Speaker in many prestigious events like SHRM HR Conference, LinkedIn Learning Sessions, Skillsoft Annual India Conference. She also her articles published In ET HR , People Matter, HR Katha .
She believes that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. She is a certified Coach and Alumnus of SDA Bocconi Milan where is has a business degree with a specialisation in Design Thinking. She is a keen reader and traveller and has and draws inspiration and learning from various culture and people.
Chitra Jha
Chitra Jha is a multifaceted multidimensional personality. In the past 62 years, she has been a military nursing officer, an army wife (her husband retired as a Major General), a mother, a homeopath, pre and post marital counsellor, spoken English educator, verbal ability instructor for CAT and GMAT, reiki master, past life regression therapist, inner child healer, re-birthing breathworker, self-empowerment coach, holistic health workshop leader, a prolific writer and author of four books, including ‘The Art of Conscious Parenting’ published by Hay House.
Ekta Kumar
Ekta is an Experienced Business Transformation, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability leader with two decades across a wide spectrum of industries ranging from banking, consulting, telecom to energy, having held global, regional and country leadership roles.
She is a change management leader, strategic thinker, strong communicator, recognized for bringing business acumen, collaborative mindset and impact focus to CSR programs and sustainability challenges. Ekta has extensive experience at leading large cross-cultural teams to deliver high impact programs – which have been felicitated by global awards as well as witnessed keen interest and partnership from government and other like-minded corporates. She is passionate about continuously learning, evolving and driving change to build a more sustainable world!
Gayatri Gandhi
India’s First KonMari Certified Consultant, Gayatri Gandhi has trained directly with Marie Kondo. Gayatri has completed 600+ hours of tidying and organizing across India through personal interactions. She is also a TEDx Speaker and delivered her talk on Decluttering and Organizing at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahemdabad.
Marie Kondo, a tidying expert, best-selling author, star of Netflix’s hit show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, is also the founder of KonMari Media, Inc and the world-renowned KonMari Method™. Gayatri’s career of over 11 years traces back to her experience with Discovery Networks India. She managed the company’s factual cluster – Discovery Channel, Discovery HD and Discovery Tamil, leading to tremendous growth for the company. Post Discovery Networks, she forayed into the wedding industry working for a wedding invitations and gifting company. She applied her skill set of strategy, people management, client interactions and business development into growing the business and streamlining processes. Her key skills include content strategy, content buying & acquisitions, local productions, vendor & inventory management, business development and brand management.
Jaya Virwani
Jaya heads the Ethics office and Diversity and Inclusiveness (D&I) strategy for EY’s (Ernst & Young) Global Delivery Services (Argentina, China, India, Poland and the Philippines). She has been with the firm since June of 2004 and took on the role of Diversity and Inclusiveness leader in March of 2012, and the Ethics leader role in February of 2018. In her role as the D&I leader, she focuses on initiatives that promote cross-cultural teaming and inclusive leadership, eliminate unconscious biases, and create an ecosystem that supports gender equity in senior leadership positions. Jaya heads the Ethics office and drives consistent behaviour of the highest ethical standards across EY Global Delivery Services.
Jaya is also the Chairperson for the Internal Committee for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) at Global Delivery Services. She leads the Professional Networks that focus on talent development, leadership skills and a support system for working parents.
Jaya is on the D&I taskforce of the BD Foundation and the Catalyst India Network. Jaya was awarded the Diversity Leadership award by World HRD Congress in February of 2016 for her contribution to the promotion of diversity at the workplace. Jaya has also been recognized for her contribution to Diversity and Inclusion on the BD Foundation Diversity and Inclusion Forum list for 2017-2018.
Lahar Bhatnagar
Lahar Bhatnagar is a scientific parenting expert, parenting pathfinder, speaker, and author. She is the founder of NIRVANAMA- a parenting resource that talks about using brain science in your everyday parenting. She is a certified parenting coach from the International Association of Certified Coaches, USA. She has studied Developmental Neuroscience (development of the brain in a baby) and has leading international papers and research to her credit in this area. She combines her knowledge of the brain and science with her practical experience of raising young kids in this millennium. Her workshops, activities, and tips benefit young parents in raising kids to their full potential while keeping calm, stress-free, and happy themselves. She lives by the “Nurture the brain, nurture the whole individual” concept.
