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T
he Jewel Of
An epitome of success and confidence, Kumarani Meena Muthiah can truly be called the jewel of Chettinad for the stature she has attained in her 83 years. Seated in royal splendor sporting a beaming smile, clad in a green and red traditional Kancheevaram saree she recollects her past including her early days in Rangoon where she studied in a convent. The Japanese and the World War brought her parents to India and to Chettinad. The early home of the Chettiars was however Poompoohar, which was devastated by Tidal waves. The few Chettiars who survived moved to Kancheepuram and then onto Madurai. There they requested the Pandya Maharaja to give them some land away from water bodies as the tidal wave and the subsequent losses to both life and property at Poompuhar made them mortally scared of water! And that is how the present day Chettinad was established. There were nine cousins and hence 9 temples of Chettinad. Since they were scared of water every Chettinad house that they built had eight steps to the entrance.
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Chettinad The Chettiars were born vegetarians but eventually became non-vegetarian by choice, when they migrated to places like Rangoon, Malaysia, Indonesia, Saigon, Ceylon etc. The men would return to the village only once in three years and so it was apparently the women who did most of the work including building the houses on similar patterns. This explains why the Chettiar women are so very hard working! The emphasis right from those days was on health and education. Meena Muthiah’s vision probably comes from her grandfather who was a great visionary despite the fact that he had studied only upto 8th std.
Her love for art made her take up Tanjore painting which at that time was a male dominated one. She insisted on studying that art and made her teacher teach that art to her although he was very reluctant to, as she was a girl. But her commitment is plainly visible as she brought her teacher to her house and looked after him and his family till his demise at the age of 99. She set up the Kumara Raja Muthiah School Of Art and Craft to nurture her passion for Tanjore art and keep Tanjore paintings thriving. Her house is filled with her beautiful paintings that literally come alive. It is to be seen to be believed. It is no wonder she has a double PhD to her credit in this art. Meena Muthiah, “Meena Aunty” as she is popularly called by one and all alike, has also written and published a book on this subject. In keeping with the commitment of her community’s health needs, she has graciously set up a state of the art hospital which offers affordable health to the people of her village. She has founded several institutions bearing her name which she says is her way of paying back to society what God has given to her. Today “Meena Aunty” feels that she has lived a full life and has absolutely no regrets, but she asks God to give her lots of her own children in her next birth. Her goodwill message to her over 10,000 children who study in her institution is to be good in thoughts, words and deeds and do at least one good deed every day. Meena Aunty has been awarded several well deserved awards and she is ever thankful to God for all the opportunities that He has bestowed on her. ”Meena Aunty” is a bundle of joyous energy with an intersperse of kindness to the deserving and without any shadow of doubt easily outshines the younger generation by her poise, enthusiasm, disciplined approach, tactfulness, willpower, commitment and natural charm all of which exude in abundance from every cell that resides and percolates in her. To Contact Meena Aunty mail to contact @ womanationindia.com or Call 9176812377 Citing Code: WN02 001
Her early days in Chettinad was such that the girls were supposed to be neither seen nor heard but she was a boarder in Rosary Matriculation School. It is clear that her vision and morals were shaped by the nuns who taught her, which is why she claims to be a Hindu Christian.
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Parveen Papa is the Director HR of Huma Specialists Hospital & Research Centre Pvt, Ltd. One of the leading health care hospitals in the city. Her philosophy is that touch, feel and heal are the sterling qualities of a medical practitioner, while treating patients. About four decades back, the ‘family doctor’ used to be considered the ‘angel’ in a family, who would know the medical history of every member and guide them suitably. Somewhere down the line, things have changed and this concept needs to be revived in order to simplify and minimize treatments and procedures. Unfortunately Corporate Medicine has totally rocked the Touch, Feel and Heal concept. The once godly profession is unfortunately now looked upon as just another business, losing its sanctity. It was in 1987 that Parveen Papa and her husband started Huma Specialists Hospital & Research Centre, with an earnest passion to serve, adhering to medical ethics and to render excellent care, affordable by a common man. Thankfully she has made sure that their ideology has never been compromised in these 29 years. Huma has, in fact carved a niche for excellence in diagnostic services, while catering to Multinational Heal Ministries as well. As they step into the 30th year of Huma, their dreams are coming true, by redefining the practice of Medicine, with the launch of ‘ Therapia’, a holistic health care concept by Huma Wellness (HW). This is a signature treatment module that brings the best of Alternative Medicine and Therapies, under highly qualified Professionals. ‘Preventive care and conservative treatment‘ is the mantra practiced in the interest of the wellbeing of patients. They aim at
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providing a relaxing spa like atmosphere where the patients feel at ease and enjoy the experience of traditionally imbibed effective treatments and therapies. The center that Parveen heads will make use of innovative and latest treatment protocols and hospital policies, backed by scientific research and evidence based medicine. Huma Wellness is probably the first of its kind wellness center which offers the best combination of ancient wisdom and modern professionalism. This Wellness concept is certainly on the verge of changing the quality of patients’ lives and the way diseases are treated by resorting to natural medicines and therapies, under the vigilant care of qualified Medical Professionals.
To Contact Parveen Papa mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 9176812377 Citing Code: WN02 002
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cupping therapy after witnessing Olympic athlete like Michael Phelps undergoing it. Every month there are free demos at Huma, as a measure to revive and familiarize the ancient cures to the society. As the Founder Trustee of Huma Foundation, Parveen joined her husband who, as a pulmonologist lent his might for the past over three decades to eradicate Tuberculosis, scanning over 50,000 people at grass root level. It is rather alarming that drug resistant TB is on the surge! It is the 2nd largest killer in India and the largest killer of HIV affected people. It is unfortunate that 25% of World’s TB patients live in India and 2 people die every 3 minutes due to TB in the country! We are living in a fool’s paradise undermining the risk of TB inflicting us. It is Parveen’s fervent appeal to all the readers to join hands in their crusade against
this deadly affliction. Mental health is a vital area that our society tends to overlook, though 20 % of the population is affected some way or the other, according to research statistics. Therefore a whole team, consisting of Psychiatrists, Psychologists and alternative medical therapists work together to provide minimal drugging and sustained cure. For Parveen it has been an exciting journey passing through the challenges and triumphs. And it is indeed heartening to have their dreams coming true with Huma taking its flight into new avenues in service to humanity. Parveen states that life is after all, not measured by its length but by its depth - the count of friends, good deeds and fulfilling moments.
QUALITY POLICY OF HUMA HOSPITAL HUMA SPECIALISTS HOSPITAL & RESEARCH CENTRE PVT LTD: “Our primary focus is to standardize healthcare and demonstrate dignity for human life”
At Huma patients are initially attended to by an Allopath Specialist, according to the ailment and as soon the patient is stable, the medicines are weaned off and supplemented by natural medicines. As THERAPIA, is a holistic health care provider, the team consists of the best of qualified experts in alternative medicine such Ayurveda, Unani and Homeopathy. Time tested effective therapies such as Yoga therapy, Cupping, Pranic and Reiki are also popular as curative and preventive treatments here. The world is in awe of
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Editor’s Note
The Team
President & Publisher Suresh Gemz Woman Power Media LLP +91 95000 03090 | www.womanpowermedia.com Editor Samuel Eddy SAMS +91 97908 14844 | www.samglobal.org Concept, Layout & Design Swathi Ashok TRAZAR STUDIOS +9198842 79307 | www.trazarstudios.org Junior Designer Priyanka Katrela +9197103 99003 | priyankakv1@gmail.com Photography Kasirajan Siva Kasar Pix +91 98843 15163 | www.kasarpix.com Printer Abdul Monocrafts +91 90030 86157 Co ordinator Priya +91 91767 51885 Womanation magazine is Published and owned by Woman Power Media LLP., 109 Pursawalkam, Chennai 600084 and Printed at Monocraft thousand light Chennai 600006. www.womanationmedia.com E-mail contact@womanationindia.com DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed or implied by writers do not neccessarily reflect the publishers or the magazines. Unsolicited articles and transparencies are sent in at the owners risk and publisher accepts no liability for loss or damage. Material in this publication may not be reproduced, whether in part or in whole, without the consent of Womanation media LLP
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To say that the launch of Womanation, on 1st of April 2016 at the Vivanta by Taj, was a classy affair would have been an understatement. I guess it kind of set a bench mark for short and sweet events in Chennai. For one, the event started on time and that’s saying a lot as subsequent events that I attended in Chennai always started an hour or so late. The Womanation launch event was a smooth flow and it brought out the emotions and was interactive. This was followed by great networking amongst the women featured in the inaugural issue. The set up was impressive with the exhibits displayed by The Tamilnadu Handicrafts Corporation adding a unique aura to the ambience of the venue. The presence of other VIPs added to the prestige of the event which was a by invitation one. The inaugural issue was launched by Dr.Papa, Founder Huma Specialty Hospital and the first copy was received by Dr.Prateep Philip the ADGP–Economic Offences Wing who along with Dr.Santhosh Babu IAS, Chairman Managing Director of The Tamilnadu Handicrafts Corporation Limited and Mr.C.K. Kumaravel, Co-Founder Naturals. The Woman featured themselves provided the entertainment and the event was completed in an hour and this was followed by networking dinner. The event was also an occasion to present the SAM EVE awards for the year 2015 in various categories and the award itself came to be christened the “Black lady”! The awards ceremony was a top secret affair at a time when most awards are announced much before hand and usually bought. Coming to the concept of Womanation itself there seems to be a fallacy that it’s a magazine that women pay to publicize themselves. No, It’s an investment that women make to grow their business. Womanation is not a glamour or lifestyle magazine but a serious business magazine. It aims at improving the network, networth and the business of the women Entrepreneurs featured. In this short time the women interacting with each other it has started growing their business.
Founder and Editor in Chief Samuel Eddy Many interesting collaborations are already starting to happen and they are seeing value. The magazine is also providing business opportunities to augment the income of those featured. Most importantly at this time of writing, Womanation has already spread to 12 cities in India and 4 countries. It is also spawning certain extensions like CAKENATION which will feature 50 Home Bakers in each issue. Not bad for a few months old magazine you could say. This of course reflects the vision, mission and the positioning behind the magazine and the hard work undertaken behind the launching of a first of its kind magazine and the leadership provided by its President Mr. Suresh Babu who is basically a gemologist and who spent more than 20 years in Japan and Bangkok. This issue features some very mature and inspiring women professionals and thought leaders and also some upcoming Entrepreneurs in very unique segments and businesses. In Womanation no category is repeated and has a diverse set of women who are blazing trails and taking the road less travelled. These are empowered women who can inspire and empower other women. I think we are building a very unique platform for women to care, share and grow not only their businesses but also their full human potential.
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President’s Note
Toying with
Kids Aarthi Sethuraman was born and brought up in Chennai. She did her schooling in Chennai and later went to BITS-Pilani to complete her dual degree in Maths and Master of Management Studies. She worked at Cognizant Technology Solutions for close to seven years shuttling between chennai and US.
