Niti Sampat Patel has a Ph.D in Literature and Cinema Studies from New York University and has taught both film and literature in the USA and India. Her first book, Postcolonial Masquerades: Culture and Politics in Literature, Film, Video and Photography was published by Garland/Routledge in 2001. Subsequently she was part of the editorial team for the Encyclopedia of South Asian Writing published by Greenwood Press and has contributed scholarly articles to various anthologies and journals around the world. She lives and writes in Bombay and the US and is currently working on her second novel,  Shadow Screens.

 Her first work of fiction, Moon Goddess, published in 2017, is an epic novel that  spans India, USA and Lebanon. Echoing the the structure of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land  it chronicles the lives of several generations of women and examines the nature of memory and violence as characters attempt to reconstruct the past. This complex, and spell binding saga with intertwining stories of love, loss and subterfuge with both disruptive and healing characteristics; uses myth, quotations, prophecy, fact, and fiction to tell a compelling tale of fate and chance, personal choice and public intrigue.

POONAM CHAWLA divides her time between USA and Mumbai. She uses fiction to make sense of her world, focusing mainly on the Indian diaspora and women’s issues. When she is not working, you will find her in her backyard sipping her Darjeeling tea and listening to birdsong.

Her latest book, The Slow Disappearing, is inspired by true events. Her previous books are Mumbai Mornings and The Shenanigans of Time.

Urja Shah currently leads the CSR directives of the Setco Group and serves as President of the Setco Foundation.  She is passionate about integrating her background in science and policy with models from narrative work, business and design thinking to building grassroots and community led interventions in health, early childhood and women’s leadership. 

Her hope and vision lies in not just building last mile access but last mile ownership - just and equitable society through empowered communities.

She holds a BS summa cum laude in Environmental Science from U.Mass Amherst, and a BA in Environmental Policy from Duke University. 
She resides in Mumbai with her husband, Harshal and son Hrehan whom she considers her rocks. As a family, they love to travel, eat and experience new things.

Desiree Punwani is a certified counsellor, experienced EFT practitioner, and lightworker. She is greatly influenced by Buddhism and an ardent student of Hinduism's Advaita philosophy. She is also very moved by the Sikh teachings and has read the Guru Granth Sahib in Hindi and English. Having a past history of alcoholism, Desiree uses her personal transformation to help others through individual counselling and experiential workshops.
 
Over the last twenty years, Desiree has been in the mental health, well-being, and social work field and loves the work she does. She is associated with prestigious organisations, including being on the support team of Sanjeevani Life Beyond Cancer and The School of Awakening. She conducts online training programmes and webinars on well-being and spiritual health practices. 
 
Her workshops are based on her personal learning. These started twenty-eight years back when she was lead out of the dark night of alcoholism toward spiritual light. The workshops focus on empowering people through metta (loving-kindness) forgiveness, gratitude and joy. They include simple strategies to clear stress and baggage.

Being “fun and fearless” Cosmopolitan Inspiration 2012 Awardee Ritika Mittal engages closely with natural fabrics, yarns and dyes representing her own initiative, Mora Collective, est. 2009. She creates one-of-a-kind wearable textiles celebrating the heritage of North East India and India-Nepal Himalayan regions. Her textiles also bring forth pertinent discussions on textile waste management, creating “very less great impact”, leaving lighter footprints and sensitive engagement with the rural artisan community.

Mora Collective, since 2009, has pioneered a design brand approach where the patrons connect with the artisan community’s behind-the-craft lifestyle, without prioritising craft over their original farming lifestyle. This gave birth to a systemic slow development of trust and relationship with a thriving community of supporters across the globe invested in a gentle direction to “Connect Communities to their Culture through Collaboration, Credit, Consent and right Compensation”. Ritika’s venture is intentionally homemade, and family-run, keeping a small sustained scale that allows for a harmonious relationship with artisans. Mora envisions these artisans must be duly represented as Teachers.

Currently based in Australia, Ritika is also doing consulting and brand reinforcement for textile industries that are looking to shift to more ethical and humane practices of work culture. She facilitates the application of “Ahimsa”, documented research and communication for one of her dedicated projects Ahimsa Eri Silk in Assam. 
Alumni of Delhi University, Ritika comes with an experience of a decade-long career in audio-visual communication with projects from BBC World & World Service Trust, United Nations Development Programme, Star Network and Fremantle media.

