1. Nandita Das
Actor|Director|Activist
Nandita’s enthusiasm to make a difference is inevitably visible in the decisions she has taken in her personal as well as professional life. A highly renowned actress and activist, she is widely known to approach unconventional and bold roles and chooses to participate in stories and incidents that she believes need to be narrated.
She has been an acclaimed speaker at several universities and social forums of great stature and importance, both within the country as well as abroad. She patrons issues of social justice, especially those concerning women, children and oppressed communities.
Nandita finished her Masters in Social Work from the University of Delhi and operated with numerous NGOs before she proceeded to work in films. She has acted in over 30 films spanning across 10 languages. She made her directorial debut with the film ‘Firaaq’ which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2008 and has been displayed at more than 50 festivals, bagging over 20 awards and receiving much critical acclaim.
Among her most distinguished achievements are empanelment in the jury of Cannes Film Festival twice (2005 and 2013), getting awarded the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres), the highly prestigious civilian award from the French Government, and becoming the first Indian to be enlisted in the Hall of Fame of the International Women’s Forum.
Topics:
1. Motivation
2. Storytelling
3. Understanding India
2. Dia Mirza:
Model|Actor|Humanitarian|Producer
Miss Asia Pacific 2000 Winner, gorgeous actress and social activist, she keeps on adding feathers to her cap. Her journey has been a blend of personal and professional success, and she doesn’t hesitate in sharing it with the world. She wishes people learn from her mistakes, and take inspiration from her success. She believes in giving back to the society, as it is the love of the people that has made her thrive and survive.
She is a multi faceted person. Enthusiastic about following her humanitarian passion, she founded ‘Born Free Entertainment’ along with partner, Sahil Sangha, to create entertaining content with a purpose. Their second production puts forward Dia’s views and opinions on female child rights.
With a strong belief of making stardom explicable and answerable, she has more often than not attracted the wrath of people in positions of responsibility, such as political activists. She is also an active supporter of animal rights and environment conservation, which she promotes on her twitter handle.
She has worked with The Cancer Patients Aid Association, The Spastics Society of India (Now called ADAPT), PETA, was an integral part of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites programme for NatGeo and works in an advisory capacity with the Anandana Trust. Dia has received six Women’s Achievement Awards and been honoured by Rotary panels in Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai.
Topics:
1. Motivation
2. Storytelling
3. Diversity/Inclusion
4. Celebrities and Entertainment
5. CSR and Social Empowerment/Environment
6. Women Speakers
3. Pooja Makhija:
Celebrity Dietician|Nutritionist
Nutritionist and expert diet guide to renowned bollywood stars like Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor, top-notch celebrity dietician Pooja Makhija has, till present day, transfigured the bodies, and revolutionized the lives of thousands of people. An expressive and zealous believer in the power of food, Pooja’s aim is to assist people fall in love with food. To that mission, she’s on a tireless journey to ‘fooducate’ the world and reconstruct the public’s belief in the power of nutrition.
Her bestselling and tremendously popular book - ‘Eat Delete’ released in 2012, and has been translated into Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi and Marathi. She released her second book - ‘Eat Delete Junior’ in 2017, based on child nutrition, and also recently launched ‘N for Nourish’, which is aimed at educating children and making them aware about nutrition.
Keeping aside her being a celebrity nutritionist and a bestselling author, Pooja is also a big name in the television world, an entrepreneur, and more than anything, a committed mother of two. In the past, she has conducted her own TV show - The Pooja Makhija Show - on Food Food channel and her very own radio show on Magic FM. She is also a regular columnist in the Times of India.
Her clientele includes people from all walks of life - models, actors, socialites, CEOs, expert yoga instructors, personal trainers, producers, directors, singers, pilots, architects, builders, media professionals and housewives.