It is an honor and a pleasure to be the President and Publisher of Womanation. WPM is a publication of aspiring women in leadership from organizations to entrepreneurs. I extend my heartiest congratulations to the Women featured in this magazine. The content is influenced by the aspiring women leaders which in turns helps to boost their selfconfidence and own who they are. Being a gemologist I understand the difficulty in mining rare gems and once mined how to process them. The same effort goes into identifying the women featured in our magazine. The efforts are almost similar to mining for gems which is even more valuable than gold. I also take this opportunity to congratulate my team for the tireless and consistent effort put in for bringing out this issue. I am sure that they will indulge in what I call CAN I (Constant and never ending Improvement) in maintaining the high quality of Womanation. The coming year will be a busy one, with initiatives to both strengthen and expand WPM across the country and countries abroad. I trust you will find ample value in this issue as well as in the future slated for the year ahead. Thanking You,
After he first son was born, Aarthi decided to take a break from the hectic life demanded by the IT industry and became a stay at home mom where her son became her center of attraction and she engaged with him by reading books and doing art and crafts. Engaging her son with various crafts meant reading a lot of books and research on ways and means to keep him occupied. In the process, she developed a keen interest in early childhood education. Aarthi toyed with the idea of whether she should go back to the IT industry or do something on her own when her second son was ready to go to school. The “do something on my own“ entrepreneurial bug soon got the best of her and Purple Bee Activity boxes was established and there was no looking back. She however feels that the importance given to arts and crafts for kids in the US is sadly lacking here and Aarthi would like to change that scenario here. Purple Bee boxes are hands-on activity boxes for children in the age group 3-7
years. Each box is based on a theme and has all the materials and instructions required to do the activities. The boxes are delivered home based on the subscription model chosen. Lot of parents buy Purple Bee boxes to give as gifts and also give them as return gifts in birthday parties. Parents see value in the fact that the box comes with everything required to do the activities and they need not go hunting for materials or browse numerous sites to figure out useful ways to engage kids. Right now Aarthi is using Social media to market her kits but more innovative ways of reaching out to her target audience is in the offing. The fact that these kind of kits are not readily available in the market in toy shops and that it is a successful concept in the US is bound to push up the demand for these kind of craft kits which also enhances the learning abilities of children. Aarthi won the CII’s best woman startupreneur award this year and this has only energized her to do more. To Contact Aarthi Sethuraman mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 003
Suresh Gemz President & Publisher Woman Power Media LLP
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The Solo Cyclist
Anahita Sriprasad is a 22 year old from Chennai with a degree in Visual communication and filmmaking and a passion for the outdoors and baking. Over the last year and a half, she has developed a passion for cycling and adventure/adventure sports. She currently works with choosemybicycle.com as a content developer and bicycle critique.
Anahita believes that if you set your mind and heart to doing something, you will see through it happening. She has come to a point where she is happy with who she is as a person, and so she says that she holds her self-worth pretty high. Her professional life as well as personal life has shaped up in a good way because of this.
Anahita took a break after graduating to travel through India. On her first trip, she realized that the general notion was that it was unsafe for a woman to travel alone in India. This made her want to do something to challenge this notion. It was on a trip to Gulmarg, when she went there for her level 2 skiing training, that she formed the idea to travel from Leh to Kanyakumari on a cycle, alone with no support whatsoever to try and change this notion.
Self-worth, she feels, is achieved by believing in oneself and doing what you feel is true to yourself and your heart. The most important thing is to listen to yourself- mind, body and heart. Only then will one be really happy and content with themselves. In today's world, this is easier said than done, with “ideals” on how one's appearance should be, one's relationships should be etc.
This she thinks was a major milestone for her. The K2K, self-supported solo bicycle expedition she took up last October was quite an adventure, right from the planning to execution and completion. She had the determination to complete it, no matter what and so she did. She is the first woman to do so, and it is quite rewarding to know that I could do it. The trip did change her life, in the sense of how she now perceive things around her and how to deal with sticky situations. She has become more patient and understanding, her perspective on a lot of things has changed. It has also taught her the importance of setting goals and grit and the determination it takes to achieve them. She now believes that she is capable of doing a lot more than what she used to think she could. Her relationships–family, friends and people close to her, being healthy and staying fit, helping people in any way she can and her dog-Meisha are the most important to her life. Anahita sees motivation in everything around her. She feels that anything happening, bad or good, is happening for a reason and that is enough to stay motivated–to do anything. A constant source of motivation is her family and her partner.
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Abundance in its definition is to have large quantities of something. To Anahita, abundance is to be able to have enough to give around or share. In this sense, abundance can be found in anything, not just material. In the world we live today, she thinks abundance is important in the form of love, gratitude, patience, experience, understanding and happiness. It is something to be shared and spread. She thinks it is always time to give back, in some way or the other, small or big. There are many things happening around us, every single second of the day. Giving back maybe something as small as feeding a hungry stray, planting a tree, sending a message to a parent just to say hello, it could be anything. Anahita is someone who wants to bring change, to stand up and be an inspiration to women – travelers, thinkers, dreamers and artists. Animal rights is something close to her heart and core values as well. She believes that we need to stand up for what we believe in and be proud of what we do.
To Contact Anahita Sriprasad mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 004
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Renowned for her bold yet stylish design choices that are truly distinctive, Anupama Surender George has steadily been making a name for herself as Chennai’s most sought after creative consultant. The founder of Copper Design House is renowned for her ability to deliver arresting graphic works that instantly seize your attention and keep it. This is what has been keeping the clients dedicated while providing the freedom to choose her clients carefully.
THE ROTARY FOUNDATION CENTENNIEL CYCLE RALLY KASHMIR TO KANYAKUMARI TOUR De ROTARY
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Although refreshingly modest about her accomplishments, there is no denying that her work has led to collaborations with numerous industry leaders especially in the hospitality industry nationwide. For instance, when prompted, she talks about a project for a luxury resort in the Andaman’s where she provided Indian mythological themed artwork for the entire resort.
CONTRIBUTE
CONTACT : info@tourderotary.com 98401 87578 1212 | WOMANATION | August 20162016 | WOMANATION | March
Coming from a family of highly educated professionals (her mother is a lecturer at the Literature department at Stella Maris College and her father, an IIT-IIM alum, the former general manager for Exide), she cut away from the norm and followed a lifelong passion for art as a career choice. Her family always encouraged this interest and that gave her the courage to translate a passion for art into a lucrative career. Married life has not slowed her down as her husband Iwin George and his parents have actively encouraged and supported her tremendously to explore new projects on the work front. She recalls the special art classes in school that initially triggered an interest in art. The journey to make art a career choice saw her heading to the fine arts program at Stella Maris College where she specialized in graphic design for her master’s degree. After cutting her teeth at leading design agencies she branched out on her own at a young age and it was a gamble that paid off well. However graphic design is just one facet of interest for the designer who is very clear that painting is her prime passion. Taking this love for all things art, Anupama has extended her interests to other projects too such as working with antiques to give them a new lease of life. She mentions a project where she converted a traditional wooden chest into a modern yet classic coffee table. For Anupama, design is only one aspect of a multifaceted art career. It is her undisputed passion and zest that sets this trailblazer ahead of the competition. To Contact Anupama Surender mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 005
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shopping and partying. Strongly supported by her husband, who supported her in all ways, she pursued her studies relentlessly and came out with flying colours. Her husband’s confidence in her abilities was truly vindicated. She feels that she got her fashion sense from her flashy Dad who was a famous photographer in Thanjavur. After her course she started her own Boutique-Big Fashion and also participated in the Bangalore Fashion Week where she showcased her creations for two years in 2014 and 2015. This was followed up in 2016 at the Madras Fashion Couture Week which was a show stopping one. There was a temporary setback during the Chennai floods and she was forced to change the location of her Boutique. But her loyal clientele supported her by continuing to associate with her in spite of distances. This gave her the confidence to pursue her passion with continued vigour. Today she has lots of high end clients who seek out her creativity.
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THE UPTOWN
Chandini Khanna likes to describe herself as a small town girl. Born in Thanjavur. Chandini completed her schooling and College there. At the age of 12 fate played a cruel blow to her and snatched her Dad away from her in a road accident. This incident caused her mother to go into a depressed state and so was brought up by her grandparents. However love blossomed and Chandini married a North Indian and moved to Chennai. She bravely faced many challenges and after 4 years was blessed with a baby boy. Although she was a computer graduate she did not take up a job. Her daughter soon followed and Chandini spent her time lavishing her love on her family. Being a strong women and realizing that she was cut out for bigger things Chandini took up a course in fashion designing as soon as her children were ready to go to school. She did not want to while away her time
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Chandini offers very personalized services to her clients analyzing their skin tone, life style and the end use of the garments for which it is intended and most importantly within their budgets. She loves challenges and she has been able to satisfy the whims of even her most demanding clients. nShe is happy with the accolades that her clients bestow on her in appreciation of her great work in designing their wardrobe. Chandini is now looking at using technology to reach out to a wider clientele. She has no regrets about her past but focuses on dreaming of a bright future. She would like to be internationally recognized for her work and exhibit in places like London, Paris and Milan. She feels she is fortunate in being surrounded by wellwishers who support her in her endeavors. Her goal is to open a fashion Institute where she wants to share her passion for fashion with women who set boundaries on themselves, showing them a way to financial freedom. She feels that this will be a way of giving back to society and sharing her success. Being a dramatic person Chandini consciously wants to create some record for the longest garment or such as that. She feels that I she gets an opportunity to design for movies this side of her will get exposure. She would love to design for period movies which will truly bring out her creativity. Hailing from a small town like Thanjavur which is famous for its temple she can also become famous she feels. To Contact Chandini Khanna mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 006
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her to be spontaneous in her live shows wherein she takes on callers during the show. Divya says that sexuality is one of the important facets of human life. Everyone, adults as well as children, should know as much as on the subject of sex education, also sometimes referred o as sexuality education. The subject includes adult sex education, sex education resource, comprehensive sex education, sexual health education. All in all, sex education is an educational measure that centers on sex. It can be defined as a set of instructions in various psychological, physiological and sociological aspects of sex and reproduction. It enlightens one about sexual orientation, intimacy, values, decision making, dating, relationships, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), birth control and more. She feels that sex education is important on the part of children and adults, to protect them and also the society as a whole. Sex education can help keep away exploitation, abuse, unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.
The Dare Devil Crusader Divya Krishnan is a host for a sex education show. She is also an amazing artist, model, anchor and an actor. She has graduated from the Madras University with a Bachelor degree in computer application. Divya says that her courageousness and boldness to face any ups and downs in life, has brought her to this place in her professional life.
According to Divya, sex should also be given the same attention other things are given in life She says that sex should be taught just like we are taught how to cook and walk. With this in mind Divya is taking up a big assignment for a popular TV channel with which she aims at spreading sex awareness.