The author Meeta Arya has always drawn her inspiration from nature. She is a seeker, an eager learner, willing to explore new horizons anytime.

Passionate about nature and carrying the firm belief that there is no better teacher, she has been a crusader for improvement of one’s own health through self healing. She has happily and successfully embraced a lifestyle free from conventional medicines for the past 16 years. 

Meeta’s passion and learnings extend to painting, photography, cooking, trekking and writing. She values and nurtures her relationship with herself and others. Vipassana and Jeevan Vidya along with The Health Awareness Centre have been her constant guides.

A creative powerhouse, style icon, designer and a compulsive traveller, the multiple award winning Oiendrila Ray Kapur is an Alumni of the Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication in London who has brought about a massive change in the way people feel - through the institution of travel and creative arts. At a time when confinement became a reality for the human race and not many would dare to start a venture that involved movement, Ray decided to open a travel experiences Company called KOI worldwide based on the science of memories. In just a couple of years, KOI has become one of the most powerful identities of the country that is changing the way people remember their life. Oiendrila has an inherent capability to turn any place into a venerable paradise - with the most out of the box ideas and setups that will leave you gasping, Oiendrila is a champion of sustainable tourism - with a real penchant to merge super luxury with grassroot experiences.

Trained in design and art from the United Kingdom, Oiendrila's vision of the world is full of colour, aesthetics, art, fashion and style, always pushing her guests to look and feel their best. To see the world with her is like a perennial roller coaster through a smudged rainbow. Ray, who specialises in visual communication and Design started her career with the leading advertising and marketing agency – Grey Worldwide, where she was part of the creative team that conceptualized and created design solutions for clients including Britannia, ITC, Lee, and Wrigley’s. A mother of two who believes that the greatest gift one can gift their children is that of travel - to see the world up close and personal, Oiendrila is also the founder of KOI Tables - a phenomenal idea that uses creative arts and cuisines to create fabulously spectacular tables to accentuate any sort of celebration.

CHANDA CHAUDHARY is an entrepreneur by profession. She has worked across several industries in Mumbai, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong. Primarily a media professional she has set up (and exited) two companies including an animation production house in Dubai and an online art gallery in Hong Kong. Currently she is the CEO of a digital media company, Jananam Media, that represents independent filmmakers and corporate clients among other things. It also runs a women centric channel on YouTube.

In her personal time, Chanda is a consummate seeker of unique stories and experiences. Her passion for art, antiquities and design has led to a career as a decor stylist and curator of luxury lifestyle. She works with select clients to build their art collections. As an avid traveller her itineraries are usually filled with offbeat albeit luxury experiences. Some of her experiences can be found on her blog: Love, Life & All Things Spinning and her Instagram handle.

Caroline is an award-winning inclusion champion who mentors many inclusive and diversity-centred communities. She has been a facilitator for the past 22 years, first in Dell and Hewlett Packard, and then in consulting roles with several Fortune 100 companies. Her programs for teams and individuals focus on facilitating trust, accountability and communication.

In 2014, she founded Vibha, which started as a women-only community, but expanded to being an inclusive one in 2018. She has co-authored the book Becoming YOU: Stories of Courage and Vulnerability with four other people. The book is available on Amazon.

She is now building Krisullis, a platform that is changing the narrative for all creators to access, leverage and thrive with Web3 tools.

Rekha has worked in Advertising and Media for over 40 years, during which she has been a Sr. Vice-President of Sony Entertainment Television, CEO of a leading Software Production House, after an eleven year stint as Creative Director of Trikaya Grey. Over the years, she has won innumerable awards including ‘Campaign of the Year’ from The Ad Club and the Ney York Ad Festival Gold.

She has written two major feature films and is in the process of writing three more. Rekha has worked on numerous projects for the television & film industry, including writing films for Yashraj Films  and Vinod Chopra Productions. As a consultant for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for five years, Rekha has produced several films and documentaries for the Gates Foundation, UNICEF and India’s Ministry of Health.

She now runs her own production house, Sutradhar Media and Communications and is working on a web-series for OTT platforms. 

At her leisure, she enjoys story-telling, Indian Classical music, writing, singing, reading, poetry, theatre and the culinary arts.

