Blog Post
I believe all of us have unique stories to tell. Our lives are not just passing us by but are being weaved into individually unique stories. Imagine the diversity of 7 billion unique stories!
Our Thoughts and Ideas have the power to govern the world.
As storytellers ourselves, The Brand Called You has successfully covered unique stories of hundreds of individuals. As we look back at our wonderful guests, we feel very proud of the diverse stories that we were fortunate enough to cover.
Today, we bring you stories of ten striking women who have crossed barriers to excel in professional as well as social spheres of life. We are sure that their powerful stories will inspire you to change the world!
Read on!
1. Supriya Paul
Title- Co-founder
Business- Josh Talks
A student from Delhi University aspiring to become a Chartered Accountant, Supriya’s perspective changed when she realized that her passions lay elsewhere. A path to explore her interests and passions led her to kickstart an impact media platform- Josh Talks. Mainly focused on story telling, Josh Talks was started to inspire viewers (especially the Indian youth). Conversations on a wide array of subjects like business, public policy, sports, entertainment, social sector initiatives etc. and in more than 6 languages, has made Josh Talks a highly demanded platform with a viewership of 75 million plus! Josh Talks passionately believes that a well-told story has the power to reshape attitudes, lives, and ultimately, the world.
Supriya has also been recognized in Forbes 30 under 30, Asia for her work on Josh Talks!
With Josh Talks she has proven that no dream is too late to pursue and that it is very important to follow your gut and believe in your instincts.
2. Tiffany Brar
Title- A visually impaired Social Entrepreneur and Social Activist and Founder.
Organization- Jyothirgamaya Foundation.
The story of Tiffany Brar is a unique blend of inspiration, strength and the desire to fight every odd! Blinded shortly after her birth, Tiffany Brar is a born fighter. As a visually impaired individual Tiffany faced distinct discriminations in school and society. Her experiences made her realize the problems that the visually impaired community faces on a daily basis.
Tiffany’s career is essentially inspired by her disability and the discrimination that she and her fellow community members face as persons with disability. She set off on a journey to spend time with more and more visually disabled people and learn about their experiences. Her motive was to change the scenario for fellow members of the visually impaired community and other disabled communities as well.
A non profit that started by Tiffany as a mobile blind school in 2012, is now a fully functional and highly impactful non profit for the visually impaired community and the empowerment of women. The Jyothirgamaya Foundation has attained high visibility and recognition from people across the country. For the work she has put into the organization, Tiffany was addressed as the ‘courageous daughter of India’ by the President and has many awards and recognitions to her name.
Tiffany has broken every challenging barrier of society and has inspired many others. She has also addressed and broken the stereotype of visually impaired people not participating in sports activity. She has done skydiving, paragliding, tandem cycling, rope climbing and a lot more!
Her story is indeed one to learn from.
3. Dinika Bhatia
Title- Founder
Business- Nutty Gritties.
A fifth generation entrepreneur, Dinika Bhatia’s story is a legacy of entrepreneurs and a traditional Indian brand. Nutty Gritties is an Indian snack brand with the main focus on healthier snacking. The non-negotiable quality of the brand makes it stand out in the wide array of snacking brands available in the country. The founder Dinika Bhatia has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. Her family has a legacy of 130 years in the Indian dry fruit market.
Nutty Gritties was only a project for Dinika in Business School. She won an award for the same and went on to establish it as a full fledged business in 2009. Today, Nutty Gritties is a well established business with a loyal customer base and a huge range of unique blend of healthy snacks with rich dry fruits.
We are sure that while Dinika’s story is inspirational, it also definitely made you hungry!
4. Deepshika Kumar
Title- Founder
Company- Speakin.
Deepshika Kumar is one of the most networked and respected women entrepreneurs of the country. She is the founder of Speakin- India’s largest networking platform of experts and leaders. It enables the elearning, live learning and personal one on one sessions with experts and covers discussions on topics like inclusion, women empowerment, diversity, business, health, motivation, wellness, sales, marketing etc.
Deepshika has provided an amazing platform for experts to share their expertise and aspiring professionals to learn from them.
She aims to make Speakin an Open Talent Economy pan Asia for transparent and tech enriched business experiences.
Speakin is on its way to become Asia’s largest expert network and has served a number of fortune 500 companies.
In putting together this platform she has not only led herself to her entrepreneurial goals but has also created a platform to help others do the same!
5. Aekta Kapoor
Title- Founder and Lifestyle Journalist.
Work- eShe Magazine.
Aekta Kapoor is a writer, journalist, editor and most importantly- a feminist. Her career is highly influenced by her feminist approach. She is the Founder of eShe Magazine, a blog and magazine (print and digital) published by Coral Content based in India and Canada. Through eShe, Aekta amplifies the voices of thousands of women. Her blogs are translated into many languages to reach women all around the world. Aekta is known for her strong beliefs and opinions. In the interview with Ashutosh Garg, Aekta shared her beliefs of the subject of marriage and its glamourized ‘necessity’. Aekta’s opinions are highly progressive and often considered controversial to traditional beliefs about women.