Divya started of by doing roles for Tamil Cinema. Divya is the host of Chennai’s television talk show on marriage, love and sex on Multi-TV respectively. She used to host a program on Captain TV’s on sex education with doctors, titled Samaiyal Mandhiram, Divya is also a blogger on love, relationship, marriage and sex education. When Divya was offered the above, friends and family discouraged her to take it up stating that the show would tarnish her image and reputation but Divya persisted as it would mean that she could look after her parents better. Divya believes in taking the bull by its horns, never shying away from challenges which she feels are actually meant to strengthen her. This positivity is what helps her take things in the right spirit and makes life living. A natural talker, conversations come naturally to this 24 year old and this is what helps
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Divya has done many television serials like Bommalattam, MannanMagal, Bhaktha Vijayam, Suriyaputhri, and 63 Nayanmargal, RomaburiPandian, Mohini, Kalabairavar, Maya, Unarvugal and movies like Sathurangavettai, Boologam, Kavathu, Panduvam, Mannaru, Amaran, Muyal, AaviKumar, Inimelippadithaan, and Kilambitangayakilambittangaya. She is at present donning the greasepaint for several serials on the small screen but her heart is in making it big on the silver screen. She is confident that with her determination and perseverance she will soon attain her goals.
To Contact Divya Krishnan mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 007
Divya’s motivation is to work hard and become successful, so that she can prove what it means to be a determined and strong person in life. Divya says that her friends, fans and followers who are watching her and supporting her always, are her perfect clients.
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Dr.Geetha Haripriya is a Gynecologist and the Founder of Prashant Fertility Hospitals. Herfather, a deputy secretary with the Government and her mother, a teacher in a Government school, fostered the value of education in a community which had very little and encouraged her to excel in her education. Geetha’s initial schooling was with The Good Shepard Convent. Inspired by her mother Geetha says that she was two when the idea of becoming a doctor first entered her head. A visit to a delivery ward at the age of 15 brought in the concept of becoming a Gynacologist. She wanted to deliver babies. Being a topper in school she did not have much difficulty in entering Medical College. She completed a certification in Forensic medicine but her heart was in Gynecology and this she proceeded with in spite of her friends telling her that it was “mundane boring field”! She secured the second rank in the entrance exam conducted by the Government of Tamilnadu and was admitted to the Post graduate studies, a Masters in Gynecology. Bowing to the wishes of her aging father Geetha agreed to get married a month before her final exam and she managed to do both successfully! Then followed a small stint abroad.
Finally she finished her house surgency and started working in a small hospital known as Natraj Nursing Home. A lifesaving incident resulted in her career being shaped up by Dr.PunitRenjan, awell-known Gynecologist. Her other mentor Dr.Poorni Ramachandran was another person who taught her many things. Geetha then worked at the Kasturbai Government Hospital in Triplicane to get valuable experience in various cases. Since she didn’t get a baby immediately after marriage she also went into fertility and wanted to help many couples in this area. She started her own clinic in a small 10X8 room. Her friends titled her the “Princess of Pudupet” as this was started in that area the passing on of her father due to a heart attack where she was a helpless bystander inculcated the desire someday to start a hospital where cardiac practices will also be there. Today the Prashant Hospitals which has grown to a more than 400 bed hospital in 3 centers bears testimony to the dedication and Commitment of Dr.Geetha Haripriya!
To Contact Dr.Geetha Haripriya mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 008
The Hope for Childless Couples
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Dr. Saratha Menon, aged 93, is the first lady psychiatrist of the country. Her vision is to mould the lives of the mentally disabled to a happy, holistic and peaceful one. She was born in Mangalore, Karnataka but did her schooling at the Presentation Convent, Vepery, The Good shepherd convent Chetpet and Church Park Convent Thousand Lights. The Intermediate Course (now plus 2) was from W.C.C (Women Christian College) where she spent an extra year to qualify in a subject required for entrance in to the Medical College. After completing her M.B.B.S., at the Madras Medical College she did her Internship at the Irurn Hospital New Delhi (now called Moulana Azar Hospital)
Institute was the first one to start training students in Psychiatry in 1955. She completed her training in 1959 (1957 - 59). On return to Chennai she was posted to the Mental Hospital as Asst Surgeon and Asst. Prof Psychiatry, Stanley Medical College. In 1961 she was promoted as Superintendent Mental Hospital and Prof of Psychiatry, Madras Medical College During her tenure as Supt Mental Hospital, she improved the services in several way starting out patient services, arranging for extra buildings, stepping up patient facility, employment of social workers, increasing the number of staff (medical and paramedical) organizing training for medical and paramedical staff, regularizing recreational activity, stressing the importance of occupational Therapy etc. In her attempt to improve the social & behavioral skills of the patients she found that “communication” was very poor and tried to nurture ways and means of improving this important social still Dr.Saratha felt the need of the moment was to involve the family in the understanding, management and rehabilitation of the patient. Interpersonal relationship in the family, the member’s attitude to the patient and vice versa are all very significant in understanding the patient and their illness. The treatment must be continuous - regular, preferably with the same doctor and team, and with careful monitoring. When they have improved sufficiently to appease their condition and environment, attempt must be made to engage them in recreational work as a habit in the beginning and with incentive later psychotherapy, counselling individual and group, yoga and other non-pharmacological treatment, employment within the institution, later open employment must be encouraged so that they can rejoin the family from where they left off.
On completion of her Internship, she found a job in a Mission Hospital in Pithapuram, East Godavari Dist, Andhra Pradesh. After a year she came to Chennai (then Madras) to join the Madras Medical Service. Her first posting was to the Leprosy Sanatorium Thirumane, Chengalpet District. After 4 months she registered for the post graduate course in General Medicine and was posted to the Govt. General Hospital Chennai where she worked from 1951 – 1955. She completed her graduation in 1953.
Creating awareness in the family and society that the patent is suffering from an “illness” like any other is mandatory. The patient must be treated with kindness and courtesy and should be accepted, integrated into family and society, motivated and encouraged to join the mainstream of life, like any other individual. The task is not easy, she says, “Every success is the motivation, and every failure is the challenge” which keeps her going. She feels that she has a long way to go in rehabilitating people with mental disorder. She hopes that the younger generation will take more interest in rehabilitation where they can change lives of persons with mental disorder for the better.
During her final year of training for the M.B.B.S she had the occasion to see mentally ill persons in the Mental Hospital in Chennai. They were dressed shabbily, talking to themselves and gesturing, making no sense at all. She was worried about the cause and management and the future of these people, the details of which had not yet been discovered. Later, during her work in the Govt General Hospital Chennai, she had occasion to see a 16 years old girl behaving most abnormally and violent. The patient could be controlled only by giving a painful injection, no drugs for her condition were available at that time. This made her more interested in the subject of mental illness and she decided to specialize in psychiatry. There were no training centre in India till 1955. She was deputed to the All India Institute of Mental Health, Bangalore by the Govt of Tamil nadu. This
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Pioneering Mental Health To Contact Dr. Saratha Menon mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 009
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Getsy Shibani was born and brought up in Chennai where she did her schooling in Holy Angels and her graduation in Nutrition and Dietetics from WCC. After a short stint in a star hotel as a Guest Relations Officer Shibani got married to a doctor. After her graduation she never dreamt that she would be a top makeup artist. After the birth of her two children and when they were a bit grown up, Shibani realized that she had a lot of time on her hands. She was bored and wanted to do something worthwhile to pass her time that is when she did a course in beauty taking in mind the flexibility of time in the profession. She did a course in cosmetology from a UK trained cosmetologist. Having completed her course Shibani converted the garage in front of her house to a salon with the intension of “earning some pocket money”. But the business thrived and she started making more than pocket money, that too at a time when women only went to beauty saloons in secret!! Scrolling advertisements at the just commenced Sun Cable TV ensured that a lot of housewives took advantage of her services and there was no looking back. She realized then that she had to update her skills further and so she went to the US to do a proper course in beauty and cosmetology. This widened the gap between what was available here at that time and her expertise. The training in the US taught her to streamline and systematize her operations. Shibani maintains a very high level of hygiene in her saloon to an extent where it is so clean, that children can play on the floor. She started targeting high end clients and this further increased her turn over. She started presenting beauty programs on popular Sun TV and went on to do over 200 episodes over a period of 4 years. At this time Shibani’s Dad and brother motivated her to start something big. That’s when she approached L’Oréal and they gave her the strong support to start one big swanky saloonin collaboration with L’Oréal. Shibani was a pioneer in this aspect of the beauty business in South India and for 8 years Shibani was the only collaborator for L’oreal in Tamilnadu. Collaboration saloons concept was started to bring up the standard of saloons in India. Also the concept of unisex and open saloons was introduced. Shibani followed this up with two more saloons. She was also the President of the All India hair and
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beauty Association. Her association with L’Oréal also meant conducting and taking part in a lot of fashion shows and come out with summer and winter collections. She also conducted Anushka face of 2010 a model and talent hunt from all across the country, which was a very big hit. With the success of the above show Shibani was approached by The Chennai Fashion Week to do styling at their shows. Shibani was able to put together a team of 30 people who worked on about 30 shows with over 80 models and she continued to do this for 4 seasons. Having seen it all and done it all, Shibani has been exploring herself introspectively in the last 2 years. Having been associated with L’Oreal, Shibani has had the opportunity of having witnessed the best fashion shows in the world. Shibani rues the fact that the Saloon industry is not being considered as a passionate and artistic industry but is now seen as a commercial money making industry. Shibani is also into teaching for a social cause. She depends on a strong digital presence and a word of mouth referrals to reach her target audience. Lately Getsy Shibani is also heading the Women Empowerment Bureau of Satyabhama University where they are working with a few villages around Chennai amongst whom they are striving to develop some skills amongst them and make them Entrepreneurs. This program also empowers and encourages students to start an entrepreneurial venture on the side of a main job in order to earn a passive income. For Shibani it’s been a great journey and she has no regrets whatsoever as to how her life has panned out and she remains a very contented and grateful person. She is proud of her achievements and the fact that she has been and continues to be on top of her profession. And this is proven by her winning the prestigious Women Entrepreneur Excellence award instituted by the National Salon Congress. Shibani’s latest venture is Metro Weddings, an online wedding portal for the International market and specially aimed at the NRIs. For Shibani leadership and winning are paths she has crossed and aspires for even more.
Pioneer in Fashion Passion
To Contact Getsy Shibani mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 010
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new trails. Say what you may, this young designer will use her challenges to find her place in the sun and make a name for herself.
