“The only thing motherhood changed in me was the shape of my body. My passion and drive never changed”. Meet Haritha Haridas who comes with 27 years of experience in classical dance. She is currently working as a Mohiniyattam Instructor at Kalapravaha-Home of performing Arts, Singapore. Haritha started learning dance at the age of five. It was her mother’s wish. Her mother loved dance but could not pursue it professionally. Luckily, Haritha took to dance as passionately as her mother.

She started learning Bharatanatyam when she was two and a half – at an age she could not even pronounce the word properly. But today, when Rajashree Das looks back, she knows it was always her true calling. While she finds it hard to articulate why she took up dance, she knows why she loves it so much. On the one hand, dance gives her an identity and on the other hand it liberates her from the same imprisoning identity.

“My single mother has made unimaginable sacrifices in making me the person I am. From selling vegetables, stitching clothes, sewing sari falls, she has done it all” Meet Sanyogeeta Patil, who says, Bharatanatyam is her life, without which she would cease to exist. A native of Kolhapur, Sanyogeeta remembers being mesmerized by the classical dance performances on Doordarshan (when she was all of 3 years old) and started to train formally at the age of 13. So deep rooted was

“Bangalorean at heart with a Tamilian soul”, that is how 29 year old Sangeeta Iyer likes to describe herself. A multi-faceted wonder woman, Sangeeta is a homemaker, pet parent, performing artiste, dancer, choreographer, teacher and a Bharatanatyam and Bharatanrtyam exponent. Sangeeta, after close to three years at an MNC, discovered she wasn’t built to deal with corporate hypocrisy. It was a period in life when she had a lot of money, but had no time to do anything with it. In her words, “I

Many of us are guilty of shopping for things we probably don’t even need. But here’s Devyani Trivedi who has started a movement to promote the mind-set of reusing, exchanging, renting, repairing and sharing rather than buying new or wasting! This ambitious movement and her sheer persistence led to the setup of Re-store where Devyani reaches out to people who have physical goods that no longer “sparks joy” in their lives, collects, categorizes and prices them. She even repairs and

“There is no place for misogyny in my life and on my set. If you feel superior merely because you are a man, you can continue feeling so in the cave you come from.” Meet Sarah Thomas, Founder and Producer – STOM Productions, an ad film production house. This passionate, vocal and full of fire 25 year old, directed and produced her first documentary in her final year of college. It was on the issue of acid attacks. The second

A trained Bharatanatyam dancer, Carnatic vocalist singer, movie buff, voracious reader (with a weakness for murder mysteries) – meet 58 year old Swarnalatha Iyer, MD & CEO, Seshan’s Academy Infinity, Bangalore which is established with a view of contributing to society through empowering individuals, and enabling them to develop their skills. They develop specific skills in people to enable them to manifest their full potential, achieve their goals and meet their objectives. Swarnalatha had a bumpy start in her professional life.

“There are two emotions I would rather not waste time on – guilt and regret. There’s too much good stuff to be immersed in!” Behind that practical, pragmatic and perfect statement is Pavitra Chalam, Founder and Director of Curley Street. Pavitra and her diverse, opinionated and young team make films and noise about “the uncomfortable, the awkward and the complex.” – things that are ignored, thereby creating social justice narratives which they feel require further public discourse.   Pavitra fell in love with the medium of film when she

“I love to ride motorbikes and have covered 10,000 km in India. In fact, my first solo bike ride was to Kolkata.” Meet Dashmi Rani C J, a mother, teacher, social activist, civic leader and an avid biker! Born in a middle class family in a small town in Karnataka called Chitradurga, Dashmi says, “Life was a struggle. I have faced so many hardships and had to fight hard to get what I want. Growing up, I was filled with

“Men do not always respect women in leadership positions”, says Shree Seeva, Director of Vymigrate (pronounced as why-migrate). Shree has had men not look at her when she talks knowing fully well that they can learn a thing or two from her. This Law and Science graduate from Australia moved to India to set up her venture that is a one stop shop for all country migration (with legal licensing provisions). With ten years of experience, Shree is looking to expand