Her determination to be vocal about women’s issues is highly inspiring.
6. Chandini Ann Khanna
Title- Author.
Book- Some ME Time.
Chandini Ann Khanna is a professional from the corporate world and a very renowned author.
Chandini’s story is a definition of strength and a ‘never give up’ attitude.
The unfortunate loss of her mother led young Chandini to start working very early in life. She believes that she has no regrets of working that early into her life and that her initial jobs have given her exposure to managing the nuances of high offices.
The sudden loss of her spouse led to some unimaginable difficulties in her life. She believes her daughter is her only constant motivator and the reason that she has succeeded in getting through all these difficult phases.
Her love for writing, led Chandini to write her own book which she self published on kindle. Her book, ‘Some ME Time” is about the importance of self care and taking out time for oneself.
Chandini got recognized on an online platform for her book and was encouraged to print more copies. In 2016, hard copies of her book were published and performed extremely well.
Irrespective of her trauma and pain, Chandini hustled on to the best of her strengths and abilities. She is the epitome of power and an inspiration to thousands of people in the world.
7. Meera Shenoy
Title- Founder
Organization- Youth4Jobs
Meera Shenoy has dedicated her life to training and employing underprivileged and disabled youth. She is the founder of Youth4Jobs, an organization that works with underprivileged and vulnerable youth from villages, skilling and linking them to jobs. Meera also works with several companies and boards to sensitize and make the office environment inclusive for the disabled.
The mantra of her organization is Will to Skill. She has also helped establish EGMM — Employment Generation and Marketing Mission — India’s first skilling mission.
Through Youth4Jobs, Meera has successfully trained 23000 persons with disabilities and has centers spread across 18 states (28 centers) with a placement rate of 85%! It is the largest organization working for the young, disabled and underprivileged in Southeast Asia!
Meera has won several awards in the country as well as internationally for her work. She received the National Award for empowering the disabled people from the President himself!
8. Sujata Sahu.
Title- Founder.
Organization- 17000 ft Foundation.
Sujata Sahu is an exceptional woman who is impacting the world greatly through the work she does. An Indian social entrepreneur, Sujata was initially working in the corporate world in the United States. After spending fifteen years in IT in the US she moved back to India to contribute to the social sector.
A solo trip to the remote sections of Ladakh and seeing the state of children and the villages overall, changed Sujata’s perspective in 2010. Having witnessed the conditions of the people living there, Sujata decided to establish a non-profit called 17000ft- dedicated to transforming the lives of children and communities of remote and inaccessible parts of India.
She decided to change the status of such remote villages in the high mountainous regions of Ladakh. Her initiative works towards providing education and changing the lives of children. 17000ft focuses on improving education in govt schools, livelihood opportunities and exposure through interactions with the outside world.
Sujata is the winner of Nari Shakti Puruskar of 2015.
Her work has led to thousands of children get education and have a stronger connection with the outside world.
9. Pinky Maheshwari.
Title- Co Founder
Company- Surprise Someone.
In a technologically driven environment and speeding economy, we seldom take a break to comprehend the consequences of our actions on nature. Our daily paper usage is considerably high. Modern technology and the age old method of making recycled paper is making a comeback in the business. Handmade papers are in high demand and are also a very efficient alternative to the traditional method.
One such woman who changed the game with recycling of paper and environment friendly products, is Pinky Maheshwari. Pinky is the Co Founder of Surprise Someone, a venture that produces paper out of cotton rags and waste cotton. Her company even uses seeds in the paper making process. Surprise Someone makes recycled handmade paper which requires the cutting of zero trees! They have crafted 1200+ products that can actually be grown into plants.
Pinky believes that the amount of harm we cause to the environment by constant consumption of fresh papers is alarming. Her environment friendly approach to her business definitely makes her a one of a kind business woman!
10. Sonali Patankar
Title- Founder.
Organization- Responsible Netism.
Did you know? A cyberattack is attempted every 39 seconds! Cyberattacks have become a very evident problem in the modern day. Children as young as the age of 1, are getting addicted to the internet. In this technologically driven environment, it is very important that parents be extra careful about the online content that is being consumed by their children.
Sonali Patankar is a social entrepreneur and an advocate of responsible cyber use. She is the Founder of Responsible Netism, an initiative set up for promoting cyber wellness and responsible behavior; and online protection of children and adults. She works towards protecting minors from cybercrimes.
Her organization encourages parents to acknowledge the threat that the internet poses for children and suggests solutions that help them deal with it. It is a movement that aims on empowering people about online safety, thus promoting responsible online behavior
These are just ten out of the thousand stories that are yet to be unfolded for us. Women all over the world have fought all odds to fight for their rights and make a place for themselves in a very competitive world.
A message that I want the readers to take away from this is that gender should never define the work that one does.
And that women are capable of endless things.
So be the girl boss that you are and go for it!