The Young Challenger The Young Challenger Hina Rameez was born and brought up in Chennai. Her father was a successful leather exporter. Her early schooling was in Ewarts School in Vepery. An early marriage stayed put to her educational goals and a few yeahrs were spent in consolidating her marriage and children, which she did without much ado. Once her children grew up, the fire in Hina started to smolder and the restlessness in her made her introspect as what she really wanted to do with her life. Hina was always creative often having played with the leftover leather in her father’s factory which she used to dress up her dolls. She realized that her passion was in dressing up people like she did her dolls. The quest to pursue this passion in a good fashion academy led her to many institutes and she finally hit upon one that recognized the genius in her and were very supportive of her innate talent. A few grueling years were spent in pursuing her fashion studies after which she came out in flying colors. This was no easy task as she had to balance bringing up her daughters and also accommodating the schedules of her businessman husband and his international travel. Besides this it was also no easy task to find master tailors who could manifest her unique creations. The challenges were many in managing the staff and often spent many an hour cutting her creations and very often stitching them herself. Her hard and sincere work paid off when she bagged a good order from Dubai. A visit to this place ensued and with it her confidence grew manifold. With not much of Knowledge in the business aspect of her boutique she relied on friends and relatives to guide her through the range of business operations and export formalities. She also started creating unique dresses for children as she was invited by schools to design special costumes for their annual days and plays. The jewel in the crown to all her efforts came in the form of an invitation to present at the recently concluded Bangalore Fashion Week wherein she was the youngest designer to show case her much talked about creations. Although the time she had to create the dresses was very short, Hina rose to the occasion by working day and night and she finally strode the ramp along with her show stopper. The applause and the admiration of the invited audience made it all worthwhile. The experience was truly worth it as it gave Hina the exposure of having participated in the third prestigious fashion event in the country. Her work was much touted both in the main and social media. A star was born!. Today with her confidence levels boosted up with all the accolades, Hina faces the future with a new found
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hope as she gears up to participate in many more fashion shows. A person very much mature for her age, Hina has the steely resolve to grow her exposure and talent and be counted amongst the best designers in the country. She has now set her sights on designing for the movie industry and her eyes light up as she talks about her plans for the future. Hina steadies herself with the knowledge that though she has to listen to the advice of others she has to make her own decisions. Her experiences have influenced her belief system and she is ever grateful to her God to cover her back and lead her on the right path. She has moderated her growth with the firm belief that her sense of fairness will see her through her trials and challenges.Hina Creations is firmly emblazoned in the highly competitive industry but she is confident of blazing To Contact Hina Rameez mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 011
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Vandana was born in Chennai and did her initial schooling in Bala Vidya Mandir and then graduated in Visual Communication from MOP Vaishnav College for Women. She then worked in Cognizant for about 3 years in a horizontal called Content and Design services which provided services for almost all verticals.Vandana took a break after her marriage and also took up a course on marketing and advertising in Chennai Business School and then took a break of over 2 years to look after her children. Then she did a stint with Optima Advertising where she was in charge of digital accounts and her partner as of now Jinal was in client services and that is where they first met. Jinal was also born and brought up in Chennai and did her schooling in Church Park and then onto to MOP Vaishnav where she did a course on Journalism which happened quite by accident. Although she did not pursue a career in Journalism she had done several internship in. She is also a prolific writer, writing blogs, articles etc. for several clients. A chance anniversary party brought Vandana and Jinal together and the success of their event planning actually gave them the impetus to start together on their own. Since Jinal had a huge network of contacts interested in social media they decided to go into digital marketing. She was young and wanted to do something on her own. The motivation for Vandana to start her own business was that she could spend more time with her children. The two of them put their
heads together and wanted to do something new in the Digital space as that was the upcoming trend and that’s how Lets SOS was born. Here they customize packages in social media to suit the budget of their clients and also do website design, SEO etc. ‘ They were also keen to bring in a different type of work culture. Thus came the idea of women who were well qualified and tech savvy but had quit their jobs for various reasons who they employ. This give their employees the flexibility to spend time at home but still get the work done. They also save the time taken to commute to office. Let’s SOS does custom designed social media campaigns for clients like restaurants and they have been able to deliver clearly measurable results which has resulted in improving walk ins. They have a clearly laid out plan wherein they are able to tell their clients what exactly they can expect. This is a lot different from the usual con jobs that most so called social media experts are delivering using the ignorance of the clients on the subject.
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Fine jewelry at Crowne Plaza Chennai
Both Jinal and Vandana are also choosy about the clients they take on often gauging them by the passion with which they address their product or service. They also handle the reputation management for several clients and this has enhanced their reputation as well.
Angels of the
Digital Valley To Contact
Vandhana & Jinal mail to
contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 012 2828 | WOMANATION | August 20162016 | WOMANATION | March
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Womanation April
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Mina Dilip is an enthusiastic, passionate, energetic person, whose vision is a world full of happy and peaceful people. She is currently working in Psychological therapy. Having a masters degree in psychology from Madras University and diplomas in Child Psychology as well as Advanced Counseling Skills from Stonebridge Associated Colleges, UK, Mina says that her passion to make a positive difference in the lives of people has brought her to this place in her professional life. Mina feels that she has found her true calling. Starting out as an accountant, a little of advertising, a course in journalism, moving into content management, working in the IT industry for years, and at the end deciding to follow her heart to pursue psychology as her profession has been her personal greatest victory. Every time Mina switched careers, many people told her that she was wasting her life and throwing away valuable experience. But Mina persevered, and finally found the niche she was craving. When Mina completed her courses in psychology and took up an internship, she was still unsure of her professional future, but the universe conspired in her favor and with the support of a loving husband and understanding parents, she managed to set up her own private practice, which is doing tremendously well today.
Gratitude byAccident
Mina was mentored by Mrs. Mohana Narayanan, a senior counselor, under whom she did her internship, taught her to get out of her comfort zone, question her own beliefs and reevaluate everything. She also taught Mina to be assertive and confident. Mina considers her family to be the most important part of her life. Mina draws her motivation from the children with whom she works. When a child starts to do better emotionally and psychologically, it is her greatest reward and her biggest motivation andwhen their parents come with positive feedback that their children are much happier, it completely energizes her, all over again.
An ISO 9001:2008 certified
A road accident several years ago was a life-altering event for Mina. Though the accident wasn’t a major one, she feels that it altered her life as Mina realized what a thin thread life is and Mina decided that she would stop complaining about petty things in her life, and focus on the things she has to be grateful for. Mina says that for the major part of her life, she was looking for validation of her selfworth outside. She craved for people’s appreciation and admiration and used to thrive on the positive attention of people whenever she was in the limelight. But somewhere along the line, Minacame to understand that it is her own approval and acceptance that really counts Mina strongly feels that her pure and unadulterated service is the heart of her business. The past year has been a momentous period of Mina’s entire life. She has had an opportunity to work with people from many different walks of life and touch their lives in small positive ways. The very nature of Mina’s profession is challenging because it involves working with the most dynamic element of all – human emotions.
To Contact Mina Dilip mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 013
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Mina says that gratitude has already changed her business. She has been harnessing the power of gratitude each and every day. There is not a single day when she doesn’t not thank the universe for showering her with abundant grace, love, hope, joy and more than enough clients to keep her appointment diary full. Mina says that she knows, for now that she is completely at peace with her own self and she believes that she is at the right place at the right time.
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and at 13 he even was taught to type and play key board. This shows the dedication and the efforts that Parvathy took to bring up her son. She also realized that there was great potential in these special children and that it was left to us to bring it out. She also felt that the schools did not expect much from these children and generally took the low expectation view.
YEOMAN SERVICE FOR A CAUSE
Till then a very timid and soft Parvathy became a firebrand and started helping children not only with Down syndrome but also Autism and ADHD by specializing in early intervention program. So parents from all over started seeking her out and this prompted her with some help to start schools that are result oriented. She also trained the parents to cope with such a child. She also collaborated with organizations like Mediscan to bring out awareness of new born screening. Today she works many organizations and with all kinds of disabled people. She has also strived to provide job opportunities through job fair for challenged people. She even organized swayamvara for them, thus rendering Yeoman Service to them. She is involved in projects for adolescent girls and youth and her work with gypsy people is commendable.
Parvathy Viswanath was born in Gujarat as her father was working there, although she is basically from Tanjore. She then came down south as her father had to erect a textile mill. She completed her schooling here and then went to Mumbai for her College. Coming form an aristocratic and typical tambram family, women were not encouraged to take up a job. Since her father passed away, her mother moved with her to Chennai as she felt this was the best place to find a groom for Parvathy.
In spite of various challenges like even funding problems Parvathy has always moved forward and has no regrets whatsoever, often working very hard to deal with what life dealt to her. On the other hand she is proud of the fact that many special children trained by her have become successful in life, including her own son who won the highest award, role model award from the President of India. She has concentrated on giving the kids intellectual stimulation apart from Physiotherapy and this has paid rich dividends.One of her students (CP) who received EI from her completed his M.Phil and capped it by writing his autobiography and Parvathy was invited for the book launch. This explains the importance of Early Intervention. She has also empowered parents many of whom have become teachers and trainers.She has authored books on ADHD and Autism. One really needs to put in a great amount of time, patience, zeal and zest to set their dreams into action. But Parvathy had one more thing which is her sole investment till date – PASSION, undying and everlasting.
Soon Parvathy got married. Her husband was a student in New York University and so Parvathy moved to the US and worked there. She came back to Chennai as soon as her first son was born. Her second son was born after three years. During this time Parvathy moved around the country, first in Kolkata then Ranchi, back to Kolkata and then to Delhi. Parvathy remained a housewife looking after her sons and in laws. Her second son was born in Delhi and Parvathy had some doubts that not all was Ok with him and only after 8 months she came to know that he had Downs Syndrome. She then started a quest to find out more about what Downs syndrome was all about. This was at a time when the awareness and the facilities were also less. So started the efforts to bring him up as a normal child. He was put into a special school and Parvathy also did a course on the subject and she realized that she could do wonders with these children. Parvathy was able to teach her son whatever a normal child could learn
Her dream now is to provide an ideal home to adults with special needs which is the need of the hour, as life after the parents become old or pass away is tough for them, and thus provide them with a quality life. She feels that this can be combined with an old people’s home so that they will also have something to look forward to. Parvathy is hoping that someone will donate the land for this and then she is confident of raising the resources to make this dream a reality. We hope that Parvathy will fulfill this dream and we will cheer her on.
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To Contact Parvathy mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 014
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The passion for ART Ramya Sadasivam was born and brought in Chennai and did her schooling in two different schools in kodungaiyur. She was interested to pursue art which was her passion but was not sure if she could make that her career. On the guidance of her father she took up B.Tech Biotechnology but the realization dawned that a person is a complete Biotechnologist only if one does a Masters or a PhD as it is a research oriented field. She therefore did a PGDM course as a part of which she had to study in Singapore. She came back and took up a job with MAX New York Life and then as a counselor with Cegonsoft which involved marketing but somehow she found no meaning with what she did. She tried blogging for a while and then did a short stint with Hindustan University handling their social media. Still she didn’t get satisfaction in what she did. Not wanting to give up on art, Ramya continued practicing her Art. Ramya is a totally self-learning artist where she would research and practice what she wanted to paint. She told her dad that she was going to quit everything and take and practice art seriously.
To Contact Ramya Sadasivam mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 015
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Slowly she was being commissioned to paint mainly portraits and the orders slowly started trickling in. She followed this up with a solo show in Lalit Kala Academy. She exhibited more than 30 of her paintings and she got much appreciation at this show as her style was very fresh. This also put Ramya in touch with a lot of senior artists who guided her well. Thanks to Facebook she was also able to follow the work of several International artists. Ramya rues the fact that people locally don’t pay much for realistic art and so marketing the paintings locally is not easy. She is able to sustain herself by doing an online job that pays the bills and her father and brother sponsor her expenses.
