PIONEER | SEEMA
Following Her Dharma Megha Desai’s commitment to ensuring empowerment and dignity to women and children through her foundation. ABHIJIT MASIH
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egha Desai heads the Desai Foundation, an organization that works to elevate the health and livelihood of women and children through community programs, both here in the United States and in India. Set up as a family foundation in 1997 by Samir and Nilima Desai, it has footprints in the metro areas of Boston, New York City and in about 1,400 villages across India. Impacting about 5 million people, it is focused on general health, livelihood and menstrual health. In the recent past, it has focused more on the COVID response, especially in India, but its larger commitment is to ensure the dignity of women and children it serves. Desai is also the founder of MSD (marketing.
12 | SEEMA.COM | NOVEMBER 2022
strategy. dharma) which is a branding and strategic partnership advisory serving social good brands. Before being an entrepreneur, Desai spent more than a decade in mainstream advertising, bringing brands and entertainment together on film, television and the internet. Increasing involvement in the foundation led her to transform the family foundation to a dynamic public foundation. It hosts Diwali on the Hudson, an annual event that showcases the work done to empower women and children. This year the event, held on October 12, drew the city’s most renowned South Asian influencers. Desai shared with SEEMA details of her personal and professional journey, and her foundation’s work in India and the U.S.
