A series of IWITalks, held as Facebook Lives, was yet another successful endeavour on Incredible Women of India to shine the spotlight on women achievers and their incredible stories.

The series began with Dr. Tripti Sharan’s talk on Women Empowerment. Dr. Tripti Sharan is a gynaecologist, author, poet and columnist. As a doctor, her experiences in dealing with women is very different. She has had close encounters with many evils against women that our society is plagued with and has written two books based on her experiences. To watch the video, click here.

The second talk in this series was with Anupama Dalmia. Anupama is a serial entrepreneur, social activist, blogger, and a social media expert. Anupama spoke about using social media as an effective marketing tool. Watch her talking about harnessing the power of social media here.

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if we shift our inherent thought process to ‘feminine’? What if we changed the language we talk in, what if we changed the way we walk? Well, well, not so much. What if, say, at least girls could model human walk and not catwalk? What if we won’t use female bodies to sell men’s razors and underwear? What if we spoke with default pronouns as she or her? What if we mainstream the feminine? The next talk in the series was with award-winning writer and activist, Sinjini Sengupta, apart from being a TEDx speaker and trainer. She talked about shifting the paradigm to the feminine. To watch her video, click here. 

With the corona pandemic spreading its tentacles, women’s health was a prime concern for all. The next session under IWITalks was by Dr. Vandana Gupta. Dr. Gupta is the Chief Medical Officer at Ananddham Nature Cure Centre. Watch her talk here. 

The next session, continuing the theme of awareness during the pandemic, was by Tanushree Ghosh on the topic of social justice in the times of social distancing. Tanushree is a writer, activist and management professional. She is the author of From Another Land-a collection of short stories of immigrant life. Watch her video here.

This was followed by a sneak peek into the life of Swati Pandey, Post Master General at GPO Mumbai. She is an Indian Postal Service Officer since 1997; presently working as the administrative head of India Post, Mumbai and authoritative head of the 229 post offices in Mumbai city & suburb, including Mumbai GPO.She shared her struggles and successes and talked about Leadership in Crisis. Watch her inspiring video here.

The session post this was about uplifting rural women and helping them find their own source of livelihood. Nidhi Prabha Tiwari works as Senior Social Sector Specialist, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India and has tremendous experience in working with governments, MPs, academic institutions & NGOs in policy/legislative research, leadership training & participatory field studies in the areas of democracy & development. With an illustrious career and a long list of achievements, she was the best person to talk about development at the grassroots level. Watch her talk about how she made the initiative a resounding success here.

Can any discussion of women empowerment be complete without talking about entrepreneurship? Our next installment of IWITalks was with Sakshi Jain.
Sakshi is a media professional with over 2 decades in the industry and counting. She is the founder of Insperante and dreams of seeing Indian Art and artists in every household. Sakshi talked about the challenges in promoting art and her journey of being an entrepreneur. Watch the session here.

Next in the series of IWITalks was celebrated author Sutapa Basu. An award-winning author, a publishing professional, and a creative writing coach, she spoke about her journey of making her second innings a resounding success. Sutapa is the best-selling author of Padmavat-The Queen tells her own story, published in 2017. She started her career as an author when most people plan to retire. Her talk was an insight into her life, the challenges she faced and the secret mantra of her success. Watch her inspiring story here.

Then we were treated to the incredible story of a bookseller! Mayura Misra, the founder of Storyteller, Kolkata has been selling books since the mid-1990s, traversing the length and breadth of the city’s many schools. Mayura is also a consultant to children, parents, and teachers on what to read. To know about her inspiring story of overcoming struggles and following her passion to spread the love for reading, watch the video here. 

This was followed by a talk by Himika Chaudhuri on busting myths in the media industry. She shared her inspiring journey & mantra for success based on her seventeen years in the media. She also spoke about her own experiences as a media professional. Watch her talk about her incredible journey here.

Coming back to arts and art forms, the next session was with Paridhi Joshi. A promising young dancer of Odissi, she was ranked in the top ten dancers at the talent search held at the esteemed Odissi International 2015 in Bhubaneswar. Paridhi spoke about the world of dance, the highs and lows and how to ace it. Watch the video of her inspiring journey here.

Next in the series was another artform – theatre. Neha Sahai, actor and theatre artist, talked about her journey of being a theatre professional. Watch her share about her journey of overcoming struggles and shares her mantras for success here.

With the Covid pandemic, climate change, and environmental disasters being the biggest concerns, we turned our attention to becoming environmentally conscious with our next session. Kalpana Manivannan is an Urban Organic Farmer and a Sustainability Coach, and takes classes and workshops on urban farming and self-sustainability. To watch her talk about her journey as an urban farmer and how to lead a sustainable life, click here.

After arts and lifestyle, we moved into the corporate space in the penultimate session of IWITalks with Mekhla Basu. Mekhla Basu is the Director and Corporate Counsel – Asia Pacific at Splunk. She manages over 16 countries in South East Asia and ANZ and has extensive work experience in India and elsewhere. Mekhla spoke about preparing oneself for a corporate life. Watch her session here.

The series came to a close with a session on art and mental health with Rhiti Chatterjee Bose. Rhiti has a teacher’s degree from Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and Post graduate diploma in Psychotherapy and Child Psychology from School of Natural Health and Science, London, UK. She is the founder of the art company ArtIsana and Co-Founder of a community library called Kitaabshaala. She is also a published writer and poet. Rhiti spoke about using art as a medium of healing and counselling not just for children but also adults. Watch her session on ‘The Art and Craft of Counselling for Children’ here.