Every year International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8 March. It is a day is to observe women’s success in cultural, political, social and economic development.
Mohini Sharma an educationist and winner of the beauty pageant, Mrs India 2016
Mohini Sharma’s vision is to empower women by providing them with a platform to present their beauty, wisdom and intelligence. She is known for her dynamic yet humble personality and lives life queen size approach. Her organisation Mrs India Inc carries the same qualities and is associated with the oldest and most prestigious pageant for married women “Mrs World”. Mohini’s perception about the world is to remove the stereotypes and create new patterns in order to defy conventions and take big steps which can bring about a change. The eureka moment in her life was when she got a license for the same and since then her drive to empower the women of India has taken its full speed to fruition. Mrs India Inc” grabbed attention when it got onboard the Bollywood diva Soha Ali Khan as the ‘Presider & Judge’ of the contest. Her business and socialist approach towards not just her organisation but also for the women of the country makes her a down to earth and approachable leader. With a great vision and credible assets, Mohini is ready to bring about a great change in the industry. While the fashion industry is undergoing a dynamic change and unprecedented trends, she is ready to put in her pitch to add quality to the quantity.
Anuritta K Jha– Actor and Model
Anuritta K Jha is an Actor and Model Born and brought up in Bihar and Delhi. She is better known for her portrayal of Shama Parveen in Anurag Kashyap directed Gangs of Wasseypur. She acted in Mithila Makhaan which bagged an award at the 63rd National Awards under the Best Maithili Film Category. She was also a part of series named “PariWar’ which was telecast on Disney + Hotstar. Anuritta played a crucial role in Prakash Jha’s Aashram
Seema Prem, CEO FIA Global
Influenced by her childhood spent in some of the most inaccessible terrains in India, Seema Prem co-founded FIA in 2012. At FIA, Seema is responsible for the innovation of socially impactful products and services to meet the needs of unserved communities and markets and leads FIA’s efforts to expand its global footprint. She is also responsible for advocacy, governance, and building strategic relationships with governments, financial institutions and other key partners to support and scale social innovations. She is a traveller, foodie and animal lover
Shailja Dutt, Chairperson & Founder – Stellar Search
Shailja Dutt, heads Stellar Search a global leadership advisory firm, with a strong geographical footprint across emerging markets in Asia and Africa. Shailja today stands tall at the acme of the talent acquisition industry across emerging markets in Asia and Africa, having built Stellar as one of the most well-recognized names in 25 countries across four continents. Shailja is widely recognized as an industry thought-leader and subject matter expert and is an active member of various leading industry bodies. As one of the few successful female entrepreneurs in the executive search industry in India, Shailja has been a strong advocate for advancing gender/ minority diversity in corporate boardrooms and has contributed significantly to the ongoing dialogue about the positive role diversity in corporate leadership can play in creating a better future for society, especially in the South Asian context.
Divanshi Gupta, Founder, Ucanji
With more than 16+ years of dancing, choreographing and teaching experience, Divanshi is set to make it accessible to make dance anyone, anywhere, anytime. A Prabhakar Degree holder in Kathak from Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad, and she wants to extend the experience, magic, and energy to people with her latest entrepreneurial endeavour. Divanshi has organised several on-ground talent hunts for Dance India Dance, Dance+, and So You Think You Can Dance, besides organising workshops all over India. She single-handedly launched and managed 13+ Dance Centres in Delhi NCR, and is again on a similar streak with Ucanji.
Parul Khera (social and women’s rights activist)
Parul Khera is an entrepreneur and a new generation young Social & Women rights activist. Parul is actively initiatives like gender equality, women empowerment, and social justice. She is fighting a legal battle against bigamy that violates the fundamental rights of Muslim women. She is the original petitioner in the case against the practice of bigamy. Parul loves spending time on the rights of women and children. She aims to fight against the prevailing patriarchal mentality in our country which continues to deprive women in any manner. She believes that women are entitled to political, economic, and social equality.
Ritika Ahuja, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Big Boy Toyz
An avid collector of exotic miniature perfumes Ritika Jatin Ahuja is a proud owner of 563 scented bottles and has been awarded the certificate of ‘Excellence’ by the Golden Book of World Records for the same. An interior designer by profession she has also specialized in the interior designing of jets and yachts from the University of Arts London. Presently she spearheads the Merchandise section at Big Boy Toyz, one of Asia’s largest super exotic car destinations. Her role is to ensure that the team successfully markets the product portfolio consisting of stationery, decorative items and lifestyle products. The most talked-about amongst them all is the Big Boy Toyz’ Gold Edition, a one of a kind perfume that instantly grabbed headlines for promising its users a whiff of heady fragrance, aristocracy and signature style. The talented multi-tasking lady surely has her hands full and the manner in which she has balanced motherhood and profession with harmony and precision is truly commendable.