Her parenting books include “100 ways to be a stress-free mom and raise happy kids” (HayHouse 2018) and upcoming book “Millennial Parenting Hacks”. She does one-to-one counseling under her program “Parenting the brain” where the parents are walked through their parenting concerns and goals and trained to find brain-based solutions. Her flagship 60-day parenting support product called “Tabula Rasa Parenting Magic Cards” was launched in September 2020 and is getting great reviews. Tabula Rasa is an offline parenting planner that not only helps in achieving parenting goals through 15 minutes brain-based activities but also provides all-around support to parents with daily diet plans, fitness routines, mind-maps, and storytelling sessions. This 360-degree support ensures the full growth of the child’s brain.
Marut Bhardwaj
Marut Bhardwaj has over 25 years of experience as a business leader with a focus on transformational change and sales and marketing and she is passionate about leading with an inclusive and global mindset. She combines this with 15 years of intense practice of mindfulness with experience in diverse domains straddling Strategy, marketing innovations, and implementing strategy solutions across industries for Sales & Marketing stakeholders, from an entrepreneurial digital marketing agency to a Fortune 500 MNC environment, on the Board of Directors. Driven by her passion to bring the Kindness, Calm and Wisdom to all, Marut pioneered in the space of mindfulness for Corporates in India, by launching the successful annual event MINDFUL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT INDIA. As a Speaker /facilitator she has delivered Keynotes and Webinars to members of NHRDN, Community Business and Mindful Leaders Forum.
Marut’s Potential project journey has been to accelerate the leadership development and results of clients throughout the region, from multi-national corporations to domestic organizations, while also contributing significantly to Potential Project’s global strategies and India development. She has designed and delivered Leadership interventions to leading organizations in India including Oberoi’s Group, British Council, IOCL, AIG Insurance, Qualcomm ,Capgemini and Coca Cola to name a few.
Namu Kini
Namu Kini is an entrepreneur, Mom and “Conscious Consumer”. She co-founded an online art gallery KYNKYNY.com in 2004, and an organic food brand HappyHealthyMe in 2016.
She considers herself an earth warrior and follows a plant based diet for ethical and environmental reasons. She is an advocate for all things earth friendly, from what you wear, how you eat, and how you live, and hopes to inspire the next generation to make the right choices.
Nandini Sarkar
Nandini is an Inclusion Strategist, a Culture Curator, a Mentor and an Influencer. Currently she heads the “Global Equity, Diversity & Inclusion” Center of Excellence for Boeing in India, responsible for designing the Inclusion Strategy for the region and leading the Strategy to Action plan that touches every people processes encompassing every realms of diversity dimensions, not missing intersectionality and Culture Transformation. She also leads “Supplier Diversity Program” for the Enterrpise.
She missed her calling of a Chef. But she didn’t let her love for blending different delectable ingredients go to waste. A lawyer by education and after few years of legal practice, she lives her passion devoting herself into the space of Diversity & Inclusion – ensuring the corporate plate has a mix of talented people with equal opportunity for all, away from discrimination, in a psychologically safe space striking an inclusive environment. She has extensively worked across the diversity spectrum of Gender, Generation, Culture, Sexual Orientation and Disability supporting businesses to build an inclusive talent strategy. With over 2 decades of professional experience earned across industry spectrum – IT, ITeS, Telecom, Consulting, Services, Manufacturing and now Aerospace & Defence, Nandini is a frequent speaker at various Industry associations, Seminars-Conferences, Corporate panels and is invited by premier B-schools as a Guest Speaker/Faculty.
She works extensively beyond her organizational space, impacting Lives – Livelihood – Growth of women and marginalized groups as the Chairperson of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) – India Women Network (IWN), Karnataka Chapter. She also assumes various strategic roles in the CII Southern Region as a member of CSR and Supply Diversity Panel. She is a working member of Women in Technology (WiT); a D&I Taskforce member of BD Foundation, an Accessibility Champion and a strong PRIDE Ally.