Heta Pandit’s first “real job” was with famed ethologist Dr Jane Goodall on a chimpanzee research station in Tanzania, East Africa. On her return to India in 1983, Heta volunteered with Bombay Environmental Action Group and initiated several heritage projects through the Indian Heritage Society, Bombay Chapter. Traumatized by the riots in 1993 in her beloved Bombay, she left the city for Munnar at first and then Goa putting all her energies into the preservation of Goan houses. 

She has written 10 books on Goan heritage - Houses of Goa, Hidden Hands- Master builders of Goa, Dust & Other Short Stories from Goa, Walking in Goa, Walking in Old Goa and Walking with Angels, There’s More to Life Than a House in Goa and Grinding Stories: Songs from Goa and Grinding Stories Retold.

Heta is a Homi Bhabha Fellow and a founder member the Goa Heritage Action Group. She is currently working on Stories from Goan Houses and a book titled Objects and Memories from Goa. She lives in Saligao Goa with her dog Goru and a cat named Ginger.

Zia is a trauma informed bodywork therapist specializing in Craniosacral Therapy, Somatic Intelligence™, Mother-Infant Birth Dynamics & Mindful Nutrition.
She founded her clinic Quanta Health Care Solutions in 2001 and has been supporting individuals & families in a naturalistic, non-invasive healthcare system. 

As a dancer Zia has been in the study and performance of Sacred Dances for more than two decades. Zia has always been intrigued by the body as a form of art and an instrument of healing and this led her to develop Realms of Dance™ presenting Sacred Dances of ancient esoteric cultures as a therapeutic model and for deeper explorations of our consciousness. 

As a therapist, Zia’s speciality is in simplifying problems, de-sensationalising complex conditions, settling into the ordinariness of being human. Supporting patients to meet their best health potential with the health resources within themselves, getting independent with their own health.

MEGHNA DAMANI is a multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker and life coach. She immigrated to the USA in 2002 from Mumbai, her birthplace, where she was a successful model, journalist and advertising executive. As her H-4 (dependent spouse) Visa denied her work authorisation in the US, she wrote, directed and produced the film Hearts Suspended which was aired on NDTV in India and at festivals worldwide.

A pioneering activist for work authorisation for H-4 Visa holders she has spent over a decade building a consistent and engaged social media campaign and grassroots movement that has mobilised individuals and organisations to lobby for policy change. On May 26, 2015, about 1,00,000 spouses on the H-4 Visa were granted work authorisation (H4EAD) by the US.

Meghna is the founder of Treasure Tower Films, a multimedia company with a mission to make films that celebrate human potential. Her work with immigrant women inspired her to get certified as an NLP-based Advanced Life Coach. She conducts customised work- shops called I Choose Workshops for Women in Transition.

She is currently working on a feature film called Dreams Uprooted to continue the fight for all dependent spouses to have work authorisation. She chases stories between India and America.

Inderjeet Paintal is a successful businessman, author, radio show host and leadership coach whose passion is to help people reach their potential through positive coaching and interventions. He envisions a positive change in the world order which is possible only through an inner revolution.
He has been scripting documentaries and doing voiceovers for national television and private channels for over 15 years. He has written columns and middles for The Times of India and contributed to one of their coffee-table books. In his critically acclaimed book of short stories Pilgrims of Sorrow, he explores the trials and tribulations of humanity.
Through his popular writing programme, many have recovered from blocks in their lives and found catharsis and healing. ‘Writing for the Soul with Inderjit’ has empowered many participants and helped them in self-discovery and joyful living.
Inderjit is a co-founder of The Space, a book studio and enrich- ment hub in Jalandhar. It is a greenhouse for creativity to thrive in and for uninhibited self-expression to blossom in. Members are encouraged to discover and re-discover the joy of answering a soul-call and going forward with confidence.

Currently living and working between Mumbai and London, Deshna is a graduate of Sir J.J Institute of Applied Art (Mumbai), followed by a masters in Graphic design from the London College of Communication and a masters in Visual Communication from the Royal College of Art in London, Deshna moved back to India seeking to find meaning within her own design practice. This led to the inception of a communication design practice by the name of Studio Anugraha that serves as a platform to encourage and undertake collaborative practices in the field of visual art, design and research.

The studio is now in its 10th year and works with a specific focus on clients in the artistic, cultural, social, educational, environmental and medical sectors. Aside of working on over 70 publications, the team has had the opportunity to document the Kumbh Mela’s in India (amongst largest human gatherings on earth) which has culminated into books and films.
 