Ramya is mainly able to sell her paintings in Europe and America and is patronized by NRIs. She has also been invited to other countries to exhibit her work although she is still to give this a shot. Ramya has also won state and national levelAwards for her paintings. Ramya is growing as an artist and as does the value of her art is also growing. Ramya’s paintings are very authentic and depicts the culture of India. She is able to capture the emotions of the people she portrays since she is familiar with the people here.When she is inspired by a particular scene she photographs that from different angles and this serves as a reference point for her paintings. Whatever experiences Ramya has had so far has only made her life perfect and so she has no regrets in whatever she has done as her biotechnology experience has helped her understand and gain knowledge and her Management studies has helped her understand marketing and to market herself as an artist. Her best moments are however based on her realizing her passion. Her works are recognized in fine art circles in America and she is confident that her best is yet to come and she feels that she is on the right track and that it’s a positive acknowledgement of her work. Ramya opines that in a patriarchal society it is difficult for a woman to pursue a career and to pursue a career in art is even more difficult. Here her father has been and is the backbone of whatever she has achieved so far. The motivation and circumstances to quit have been many but both her father and brother have given her all the support emotionally and financially and she is ever grateful. She is putting off marriage till the time that she makes it big as an artist.
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Praveena Meena ia known for her ever lasting smile and her never give up attitude. She was born and brought up in Chennai. Her schooling was at Vidhyodhaya Convent and she graduated from Ethiraj College in Banking and then took a complete shift by doing her post-graduation in Psychology, a subject she was greatly interested in. She however took up a job in banking and her corporate experience lasted fifteen long years. There seemed to be some kind of longing in her and the satisfaction was missing inspite of the fact that a Bank job is pretty lucrative and hence it was a tough decision to make, to quit her job and pursue her passion which was Photography. It was at the work place that Praveena had met her husband, who incidentally was working in the same team as she was. Friendship soon blossomed into love and they tied the knot with the blessings of their parents, although their marriage was an interstate one!! With the strong backing of her husband Praveena decided to quit her job and take up her hobby turned passion into a full time career. Praveena’s tryst with photography began even while she was in the bank but was confined to weekends. Initially she was called by friends and relatives who sensed her talent to do the photography for functions in their family and it slowly started building up. Praveena started getting requests for photography even on weekdays as her customer base was growing stronger and they were very keen that she handle the assignments personally. This was the time that Praveena decided to take the plunge into following her passion which gave her the opportunity to meet different people and capture their myriad emotions for posterity. Although the money flow was not fixed month on
The picture stylist month, the satisfaction that she derived from her work made her realize that she had found her calling. Praveena is known for her patience during shoots and her customer handling skills among her clients. Her photography and her creative skills also helped her to make unique albums and present it to her often thrilled clients. This resulted in her forming a small team. Praveena has been able to further this by also taking up the pre and post wedding shoots and even travelling with the couple for the honeymoon shoots.
To Contact Praveena Meena mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 016
Praveena specializes in kids photography which she feels has immense scope as parents like to visually chronicle the growing years of their children. Being a mother of a three year old gives her the additinal edge to handle kids with extreme comfortability. Well known pre schools have joined the bandwagon in wanting their kids to be photographed. This also opens up the huge market for photography props which she is seriously working on. Praveena feels that being a woman photographer can be both an advantage and a disadvantage due to the odd hours required for any shoot. It is also a very demanding job cause as a photographer one needs to capture the right moment and angle with extremely precise candid shots. Experince has taught Praveena to become self-sufficient in terms of driving and carrying her own essentials. Praveena has now put her foot forward and started her own event management company and named it as ‘Meenus eventography’ combining photography and event management and has plans to expand it as an academy later on. At a time when a female photographer is still looked upon an alien, Praveena is carving a niche for herself in this creative art.
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Ramya Nandakumar was born in a very conventional music family. Her father was a mirthangam player, her mother is a singer, both her grandmothers play the violin and her aunt sings in many concerts and AIR. Born in Chennai Ramya did her schooling in CSI Ewarts School till the 8th STD and then St. Josephs in Marimalainagar as she was forced to move due to her father passing on and then came back to Kodambakkam to complete her schooling from SRM Nightingale School. She did a basic Arts course in English Literature in Chellammal Women’s College as she wanted to concentrate on her music. Music helped her travel within the country and abroad as she was part of a popular music troupe for nearly 16 years and she was able to sing with almost all the famous playback singers in a male dominated field.
A singer with a
difference
For a long time Ramya had a thought to start her own band but being a spinster she could not manifest that thought as she and her mom did not want to start something that they could not handle. A chance meeting when she went to buy her first car resulted in her meeting her husbandto be Mr. Nandakumar as he was into financial products and processed her loan for the car. As she interacted with him love blossomed and since it was left to her to choose she decided to tie the knot even though it was a inter caste marriage. He turned out to be a very supportive husband and he gave her the freedom to pursue her passion-singing! Her self-confidence growing Ramya took part in concerts in Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore, Srilanka and of late in Canada. Being strongly influenced by Vani Jairam, Ramya strove to do a tribute concert for her and this resulted in her not only forming a band but also fulfilled her dream of organizing the tribute concert. It was a concert with a difference where Vani Jairam songs were sung with her as a listener rather than a performer and this was very well received. Ramya followed this up with a similar concert in Coimbatore which was also a huge success. A third concert which was a fund raiser for the Rotary Club was another feather in Ramya’s cap. Her forth event is slated for later this year which will again be a very different kind of concert. All of the above inspite of the fact that Ramya works for Hewlett-Packardwhere her boss and her colleagues have been extremely supportive of her singing career as well. Ramya has been able to balance the two and besides this she is also into organizing music showswith her band “AMRUTHAVARSHAM” and is also a sought after voice trainer. This she is able to do even with singers who reside in the US and in other cities within the country thanks to technology. Ramya has now extended her reach by also doing play back singing for Tamil feature films. She is constantly striving to do different things instead of the run of the mill stuff and this has set her apart from the crowd.
To Contact Ramya Nandakumar mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 017
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Sahithya Jaganathan was born and brought up in Chennai and grew up in one of those small row houses in Mylapore. She then moved to an apartment in Tnagar. Sahithya did her schooling in Vidya Mandir in Mylapore and her College in MOP Vaishnav, where she did Journalism and then had an eye opening and interesting time interning for Tehelka in Delhi. Being the youngest at home, it is obvious that Sahithya was pampered. She was brought up by very encouraging parents who always prompted her to do whatever made her happy. Especially her Mother who wanted her to be the best in whatever she did. Sahithya took on a very different path to what her family of doctors and engineers were used to but this is where she proved that she was made of different mettle. She was always encouraged to explore and her parents wanted her to have everything that they didn’t have. She was also encouraged to study whatever she wanted and for however long.
The Model Polymath
she wanted was a designer job although she had no exposure to design. She managed the store all summer and towards the end she was allowed to do small designs. While working at the store she befriended a model who encouraged her to model, something she didn’t take very seriously but again encouraged by her mom she decided to give it a shot and the rest as they say is history and today she is a much sought after model. She is now also compering a lot of shows including fashion shows and here again her early experiences are helping her improve her confidence on stage, timing and repartee. Sahitya has great plans for the future and is very confident of achieving success. She is we feel a true polymath.
So by the time she was five, Sahithya being artistically inclined was learning music, dance, drawing and martial arts. By the time she was three years old, Sahithya was shopping for her own clothes as she did not like the girlie stuff that her mother bought her. Being a tomboy she preferred shopping for her own clothes and she feels that that made a difference to her life now since she was encouraged to make decisions at a very early age and she learnt to make logical sensible decisions not based on emotions or based on what she felt like at that moment. So there is no blame game involved even if the decision is wrong and you learn to take 100% responsibility for your own life. She is thankful to her parents for having brought her up the way they did. She is therefore able to take care of herself in a field like modelling where you travel a lot and meet new people regularly. Her mom always told her to be strong like a lioness as it’s the lioness that hunts and feeds. Sahithya is very happy with the way she is at the moment and has reached heights in her chosen field even at this young age often showing a maturity level that far outweighs her age. Her modelling career happened completely by accident. It was the summer before college when she went to a designer store and asked for a job promising to be a fast learner and not repeat mistakes. She was offered the job of managing the store, something that she did not ask for. What
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To Contact Sahithya Jaganathan mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 018
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Back to the future
hook but when the kids grew up she was again smitten by the passion for palmistry and astrology. A chance gift from a friend of a red book gave her amazing insights into astrology and she went deeper and deeper into this subject. Sanjana researched the subject thoroughly and also invested in a software. She further went into numerology and studied famous astrologers. She was able to correlate all these mystic arts and connect the various disciplines. She explains that Vedic astrology is connected to all practical aspects of our life. She says that we are all ruled by the 9 planets. She was also by this time able to predict the future of the people who came to her to seek solutions. Sanjana uses her knowledge of astrology to guide people. Her specialty is that when a person’s planet is in a depleted state, then she is able to give the remedies to enhance that planet. Sanjana’s satisfied clients then pass the word around and more clients come flocking in. People’s desire to know the future and curiosity drives this business. Sanjana is able to counsel her clients on how they can lead a good life. Very often she receives messages from her clients stating that she is like a god to them and so on and so forth. She is thus able to bring solace to their lives. She is able to speak words of positivity to alleviate the pain that many people face. Sanjana has practiced this art for the last 10 years and it’s been a very satisfying period in her life. She has also been able to gather her own insights based on her experience. She is proud of the fact that 80% of her clients do follow her advice and benefit. She also emphasizes the concept of giving are Dhanam and Anna Dhanam is the most beneficial which really means feeding humans or animals. She lets in on the secret that when a planet or sign is good we have to add to it and when it is bad we have to minus that!! She also says that the chanting of mantras is good to get the cosmic energy. She states things like gratitude, humbleness ought to be practiced. One more of Sanjana’s specialty is marriage counselling. Her future plan is to share her knowledge and insights with as many people as possible and expand to other cities. She is as it is getting many
Sanjana Jain was born in Rajasthan in a Marwadi family. Her family during her grandfather’s time moved to Chennai for business purposes. She did her initial schooling here in Sowcarpet and then went to Ethiraj College for her BBA degree. She had an aptitude for palmistry studying hands more as a pastime without much reading of books on palmistry. She studied the lines, mounts and the way the lines were placed on an individual’s hand. When she had but completed her first year her parents found a very eligible groom and Sanjana acceded to her parents request and tied the knot. Then the kids and the family responsibilities kept her on
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palm imprints from other countries as well including from the US. She is using technologies like Skype, WhatsApp etc. to reach as many people as possible. She would like to organize workshops on astrology especially for parents so that they in turn can guide their children. She is also contemplating writing a book on practical astrology. Although Sanjana lives in the moment she is clear in her mind that if people understand their future it will be a valuable guide for them to shape their lives and that is why she is keen on propagating the idea of Practical Astrology.