Nandini holds 6 International Awards to her credit endorsing her continued Thought Leadership in the space of Diversity & Inclusion, has a degree in English Literature, Global certifications and accreditations with a varied repertoire of skills in Learning & Development, Talent Management, Leadership Excellence, Mentoring, Culture Transformations, Mergers & Acquisitions and Change Management built through years of cross industry experience.
She was also briefly a sports news reader in All India Radio. She loves – reading a lot, a lover of animals & music, and pottering about her balcony garden every now and then, cooking up a storm to unwind after a hard day’s work. Nandini lives her passion of leveraging differences and believes – “It’s not what you Gather, but what you Scatter tells what kind of life you have lived!”
Namrata Sudhindra
Namrata is a yoga teacher known for her accessibility, her soothing voice and the ability to empower her students through her classes. As a yoga instructor, she brings to her students a depth of experience in Hatha, Restorative and Vinyasa style yoga, having trained across the globe with internationally acclaimed yoga practitioners. Namrata has been practicing yoga for 20+ years and teaching for 15+ and believes that yoga is not a “one size fits all” practice, and that every person is on a different path. She finds immense joy, satisfaction and inspiration in seeing students discover their own personal yoga journey and hopes to nurture and encourage them along their way. An unflappable demeanour, a past career as a dentist which gives her a valuable insight into the physical and nutritional aspects of practice, and a natural empathy make her a much sought after teacher in the country. A certified health and wellness coach from Wellcoaches, California, she has helped her clients navigate their own wellness goals with ease and focus. As a certified breath coach she helps people connect to their vital energy or prana and use it to find balance, focus and calm. She is currently working on a music meditation series with renowned musician Dr.Suma Sudhindra.
Namrata has successfully conducted corporate workshops for Apple, Accenture, Citrix and other companies over the years.
Nischala Murthy Kaushik
Nischala Murthy Kaushik is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at HFS Research. She oversees the global marketing function with responsibility for marketing strategy, brand, content, operations, corporate communications, social media and events. Nischala is a member of the Executive Management team at HFS, responsible for defining the company strategy, vision and roadmap. Nischala also champions the charter of diversity & inclusion – a theme core to HFS values. With over 2 decades of global industry experience, Nischala has played diverse roles in her career covering strategy consulting, technology solution development, business innovation, change management, cultural transformation and business marketing.
A recognized thought leader and respected voice in the industry, she has multiple awards to her credit like Women in Tech | Leadership Influencer Award (Top 3), WICA (Women in Corporate Awards) – Growth Champion – Top 3 in India, India’s Top 100 Brand & Content Custodians. She believes in the power of words and that words can be used to create and catalyze positive change. As a way to pay it forward – she actively writes, speaks, and mentors on causes that deeply resonate with her– the importance of #education, #WomenAtWork, #Skills for future, and power of ideas. Her views have been featured in publications like The Huffington Post, Economic Times, Financial Express, Thrive, etc. She was named among the 2020 Top 20 LinkedIn Voices for India and has received multiple awards and recognitions for her blogs and writing.
An IIM alum (one of the top B-schools in India) and TEDx speaker, she lives in Delhi with her husband and two daughters.
Radhika Jain
Radhika Jain is an Expressive Arts therapy practitioner and co-founder of First Drop Theatre. As a therapy practitioner, she uses different art modalities (movement, drama, visual arts, music, poetry and storytelling) in her work with individuals and groups.
Radhika has been active in the theatre world for over a decade especially in the interactive, improvised formats of theatre. She is an Accredited Playback theatre trainer from the Centre for Playback Theatre, USA. and faculty for Playback Theatre at the Applied Theatre India Foundation – the first ever applied theatre institute in India. She is also a Certified Listening Hour guide.
Prior to this, she has worked in the corporate world for 7 years in the field of Healthcare Consulting and Market Research and has a PhD in Molecular Microbiology from Germany.