Topics:
1. Celebrities and Entertainment
2. Health and Wellness
3. Spirituality
4. Workshops
5. Women Speakers
4. Anu Aggarwal:
Yoga Guru|Monk|Author|Ex SuperModel
She has been well known as an exemplary supermodel and the infamous actor of classic movie ‘Aashiqui’, but Anu Aggarwal’s story is one of a sensational transition from falling at the doorstep of death to the second version of her life, Life 2.0. Recovering and healing herself with yoga and mindfulness meditation, Anu is a self-reliant vibrant succeeder and yogi, who inspires people to extract the most out of their potential and find cheerfulness.
She gave up on all worldly pleasures while still a cover girl to proceed to the Himalayas where she stayed as a monk and studied vedic yoga. In 1999, she faced an extremely fatal accident in Mumbai and was treated at Breach Candy Hospital, to convalesce after a 29 day coma. Healing with a shattered body but a determinate soul, she turned to Yoga. Anu’s reassuring story has been captured and penned down in her biography titled "Anusual: Memoir of a Girl Who Came Back From the Dead."
Anu recovered from inside and out, and with her experiences and depth of knowledge, she started ‘AnuFunYoga’ for underprivileged and needy children, to help come out of early childhood trauma. She is currently a karmayogi, and her affection for community has led her across the globe to induce happiness and joviality to the oppressed and distraught with the Anu Aggarwal foundation, which operates with a mission to transform lives by re-programming the mind gradually.
Anu is an award-winning and bestselling author, who doctors call a mysterious, unnatural case for self- healing. She has been presenting her research work in conferences worldwide. Globally acknowledged as a Smiley Ambassador and UNHCR Ambassador, Anu is also a Gold Medalist with Masters in Social Work MSW, Yoga certified from BSY, Alternative Yoga Therapist, YTT, Naturopathic Doctor ICNM, and Mindfulness expert, Berkeley University.
Topics:
1. Health and Wellness
2. Spirituality
3. Motivation
4. Storytelling
5. Diversity/Inclusion
6. Celebrities and Entertainment
7. Women Speakers
5. Deepa Malik:
Khel Ratna Awardee| Silver Medalist, Rio Paralympics| Arjuna Award Winner| Padma Shri Awardee
Dr. Deepa Malik has the distinctive reputation of being the First Female Para-Athlete in India to receive a medal at the Asian Games, the World Championships, and the only Indian Female Para-Athlete to secure a medal at the Paralympics and gain the prestigious Highest Sports Honor of the country, the 'Khel Ratna'. Deepa has a tally of 58 national Gold Medals & 23 International Medals to her acclaim. She is the only Indian woman to win medals in 3 consecutive Asian Games, with a record breaking Asian title each time. She has to her praise, 5 President OF India Awards which include the 'Padma Shri' & 'Arjuna Award', and has been acknowledged by United Nations & Niti Aayog with the 'Women Transforming India' award.
On her journey of ‘Ability Beyond Disability’, she has proceeded to create 4 Limca World Records in Adventure, becoming the First Paraplegic Woman in biking, river swimming, high altitude mountain driving & car rallies like Desert Storm & Raid-De-Himalaya.
Her influence on the International Paralympic Movement has earned her the identification of 'Global Woman Of The Year 2019' by the International Paralympic Committee among 176 member countries. This year she upholds the very crucial position of being the New Zealand Prime Minister’s Fellow and representing 130 crore Indians for the mutual associations between New Zealand & India.
She is tremendously proud of the work done through her foundation 'Wheeling Happiness' which has affected & entitled over 10,000 Divyaangs through international advocacy, inclusion workshops, accessibility aides, accessibility audits, rural outreach and counselling & mentoring. The work has been appraised internationally by the Head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II as well as the Vice President of India.
Topics:
1. Health and Wellness
2. Management and Leadership
3. Motivation
4. Diversity and Inclusion
5. Sports
6. CSR
7. Teamwork
8. Spirituality
9. Storytelling
10. Celebrities and Entertainment
11. Women Speakers