To Contact Sanjana Jain mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 019
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Sapna Handa was born in Srinagar and in the armed forces background she had it all. Her Dad was transferred to major Air Force stations around the country. It was a disciplined life with the best of everything. She has pleasant memories of growing up as the daughter of an Air Force Officer, who was part of the 65 and 71 war and who flew a lot of VVIP’s and VIP’s. Sapna studied in the best of schools and more often than not her dad would be the Chief Guest at school functions. She did her college studies in Ambala in Haryana. So Sapna had the opportunity to grow up amongst the cream of society wherever she went. She was also crowned Miss Ambala at the beauty pageant there and this made her realize that she had something unique in her. She strove to be an IAS Officer having done her masters in English Literature and securing the 2nd rank in the university. Sapna got married and moved to Chennai as her husband was from Chennai. This does remain one of her major regrets as she could not pursue her dream of being an IAS Officer but then love got the better of career and that’s the first time she dropped a goal. She was totally lost during the initial years in Chennai being in an alien state, not knowing the language, not having friends but she says that Chennai grew on her and she adjusted pretty well. She started doing copy editing for an American company, medical transcriptions, taught in the AMM School and generally settled in. A long sabbatical followed the birth of her two kids, the time being spent in keeping fit. When the children grew up, her husband came up with an idea of opening a restaurant on Khadar Nawaz Khan Road and FIVE SENSES was born. It was a fantastic restaurant but as is so common in partnerships something went wrong and the restaurant had to close. Sapna feels that this failure was a stepping stone to success as this caused ripples inside of her and she realized that she had to do something on her own. It ignited a spark in her. She ended up doing a short term course in Image Consultancy in Vancouver and then came back to Chennai. She had the insight that her purpose in life was to first change herself and then bring about change in people by being a catalyst in their growth as she felt that she had this innate ability to connect with people. She thus founded
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her own company. Impeccable you where she has aclientele of a lot of reputed corporates, professionals and children. Sapna has excellent testimonials from several corporates where she has been able to add value to their employees with her training. Sapna is now routing her training through ICBI which is Head quartered in Mumbai as a part of a partner program where she is also a senior facilitator. This of course happens after an elaborate screening program where Sapna came out winner. She exudes a lot of positivity and this seems to rub off on the people she comes into contact with. She has also been able to take failures and challenges in her stride. Sapna is proud of her honesty and integrity and her straight forwardness. She is proud of her communication skills and the way she conducts herself. She now would like to open her own institute. So Sapna is here to help anyone create a visual impact by means of their appearance, Behavior and Communication. In other words the A B C of creating your own visual impact. The visual impact does not mean only the outside but it means all the details of clothing, grooming, body language and etiquette. This should be in sync and in harmony so that each of us comes across as a “Harmonious You”.
The
Imaginative Imagineer
To Contact Sapna Handa mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 020
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sam eve awards
SAM EVE Award for “Artist of the Year” Chhavi Kalra, receiving the award from Ms.Parveen Papa, Past President FICCI Ladies Organization
SAM EVE Award for “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” Sumitra Prasad, receiving the Award from Ms.Prateep Philip
SAM EVE Award for “Educationist of the Year” Maria Zeena Johnson receiving the award from Dr.Prateep Philip ADGP - EOW
SAM EVE Award for “Interior Designer of the Year” Dr.Sadhana Srinivasan receiving the Award from Prakash C Swamy Senior Journalist
SAM EVE Award for “Emerging Entrepreneurs of the Year” Keshna and Shivani Patel receiving the award from Mr.Joshua Madan –Managing Director – Covanant Group
SAM EVE Award for “Corporate Person of the Year” Madhu saran Vel receiving the Award from Dr.SanthoshBabu –Chairman , MD –Tamilnadu Handicrafts Corporation.
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SAM EVE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Anita Ratnam
SAM EVE Award for “Make Up Artist of the Year” Sridevi Ramesh receiving the award from Mr.Suresh Babu President Woman Power media LLP
SAM EVE Award for “Excellence Installer of the Year” Harini Ramachandran receiving the award from Jhon Arokiasamy Founder Persona Horizontal Leaders Ltd
SAM EVE Award for “Saloon Chain of the Year” Veena Kumaravel receiving the award from C.K. Kumaravel, Founder Naturals
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Shyamala Ashok was born in Srilanka and lived up to her 10th year in Colombo. She studied in one of the best schools there namely St.Brigettes Convent where even the Past President of Srilanka Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga studied. She was forced to come to India as she was told that Tamilians cannot study in English medium schools. She continued her schooling in Vidhyodhya Girls High School where her role model was Mrs.Appasamy, the Founder/Correspondent of the School. She then did a degree- BA Psychology. She then met her husband to be. So although she got a seat for her masters in Anthropology she ended up doing her MSW where she fared very well. It was here that Shyamala realized her usefulness to society and her path in life commenced. All credit she claims as to what she is today goes to her father whom she recently lost. Her first work was with paraplegics for whom she managed their vocational needs and requirements in addition to managing their care givers. She gained firsthand knowledge of their hardships and realized how blest she was. This was followed up with a stint with mentally ill people where she was able to work with some of the best doctors in the field. She also moved on to understand some research on alchoholism. She took up several projects dealing with social issues. She took a break in her career on the birth of her first child. After this break she joined an agency supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and commenced work on HIV. With extensive and pioneering work in HIV/AIDS, she started her own NGO and she was able to work with other similar pioneers in HIV related fields for over 20 years and was responsible for systematizing the control and spread of HIV in India. It is due to their work that HIV is under control and streamlined and this she considers as her significant contribution in that field. She then shifted to work with industries and corporates and thus joined United Way Chennai and for the last six years where she heads the organization as its Executive Director reporting to a high profile board consisting of 11 members. Through this role she meets with a lot of NGOs where her organization adds value including funding and help such NGOs grow better and function better and also ensure that the money provided is utilized properly and thus reaches the right people for whom it is intended by the donors. This is no easy task. Resource generation and fund raising also forms a major responsibility of hers. She is encouraged by the success that she has seen in these areas. Time Management and work life balance has been a bit of a regret for her as she found it difficult to do this due to her multifarious activities. She is of course proud of her many achievements judging by the number of people she has been able to serve and the multiplication of the money that has been invested on social issues. She has tried to drive it as a business so that these initiatives becomes selfsustaining. She feels that one should garner 10x times the money invested. And the results show by the kind of impact that it creates for the benefit of the people.
Cause as Business the United Way 5252 | WOMANATION | August 20162016 | WOMANATION | March
Shyamala feels that she has become a very good mentor based on the experiences she has gained over the years and she would like to mentor young people who she feels should be guided properly. As responsible parents she feels it is the duty of all to mentor and encourage young people and be role models for the youth.
To Contact Shymala Ashok mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 021
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Cakes in Jars - Passionate Baking
Other SAM Initiatives
Sirisha Jonnada is a computer science graduate who took up Baking which was her passion. She initially started baking for her family and friends but as the demand for her creations grew she converted her passion into her profession. Sirisha learnt the art of Baking from her mother.
Buzzrepreneurs
Sirisha got married soon after graduation and soon had her two kids and in order to spend more time with her family Sirisha refrained from taking up a job. With strong support from friends and family who ordered cakes from her for their kids birthdays etc, Sirisha embarked on her baking career.
Enlisting housewives to create a market Buzz http://buzzrepreneur.strikingly.com
Sirisha is a self-taught baker but she did gain immense knowledge by being on different baking groups on Facebook and online forums. She specializes in fondant cakes and designed themed cakes but her signature cake are the cakes in jars. Her biggest order thus far has been for 2000 truffles and 350 brownies. She has the capacity to bake 4 large cakes in a day. She prices the cakes according to the theme or complexity and the kind of ingredients used.
Hobby Holidayz
Sprinkles, the name by which Sirisha bakes is slowly making a name for itself as a themed based cake business. She relies on word of mouth publicity from her existing clients to grow her business. Sirisha is aware of the huge potential in this home based baking business.
Teach a hobby. Learn a hooby. By taking a weekend holiday. http://hobbyholidayz.strikingly.com
One of the pain points however is the delivery of the cakes itself as even if it is slightly smudged the clients will not be happy and transporting the cakes is definitely a problem. To avoid this problem Sirisha insists that her clients come and pick up their orders or she politely refuses the order. But of late Sirisha has relented and does do delivery as she does not eant to lose a client. In the meantime she is also experimenting on her jar cakes as delivery is much easier. Clients can then eat directly from the jars and storing the unfinished cake is also easy.
SAM EVE The womens wing of SAM Global http://sameve.strikingly.com
Sirisha does her baking from Morphy Richards 62 oven which is more of a household appliance which is electric. She sources her ingredients from multiple sources but is very particular that its top quality and there is no compromise. Sirisha would like to build on the Sprinkles brand name and maybe have a website with a payment gateway in the future. But in the meantime she is happy the way her home based business has grown over the past year. She acknowledges the huge support that she has received from her husband in particular and her in laws and is also thinking of unique ways to market her wares.
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To Contact Sirisha Jonnada mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 022
QuerayTED The speaker coaching company that helps you become a better http://querayted.strikingly.com 55 | WOMANATION | August 2016
An Architectural Role Model Sujitha Arvind is an architect. She completed her bachelors from NITT and masters from SAP,Anna University.Sujitha is married to Arvind, also an architect and have two daughters. She is the Lead Architectin AA Dezine Studios, Chennai which is her own firm. Sujitha has reached where she is at present by sheer hard work, consistency and passion for her Profession. She is very focused on enjoying her work and the end result than on the money earned in the process. Sujitha loves fitness and workingout, running, cycling and trekking but she is very clear that her family time is most important. That’s why she always chose to have her office attached to her home. Sujitha was a hill ultra-winner in 2014. She has scaledthe Himalaya’s up to 4300m and plans to go for greater heights. She also considers this to be her greatest personal victory. She did lose herself looking after her family during the early days of marriage and the result was loss of fitness and thus she was not able to focus on the passions she had like sports, writing, painting, travelling etc. Her greatest motivation is however her husband and a great group of friends. At one point Sujitha almost went through a personal loss and it changed her perspective of life and from that time she started enjoying every moment and not giving importance to materialistic belongings. Sujitha feels that she is a self-starter and has great faith in hard work and honesty. There have been many instances where these have stood by her and at this point she asserts that all her architectural projects come to her for these two qualities of hers. The heart of her business is her creativity and ability to analyze and understand each project. She started off as an office of two handling one or two projects at a time with difficulty to even pay the rentals, but now they are a bigger set up and do lakhs of square foot each year. The challenge was that they were first time entrepreneurs and had to build up their clientele. They have been successful as they make sure that they perform so well that none of their clients go to another architect after working with them. Her life philosophy is “Do what you like and hurt none in the process”. Theimpact that this hashad on her life is that she is peaceful and can answer any question without having to lie, because there is only one side to her and it’s just there in front of the world, as she does not believe in double standards. Sujitha was mentored by her Dad. She learned that hard work is always rewarding though sometimes delayed. Hence from the day she understood this she has never been a lazy person in any aspect of life. According to Sujitha abundance means a feeling of satisfaction with what you have. There may be needs in life but wants have to be under our control to lead a happy life. She is clear about the fact that there is no good time to give back, it has to become a habit. She feels that gratitude will reflect in the quality of our output and hence it’s the seed to growth. By being grateful we always please the giver (for example the client the contractor the workers). Sujitha knows that there is much more she can achieve in terms of reaching out to people on a personal front and to reaching out to architecture students and mentoring them in the professional front. She is known to be one of the best in school designs and in five years she is positive that she will be known as the best in institutional design also. Sujitha always gives her clients the best in terms of design and quality, and will stand by them till the completion of the project and even after her perfect client is one who comes to her with their requirements and trusts her to design the best for them. She has several clients who are like that. Sujitha is also a writer and is soon publishing her first fiction ‘Mystical Healer’ (metamorphosis of a woman, Scars are beautiful tattoos.) She is also preparing for a painting exhibition for charity by this year-end or beginning next year. She is proud of the fact that her daughters consider her as their role model in many aspects of life.