Roma Datta Chobey
Roma Datta Chobey leads Google India’s digital native industries covering a range of key sectors namely Travel, Telecom, Media & Entertainment, e-Service, Gaming and B2B for India. Roma joined Google over five years ago bringing with her years of experience as a banker in
both Indian and multinational banks. Roma has had successful leadership tenures in Standard Chartered Bank, HDFC Bank, IDBI Bank and ABN Amro Bank. At the core of her career has been her relationship management and business development expertise. Her last role in
banking before moving into the Digital industry was as Vice President-Branch Banking at HDFC Bank. In addition, throughout her career, Roma has been an active voice for greater Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and she now leads many of these initiatives for Google India.
Sahar Mansoor
Sahar Mansoor is the founder and CEO of Bare Necessities, a social enterprise rooted in the philosophy of zero-waste, circular economy and sustainability. Sahar is co-author of ‘Bare Necessities – How to lead a zero-waste life’ published by Penguin Random House. Her business offers zero-waste personal care, lifestyle, home care and educational products and services, including online sustainability courses.
Her time working at the World Health Organization in Geneva and SELCO Foundation, on implementing decentralized solar energy projects in rural Karnataka, enabled her to build Bare Necessities from the ground up. Her work has been recognized by Google India, Al Jazeera, NDTV, Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar among others. Sahar was most recently awarded the Cartier Young Leader award in 2022 for Bare Necessities social impact, business model and for building bridges across people, disciplines and cultures.
Sahar graduated with Masters of Environmental Policy from University of Cambridge in 2014 and INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Programme 2018. Additionally, Sahar has obtained accredited degrees in environmental planning and political science from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, USA in 2013.
She has also volunteered in Guatemala, Jamaica and the Democratic Republic of Congo for humanitarian projects. She is a circular-economy nerd and attempts to live a low impact lifestyle. Sahar enjoys hiking, biking, backpacking and attempting to play football.
For more, visit https:// barenecessities.in/.
Sanjay Anand
Sanjay Anand is a seasoned technology executive with over 27 years of experience delivering innovative products for enterprise customers, laying the foundation for global development at Microsoft/Google and building top notch teams that achieved beyond their own imaginations!
His early contributions to Microsoft products were pivotal in establishing secure, interoperable and scalable networks within enterprises, enabling collaboration among knowledge workers in enterprises and finally helping enterprises harness the unimaginable power of the data. His last decade has been focused on building global development capability at Microsoft (Site Lead, Bangalore) and Google (MD, India Engineering) with particular focus on planet-scale online systems in a variety of domains: Online Ads, DevOps, Industry verticals – Retail, Fintech, Energy and Agriculture.
Sanjay has a deep passion for building world-class organizations that have proven over and over again that diverse individuals with a sense of purpose, working in tight-knit teams that embody a culture of trust and inclusion, can truly achieve the impossible.
Sanjay recently retired from Microsoft as Vice President of Engineering to focus on his passion for leveraging technology to transform the lives of the underserved in society.
Savitha Nanjappa
Savitha is an award winning Business Coach, Founder of Global Coaching Platform – Success With Savitha, Podcast Host, Contributor @Forbes, International Speaker and Member of the Forbes Coaches Council.
As an internationally certified coach, she has coached over 150+ Businesses, 3000+ clients and has 17+ years in Corporate India having worked with brands like Airtel, ICICI Prudential, Tata Docomo, Novo Nordisk in Sales, Marketing & Customer Experience. Featured on Thrive Global, FOX, ABS, CBS, Media Bulletin and more.
She is also a Mom to an 8 year old, loves reading, travel, gardening, good food, music, movies and binge watches Netflix.
Shivangini Padhiyar
Shivangini is the co-founder and creative director of The Summer House, a lifestyle brand that marries sustainability and style. The brand works with organic and hand crafted fabrics to create timeless pieces in their beautiful sun-lit studio and ships to over 40 countries across the globe. Shivangini and her business partner Rekha have built the company on the philosophy that you are what you choose. They have chosen to be kind to the planet and those in the production chain of fashion. They have chosen to promote responsible production and mindful consumption. Before starting The Summer House, Shivangini worked in advertising for almost a decade.