Kavitta B Bedi- founder and CEO of JBC INC
Kavitta B Bedi is the founder and CEO of JBC INC (Just because it’s Children), where she brings in Broadway theatricals from overseas for children and family audiences all across India. The repertoire of shows includes Barney Live, Spiderman Live, Noddy Live, Jungle Book Jive, Geronimo Stilton Live etc. These shows have been done in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Dubai, Singapore etc. An entrepreneur at heart, she is also an angel investor with investments in Tech Startups across Crowd Funding, Food Tech, Supply Chain, Health Tech and now Ed Tech. An alumna of Lady Shri Ram College and a specialist of Marketing Management from the Times School of Marketing, Kavitta’s corporate career includes heading communications for the British Council in India and being a part of the brand management team at Daewoo Motors. She is a spousal member of the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO).
Katherine Ernst Mehta CEO and Founder of Edvanta Consulting
Katherine Ernst Mehta is the CEO and Founder of Edvanta Consulting, where she works with international high school students across India, Singapore, Indonesia and the UK to help them navigate the US undergraduate admission process, and gain admission to their best fit colleges. Katherine built a career in international education after first coming to India as a student and researcher in 2009. She has also researched and edited Indian art history texts, and coordinated semester-long academic programs and excursions for American college students in India through the School for International Training (SIT Study Abroad). Katherine is a member of the International Association for College Admissions Counseling. In the past, she has served as a College Essay Counselor for Ethan Sawyer (aka The College Essay Guy) and helped guide low-income students through the college application and essay writing process through the Matchlighters Scholarship program. She also currently serves on the Board of Directors for the American Welcome Association, a non-profit organisation dedicated to serving and connecting the American expat community in New Delhi, India.
Dr Aruna Kalra Senior Gynaecologist and Obstetrician at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram
With over 25 years of experience, Dr Aruna Kalra is a renowned Indian Gynaecologist and Obstetrician specializing in minimally invasive surgeries, high-risk pregnancies and Vaginal Birth after Cesarean (VBAC). Since the outbreak of Covid-19, she has been treating Covid Positive pregnant ladies by personally visiting them at their respective homes. She has been treating many poor women and the ones whose husbands lost their jobs during lockdown for free. She even provides free medicines to them. The doctor has also been cooking meals for her nursing staff who work day and night to take care of the patients, often neglecting their own health. She treats them as their family and believes that it is her responsibility to take good care of the staff members. Dr Aruna also took the initiative to organise a Boot Camp for would-be daddies that aimed at preparing them to cope up with the added responsibilities. A special WhatsApp group has also been created by the doctor for personally solving the queries of her patients. Come what may, Dr Aruna never hesitated to take a step forward for her patients’ health and well-being and gave her 100% to help them in every possible way.
Dr Jaya Nagaraja, Chief Scientist at Molecular Connections (MC)
Science is often considered a male-dominated field, but, here is a woman who has made remarkable contributions to Indian & global Science. Dr Jaya Nagaraja, Chief Scientist at Molecular Connections, holds many hats. She is a PhD holder from the University of Berne, a post-doctoral position at Ludwig institute of cancer research, Berne; Research Associate from the University of Rochester, New York; Research Scientist- at IGBMC, Strasbourg; Scientist- Astra Zeneca, Project lead – Monsanto; She worked on Arabidopsis Curation & literature mining in Bangalore. Jaya has been a key driver of several literature mining projects on cosmetics, herbals, drugs, gene-protein-disease-pathway annotations, disease-related polymorphism, mutation & SNP analysis studies. She developed an asthma model by scientifically understanding & analyzing the role of interleukins such as IL3, IL4. She is also instrumental in developing several scientific ontologies for content discovery and management. She conceived and developed ‘Netpro’, a protein-protein interaction database and ‘Clipro’- a fluid biomarker database, epigenetics platform. She is the brain behind the internationally acclaimed product ‘Escalex’- a global food regulatory compliance information database. Jaya has led global collaborations with various pharmaceutical companies, STM publishers, universities & non-profit organizations, on several projects & has several publications to her credit. She has personally trained, mentored young talent & groomed them to be fine scientists & leaders within MC.
Manisha Chopra – Renowned Nutritionist, Dietician and Fitness Expert
During the lockdown, Manisha Chopra took up the initiative to serve free food and essential household items to poor people in different parts of Gurugram and Delhi. She also organised a free Yoga Campaign to educate people about the importance of health and exercise during tough times. The campaign was organised keeping in mind all the rules and regulations and the participants were divided into groups and were given different time slots. She also helped the stray animals who couldn’t find anything to eat during the lockdown. Manisha used to feed the strays daily and continues to do so. She has inspired and motivated many volunteers who have now joined her in this social service. She believes that no one should sleep with an empty stomach and ensured proper nutritious food for as many people as possible.