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To Contact Sujitha Arvind mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 023
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Sulabha Santhosh was born and brought up in Chennai and thisis where she feels she belongs .A short jobstintin Bangalore lasted a week and she came hurrying back. Schooling for Sulabha happened in Anna Adarsh School as she was staying close by it and although she wanted to go to MOP for her college education the distance of a staggering 7Kms prompted her to study in Anna Adarsh College itself as she could use the commuting time to do various useful things! Sulabha then did a course at ICFAI Business school specializing in marketing and HR. So right now what Sulabha does and what she studied are two different things as she now is one of the most popular RJs in the city where many people wake up to her voice on Radio One. After her studies though she was placed in ICICI Lombard and that she says lasted a month. A campus recruitment saw her mantle a manager’s job where she had to sell insurance and motivate team members. Within a week though she realized that this was not her cup of tea. She found the crowded office claustrophobic and her safe haven was the bathroom where she would lock herself up and cry.
the morning voice of Chennai
An advertisement in the local newspaper announcing the opening of Radio City in Chennai found her attending the interview although she was never a talker, a singer maybe but never a talker!! The interviewer told her that she had to speak as a RJ. She had to be the morning voice of Chennai. But this lack of experience and knowledge and as someone who hardly tuned into radio actually helped her land the job as she was considered fresh. She told them however that she would do this part time and also do a corporate job. Turned out that this was a full time job as being an RJ meant also doing research on topics of interest, production etc. She realized that she had to be a jack of all trades and a master of all to be a successful RJ.
She is proud of the fact that she has created a successful format in radio that is far different from the usual standard format that appeals to the intelligent audience that craves for intelligent content. But she often got discouraging feedback, as most of the radio talks were based on entertainment and cinema, but she persisted and today after the show got recognized and awarded people pride themselves on having been on the show. This program “Smart talk “gets a lot of accolades now but it is also difficult to mine the people who do very different things. And also many of them are media shy. She is also proud of the fact that she is able to draw people out by making them comfortable without intimidating them. So the fact that Sulabha has made it in radio as a very popular RJ without any background in media or otherwise says a lot about the mettle she is made of.
Once the major concepts gets discussed with the team, often working on 90 day plans, the way she delivers the content is intrinsic to who she is. She has to make the concept hers and speak andthe magic happens at that moment. It’s spontaneous. Between the job as an RJ and her 5 year old son, Sulabha has her hands full and she is very choosy about what else she wants to do. She is thankful for the way her parents brought her up with full freedom to choose what she wanted to do and not
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differentiating between a boy or girl and fortunately her husband has been not only supportive but very understanding as well. Sulabha regrets the fact that she has not been able to do different things and be called a polymath since she knows that it’s not practical and that she is not able to concentrate on her music which is her passion. But right now time is a constraint for her. She has a done a few playback singing for feature films but she would like to do things which give her a lot of personal satisfaction and radio has done just that for her.
To Contact Sulabha Santhosh mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 024
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Dr. Sunitha Raja is a dental surgeon who is into baking and fitness as passions. She is not a feminist in the traditional sense of the word, she believes in women empowerment but fully realizes that empowerment comes from within and cannot be forced by external stimuli. Sunitha is very passionate about her profession which is dentistry. This passion arises from a deeper aspiration to make people smile and live more healthy lives. This is also possible only if the need for change comes from within the individual. Facilitating this change is what she believes can be achieved by the people around us. She is the Director of Smile Citi Dental Centre. An exclusive clinic for dental implants and laser based dental therapy. After completing her under graduation at Ragas Dental College here in Chennai, Sunitha moved to the US to do her post-graduation in Public Health at the University of Texas at El Paso. As part of her studies at the US-Mexico border city, she was involved in a lot of diabetes awareness, prevention and risk assessment and other community based outreach programs. After her return to Chennai, she completed her second masters in dental surgery from Meenakshiammal Dental College. She has been actively practicing dentistry for the last 18 years. She has diversified from general dentistry into implantology after completing her fellowship
program in 2004. Dental Implants, she explains are basically made of titanium and are implanted into a persons’ jaws, over which the tooth is built with ceramic. Implants are a fixed remedy for missing teeth. This treatment requires some amount of surgical dexterity, great eye hand coordination and specialized training. During her younger days, Sunitha aspired to be a pediatrician but fate had other plans for her. However now, dentistry has become a field that she is very passionate about.Talking about dentistry she feels that, awareness about dental checkups and hygiene are lesser among the general population. Flossing and the fact that one needs to visit a dentist at least twice a year for a check-up need to be stressed on. We don’t focus on primary prevention but wait until the disease has progressed completely to rehabilitate the oral cavity. The need to pay attention to oral health is not something to be taken casually since lot of research and systematic reviews have connected oral health to cardiac and respiratory health, prenatal and health of the fetus in pregnant women. On the topic of wisdom teeth she says that they have become problematic for the majority of the population. She says this is because our jaw sizes are shrinking but the number of teeth remain the same. This is part of the evolutionary process as our diets
The Smiling Doctor
are changing and we are eating less fibrous foods. Sunitha has always been into healthy eating and is a fitness enthusiast and this led her to experiment with healthy baking. She loves experimentingand coming up with recipes for gluten free and vegan baking. She uses gluten free flours,nut flours and replaces refined sugar with jaggery, fruits such as apples and bananasand honey in her baking. She has been baking right from her childhood and has rekindled her passion for baking with a Facebook page that she runs called Sugar Cube. She loves baking for friends and family. Being a fitness conscious person she always was into fitness activities. She started practicing yoga after the birth of her first child and found that practicing yoga solved a lot of health problems.Yoga if practiced the right way aligns the mind,body and soul.There is no other form of therapy that can bring peace to the soul and the mind and align the body at the same time. If done with the right knowledge it is the solution to a lot of new age problems which are prevalent now. We have to approach Yoga as a way of life and not as a weight loss solution. Sunitha battled many injuries during her fitness adventures and always went crawling back to yoga to heal herself, and it never once let her down. She is a qualified power yoga instructor and enjoys practicing yoga. Health has been at the core of everything that Sunitha has been doing. She would like to use her knowledge and experience in these fields to develop community outreach and empowerment programs that can benefit many people as a way of giving back to society. She feels that life is not just about earning money. There is a purpose to all life on this planet and realizing and potentiating oneself to achieve this is what life is all about. Sunitha is proud of the fact that her work has been recognized in the dental community and for this she is thankful to her parents, family and teachers who have been instrumental for her achievements. Her teachers have been instrumental in imbibing in her the talents and she has grown in confidence over the years. Sunitha has been an academician and has been teaching dentistry for the past 9 years. She feels mentoring is a big way of guiding the younger generation in the right direction. By mentoring young people, she feels that they can be guided and nurtured and this will result in a ripple effect of them doing and repeating the same. This is something that she would like to do very consciously and she is sure that she will succeed in this endeavor.
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To Contact Sunitha Raja mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 025
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THE Boutique PR
Those were early days of PR and there were a few big PR firms and on the other side of the spectrum there were the PROs but there were no boutique PR firms. The mid segment was untouched .She joined a PR firm called Pratika where she would work flexi hours as she had to also look after the kids at home. She then worked for eight long years with Pratika. She did some very big projects during this period. After 8 years Sunita decided to take it easy and maybe write a book and just stick to two clients but fate had other plans for Sunita! Within 3 months of taking a decision to slow down she had a fullfledged office and business grew much beyond her imagination. She also managed to publish her fictional romance “Together 24/7 “. She also ended up starting a publishing company called Pageturn Publishing along with a friend. She did this for two years but she chose to opt out of it as the PR consultancy work was taking up much of her time.
Sunita Suresh was born in Chennai and grew up both in Sterling and Harrington Road. Her schooling was in Good Shepherd Convent and she went to Stella Maris for her degree in English literature. She has happy memories of her childhood and since most of her friends from school went with her to college it was almost like an extension of her school days. During the final year of College Sunita got engaged and marriage followed as soon as she completed her college. She says that she did English Literature for the love of the language as those days there was no pressure to perform. She had absolutely no idea, no career plans at that time. Sunita was blessed with two children and after they grew up a bit she decided that she wanted to do something worthwhile instead of doing nothing and supported by her husband she decided that she will venture out and keep herself occupied. A casual conversation with good friend Sharan Appa Rao in 1996 paved the way for Sunita to get into a job. She was offered a job either in sales or Public Relations (PR) and being a people’s person Sunita chose the latter. She had absolutely no idea of what PR entailed but she gave it her best shot. It was like being dropped into water and asked to swim but she rose to the challenge.
She took on a partner, a former colleague who took on the role of marketing and RED Consulting, her company grew manifold. They had strong relationships with very supportive clients and there was no looking back. Working with clients as a partnership and fulfilling their needs made the business on very strong footing. Events happened as a natural extension of the traditional PR business. So what followed was RED Experience –the events wing, RED Advertising – space buying, RED Interactive –social media etc. Today Sunita has the satisfaction of handling PR and the related services for several clients in the city. She lends that personal touch which is lacking in Big PR firms. She is at the forefront in her clients events making sure that everything goes like clockwork. The Boutique PR firm RED Consulting is here to stay.
To Contact Sunitha Suresh mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 026
She worked just half a day and got back home by the time her kids came back from school but working with Sharan who was a very creative person, a stickler for details and a great source of inspiration was good training for Sunita. She handled PR for all the art exhibitions at the gallery.
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IF MUSIC BE THE LOVE OF LIFE,
PLAY ON
Ujjayinee Roy was born in Agartala, the capital of Tripura, to Bengali parents and lived there for 22 years completing her schooling and post graduation studies. She therefore considers herself as a thoroughbred small town girl. She then moved to Bangalore to do her MBA and then started her career with ITC Group in Bangalore. Her 7 year corporate life ended as a producer and RJ with Radio Mirchi in Kolkata.This last job is where she derived maximum satisfactionand happiness as she could also put herpassion, which was singing, to good use.The only constant though, throughout her corporate wanderings, which took her to Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, was music! And singing is what Ujjayinee is all about,having started singing from the age of three when she trained to be a classical singer and by seven she was an artist with All India Radio. At the age of eight she was granted a scholarship by Centre of Cultural Research and Training, New Delhi to pursue her training and
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study of Hindustani Classical Music. By the time she was eighteen years old, she was a composer with All India Radio as well. She was fifteen when she composed her first song.The fact that her mother was a poet and a lyricist did help her in her compositions.The last composition was released on July 6th this year for EID, a collaboration between her and lyricist MadhanKarky.Her father being a surgeon and a conventional person wanted her to be an academic and with a regular paycheck but did relent later when he saw her singing on stage in Chennai and actually saw the admiration of the audience. Today Ujjayinee is a pride of her dad. Ujjayinee’smusical journey has been one of exploring her talent and her inner self but she does rue the fact that Chennai is not too open to new genres of music as opposed to film music. And talking of film music Ujjayinee has several hit songs to her credit in multiple languages.She has also acted in a few regional movies and is aBharatnatyam dancer as well.Her dance guru NrithyachudamaniKalaimaamani Sri Zakir Hussain is the one who prompted her to start dancing again after a long gap. Since then she has performed with him in various venues, sabhas and temples.She is constantly pushing her capacity and caliber to the next level always, not being content with what she has achieved. Today Ujjayinee has evolved as an artist having her own unique style. Ujjayinee lives in Chennai choosing Chennai in favor of Mumbai.She is very clear about what she wants from life often choosing her self-respect to fame or money. She moved to Chennai in 2003 and took up a job till she found her footing and familiarized herself with the place, the surroundings,the language, the culture etc.She feels that people in Chennai are much better to work with compared to other cities.She lives a simple and content life with her spouse and is happy with what she has and every bit of success her talents as an artisthave brought her to where she is at present. Both of them have been great pet lovers and their cat Dizzy is part of the family. She has even learnt to communicate with Dizzy. Today Ujjayinee feels that her cat Dizzy is one of the most important additions to her family having changed her life for the better. Ujjayinee is gearing up and is excited about her forthcoming 48 days long singing tour of Europe.The thought of travelling to different venues and cities to perform is exciting for her especially because this is the first time she is attempting something like this. She will be performing with artists from different nationalities and carrying with her, her unique blend of classical music and various other musical styles and genres.On her return she plans to continue with more vigor what she does best-singing!!