Reena Dayal
Reena Dayal Yadav is a Technology Leader and an Innovation Management Expert. She is known for her work in Establishing and Scaling up Innovation Functions within Organization and Incubating new Tech Oriented Businesses. She is the Founding Chairperson for the Quantum Ecosystems and Technology Council of India ( QETCI) and the CEO and Partner for Benzaiten Advisors. She is on the Steering Committee of the IEEE Quantum Initiative , Chair for the IEEE Quantum Special Interest Group in India and on the Consultative Committee for Quantum for the Government of Telangana. She is the Ex-Chairperson for SNIA in India. She is also on the Governing Board and Executive Committee of The Cloud Computing Innovation Council of India
She is an Author – her Book “Innovation Magic” is a guide to creating and managing Innovation Management functions within Organizations. Her report on “Innovation Governance: Board Imperatives” has been published and referred to by many organizations
She is a mindfulness practitioner and believes in Mindful and Compassionate Leadership.
She has an Engineering degree from IIT Roorkee. She is a Chevening Fellow for Science and Innovation Leadership Program from The Said Business School, University of Oxford.
Dr. Tanu Shree Singh
Dr. Tanu Shree Singh is an Assistant Professor in Psychology. She completed her studies in Positive Psychology, a relatively new and promising branch of psychology devoted to cultivating contented, happy, fulfilling lives. She extensively writes on issues related to parenting and has been published in leading online dailies and communities. Her approach to parenting, rooted in her academic background, draws heavily from her experiences as a parent and a mentor.
Her passion for reading and getting more children to read led her to set up two libraries in Faridabad and Tirthan Valley. She also supports 13 other libraries in Himachal. She is the author of Keep Calm and Mommy On, DK Indian Icons: CV Raman, DArkless, Mummy’s Glasses and has contributed to the anthologies Flipped and I’d rather read.
Vipul Rikhi
Vipul Rikhi is a singer, poet, storyteller, writer and translator, immersed in the oral traditions of Kabir and other Bhakti and Sufi poets for over a decade. He is the author of several books of poetry, fiction and translation, most recently One Palace, A Thousand Doorways (by Speaking Tiger). His work with the Kabir Project has involved writing, translations, research, curations and the creation of a vast digital archive called ‘Ajab Shahar’. He sings mystic poetry in the folk music traditions and performs widely.
Website: https://vipulrikhi.com/
Ishq Fakiri, an album of songs with words and translations: http://ishqfakiri.com/
Sarah Edwards
Sarah is a certified Health and Wellbeing Coach and the Founder of Copper + Cloves. She grew up in London and later moved to Bangalore. Sarah has worked for 10 years in the NGO sector in social work and education before she started Copper + Cloves in 2017. She has always loved cooking and eating, and has been a passionate home-cook since a teenager. She truly believes that eating well- which she defines as eating in a way that makes you feel light, full of energy and fuels you to live your best life – is possible for everyone and can be fun, creative and satisfying. She also coaches people on Slow-mindful eating, Plant-based eating, Self-compassion and Self kindness as a vehicle for change and motivation.
Anupama Ghanta Kothapalli
Anupama Leads Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) for the Deloitte US offices in India, in her decade long journey with Deloitte she has successfully helped shape the talent landscape of the firm and has continuously challenged herself with new roles and responsibilities in Development & performance, Analytics and DE&I space. Currently, she dons two hats in Deloitte — lead for Career Growth & Transitions and lead for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion.
In her role as DEI leader, Anupama is committed towards building a diverse workforce and creating a culture of inclusivity. She is working from the ground up for creating opportunities for equity enabling success measures while ensuring a strategy that enables change and is also responsible for representing the India stance in the firm.
Anupama partners closely with business leaders to strategize, design and implement engagements that address the India specific requirements, while creating a sustainable change and measurable impact.