Deshna has been teaching courses on Print, Publication and Editorial Design, Branding and Professional Practice Workshops at the National Institute of Design as visiting faculty since the past 7 years. She was also part of the Publication Design Jury Panel for D&AD (2021) and the ADC One Club for Creativity (2022).

Tulsi and Sam Chase weave their work in research, education, and technology with their spiritual journey. Together they have over 4000 hours of combined training,  as classical hatha yoga teachers. Trained at the renowned Isha Hatha Yoga School in Tamil Nadu, Sam and Tulsi have taught classes to thousands of students all over the world.

Tulsi grew up in Mumbai, India and has a bachelor's degree in Movement Studies from Pomona College in California, and a Masters from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She now leads education and outreach efforts at the Sadhguru Center for a Conscious Planet, a multidisciplinary research center at a Harvard hospital. She teaches yoga to doctors and medical professionals and designs research interventions for patients with chronic diseases based on these yogic techniques.

Sam grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, and met Tulsi at Pomona College where he studied Linguistics, Cognitive Science, and Computer Science. He works for a startup revolutionising supply chain technology, leading their Data Science team. He is also founder of a company called Being that teaches yoga to corporate teams, leaders, and scientists, helping to bring balance and consciousness to the corporate sector.

Tulsi and Sam live and work in Boston, Massachusetts, USA with their sweet three-legged dog Jalebi.

RUCHITA MADHOK is an artist, designer and writer looking for poetry in simple things. Through art and writing she explores the relationship between nature, life and the cosmos. She has published several chapbooks and poetry zines including Bloom Where You’re Planed and Monsoon Haiku. Her haiku have been published in journals such as Haiku Dialogue and Failed Haiku.

As a design professional, Ruchita is the Creative Director of Kahani, a communication design studio that works with art and culture organisations to reach audiences across the country. She is an advocate for Mumbai heritage and writes about her home city’s visual and material culture under the Storycity imprint. [www.kahanidesignworks.com

Amla Ruia has been working for the cause of water for the last 22 years and from 2006 she has embarked upon the construction of check dams. The efforts taken up by her initiative have made farmers self-reliant and debt free.

Mrs. Amla Ruia, fondly called the ‘Water Mother of India’, has been an instrumental force in transforming the water scenario in highly water-deficient regions of rural India. Her pioneering and extensive work has earned her many prestigious awards.

She has been nominated for one of the highest civilian honours of India awarded by the President of India the Padma Shri in January 2023 in recognition of her achievements in the field of rainwater harvesting and education in rural India.

The BBC has decided to cover the work done by Mrs. Amla Ruia amongst the top twelve NGOs from Southeast Asia. She was also invited by the team at ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ for their ‘Karamveer’ segment in 2019 and was lauded for her work and accomplishments.
TedX has approached and welcomed Mrs. Amla Ruia on its plat- form to inspire promising students of BITS Pilani.

Mrs. Amla Ruia continues to lead her team at Aakar Charitable Trust and works towards setting higher benchmarks in water conservation and rainwater harvesting in rural areas for the benefit of underprivileged communities.

Ganesh is a catalyst for self-expression. He believes that self-expression is a fundamental and universal need. As a branding consultant & coach, writer, book coach & editor and voiceover artiste, he helps people and organisations take their work, knowledge, stories and other messages to their target audiences. He works with senior corporate executives, startup founders and independent professionals.    

He runs two popular workshops. "The Write Path", is on writing, publishing & marketing books, while "Person Branding Unpacked" is a primer on person branding. Ganesh is often invited to moderate panels and deliver keynotes at seminars and conferences.

Divyaa is a Spiritual author & facilitator, Tarot Guide, Bach flower practitioner & teacher and a Theta Energy worker from Mumbai.

She reaches out to many through her weekly discourses, meditation groups, in depth Tarot and Bach Remedies workshops and personal sessions. She has been published in Speaking Tree Times of India, Sunday Midday, Star Teller, Life positive, Spiritual ®evolution and has active spiritual platforms on Face book, Instagram & YouTube

She is on her own spiritual journey, and enables likeminded seekers as a fellow traveller. She says, “A deep spiritual font spontaneously opened up within in 2000 it was like being plugged into an inner power or voice and this is the very core from where all the work that happens through a ‘me’ flows from. Its grace to receive this intuitive understanding but even more grace to somehow help and enable others along the path.”