To Contact Ujjayinee Roy mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 027
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Necessity to Passion Vidya Ragu was brought up in Delhi and studied in one of the best schools, St.Thomas which incidentally was started by a British lady who went door to door asking girls to join the school! So Vidya was brought up with a lot of culture and a sense of giving. During her last two years of school Vidya also experienced the mock parliament and how the government functions. She took on the role of a Deputy Prime Minister. Sothese experiences gave Vidya the necessary people skills and insights intohow to function within teams. She then moved to Chennai to do her engineering and it turned out to be a complete contrast to life in Delhi but she realized that there were more opportunities to showcase her talent as the exposure of students here was less. So she was always able to stand out in debates and other cultural,inter collegiate programs and hone her leadership qualities. She found eating idly Dosas day in and day out boring, often longing for authentic North Indian food that she was used to and not finding any good ones she decided to cook some good stuff herself. As it was no fun cooking only for herself she invited friends to come over and this resulted in more and more people ordering her food and thus started her entrepreneurial journey even while in College. Having attended some good transformational training programs in Delhi she also started sharing these learnings with friends and thus the opportunity to take up training as a career also opened up. She commenced the food business as a small take away /delivery kind of business where she employed students to deliver the food in cycles. She is a certified healthy cooking expert, thus her main forte or USP has been that the food she cooks, hardly has any oil and her signature dish is the ever popular Biriyani - that too without oil. She is very confident that people who eat her food will come back for more and this has given her the confidence to franchise out her model by setting up small hubs in different parts of the city. These will be more of distribution points with the food being cooked in a central kitchen so that the quality will not be compromised. She also wants to employ mostly women for this venture as she feels that they will add immense value , in turn empower them economically. So while the food business came out of necessity the training came out of passion. After marriage her husband suggested going deeper into the food business and that’s how her restaurant business started, which gave her huge real time learning and expertise going through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. Vidya also had a brief stint with a corporate but she realized that it wasn’t her cup of tea. She preferred interacting with people rather than sit in front of a computer whole day. Since she wanted to understand human behavior she studied Applied Psychology. But since this was more theory than practice she undertook numerous world class certificationcourses in training,coaching. What moves her on is the transformation that good training can bring amongst people. Having done a lot of training work fortop corporates MNCs and senior people she realized that there can be much more transformation if Youth and children at an early age can be trained and transformed and this prompted her to start learning and development services for educational institutions and organizations, Christened as SKILLSGURUCOOL. She also realized that if true transformation has to take place it is necessary to also educate, align the teachers and parents. She is a mentor to many women entrepreneurs and does work with Government schools and Institutions like IIT to Empower and impact mindsets of Women and Youth at grass root level. Vidya is now authoring a book which will be published by a Canadian Publisher. The book is titled “Shed Fears Not Tears”!! This will forward her Vision to empower women to take charge, step up and build themselves, in turn contribute to Nation Building.
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To Contact Vidya Ragu mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 028
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Passionate.Preserving. Prolific. Traversing multi-faceted and myriad paths to achieve the stuff that dreams are made of, Yasmine Jesudasen has set her sights on her passions and ambitions. Her interests focus on writing for children, sketching women’s faces, designs with varied media and making jewelry (crystal glass bead bracelets). Accelerating her career as a writer, she first started off writing children’s stories and then went on to complete a book on freedom fighters called, ‘The Voices of Freedom’ for Sura Publishers in Chennai. With the changing situations and trends of a fast moving world, Yasmine took off to explore the world of business. She began as a Manager of a Cargo company and slowly moved into the export field. Dabbling in leather garments, jute and leather bags and apparel, she gleaned much knowledge and crafted experiential learning. Her penchant for writing and dreaming up a fantasy planet soon drew her into the advertising arena where she wrote the lyrics for an American company which dealt mainly with children’s books and videos. Yasmine has also written the record back cover for Mr. Ilayaraja’s fusion album, ‘How to Name It’. She has worked with several adverting companies and has designed and composed a video with voice overon Art Director,Mr. ThotaTharani. She has always been a dreamer...dreaming up a world of unique characters conjuring up exciting stories for children where charming princes and an army of hedgehogs overcome evil and fight for what is right and good. Pursuing a world where the innate goodness of man can be brought to life, Yasmine has journeyed through paths unimaginable to create and recreate a magical concoction where people and especially children can escape to refresh their minds and souls.
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With her mission to bring an environment of recreation and learning through reading, Yasmine has created a concept of molding the mind to slip into a fabulous ambience where the wings of dragonflies are spun with magical silk, where rainbow-hued butterflies skim through lush green forests, where the chirping of insects merge into a chorus of fairy music and where soul wanders to sip the sweet morning dew to quench the thirst of humans for knowledge, learning and complete their quest for a forgotten world. Yasmine has written for Krea Media (Part of Seasons Publishing) for Mythological and Western Classics Comics and Books. Her contributions extend to writing stories for Chandamama. Yasmine has traveled the breadth and length of the unseen world in her petite working space writing on exotic countries and their way of life with the magic of imagination and God-given talents. She loves to write on exotic destinations and has written content for Delhi, Italian and Singapore based travel companies. Her love for beautiful places manifests in copy for Tamilnadu Tourism rendered through advertising companies. She soon launched into content writing for websites which includes SEO based articles, blogs and press releases. She has written various types of content on a gamut of subjects and sites over the years.With a close associate, she has also worked on website designing for Padmashri Kamal Hassan, one of Tamil Nadu’s leading actors for the movie,Virumandiwith a Press Release Kit and Official Website for Mr. Romulus Whitaker showcasing his book,‘Snakes of India’. Yasmine has written copy and content for numerous websites which evolve over construction companies, medical firms, shipping offices, retail stores and consumer goods, etc. Her writing spans
over a kaleidoscope of subjects which include product descriptions for jewelry and garments including content for Pan-Asian multi-brand, multi-store chain of stores based in Singapore. Her expertise ranges over writing content for software companies for all software products and rendering newsletters for a California based company on a gamut of topics. She also works presently with one of the leading jewelers based in New York for many years doing business development. Weaving a tapestry of color, charisma and the essence of craft, Yasmine has brought the art of fantasy with a refreshing attitude of combining ideas with technology. Using a contrast and an imaginative approach, she has carefully and intricately created designs with various mediums to offer a kaleidoscope of creative ideas. She has introduced a dream environment with a riot of colors, intriguing ideas and extraordinary concepts. She leads you into fields of floral patterns, forests filled with wild flowers and a rainbow-hued ambience to offer artistic passions. Being a lover of all things bright and beautiful, Yasmine gives you creative ideas with her designs conceptualized with subtle yet pleasing combinations of colors which can inspire living spaces and objets d-art. Her designs involve a colorful arena of women’s faces and designs which has transformed art into craft. Yasmine specializes in women’s faces and contemporary patterns that is first drawn by hand and then scanned, edited and digitized into digital art and framed. The clarity is crystal clear and the finish will keep you gazing! With more than 100 types of framing possibilities, Yasmine has a tie-up with Chennai’s best digital printer and framer who has had a dedicated past and credit worth more than 40 years.The print out is taken from an Industrial Epson printer which gives you a guarantee on the digital print out of about 99 years. Yazzart Studio has a non-bespoke category where it is nonexclusive, while the bespoke category is exclusive and in both cases free consultancy is offered based on your requirement.
To Contact Yasmine Jesudasen mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 029
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has been experimentingacross Theatre, Advertisements &TV medium bothin front of & behind the camera, the polymath that she is.
The Creative Outlier
Fascinated with YouTube she started posting videos of the various work that she had done for some prominent charity organizations. She is now aspiring to start a talk show called Shylajaunt which will focus on entrepreneurs and on individual social responsibility vis a vie corporate social responsibility.
Shylaja Chetlur’s parents are from Palghat, Kerala but she was born in Mysore and then shifted to Madras at anearly age and grew up in the suburbs where there were a lot of art and culture and this greatly influenced Shylaja’s love for the arts. The travel around South India, the movies and the stories which her grandparents told her, greatly influenced her life.
Cinema Rendezvous is a NGO that’s she started as a film club to appreciate and engage with good cinema. Shylaja also does a film related event for the Madras Day in August and has also been fully involved in The Chennai International Film Festival. Cinema Rendezvous has instituted the BK Memorial Award for Innovative use of Media toward Social Causes. It is awarded for five categories which is Print, Documentaries, Social Media, and Radioetc. Shylaja’s latest venture is Wanderlust in SAVERA which encourages travel related plans for Chennai and surrounding areas. She is very clear of the fact that she only does things that she truly believes in and is passionate about. She also feels that whatever she does, they are inter connected and has a lot of fun element to it.Sometimes she does wonder if she should have just focused on one thing rather than having done multiple things but then again she no regrets. Today Shylaja has a production house and has also founded Cinema Rendezvous where there is a constant search for rootedness in a contemporary world and connecting with people. Shylaja’s schooling was at the Christ King Convent in Tambaram and then moved to St.Domnic’s in St.Thomas Mount. Her College days were spent at the Madras Christian College, Tambaram, where she studied Botany. She was fascinated by trees in the campus and this love for nature has influenced much of her travels. She was a cadet in the NCC and took part in the Republic Day parade in Delhi in 1984. She attended a course in Mountaineering in Nehru Institute of Mountaineering Uttarkash as an NCC cadet in 1983 before the RD paradewhich instilled something big & adventurous in her. This inculcated in her a strong sense of discipline. So Shylaja is a product of all the influences she has had from childhood. Marriage happened right after College. She set up a Beauty Parlor immediately after marriage. Television happened quite by chance when she wrote the script for a program on career guidance in GEC, now Vijay TV which she was asked to anchor. She followed this up with directing short documentaries which really are one’s personal search for meaning Then her second kid arrived and a chance meeting with K.Balachander kick started her TV career where she acted in serials and then hosted a program called Cinema Karam Koffee and this led her into the fascinating mind space of actors, writers, directorsetc. Since she was a perfectionist she did a course on film appreciation in FTII, Pune. She also did lot of street theatre in school days with ICUF.So Shylaja
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Shylaja is extremely proud of her family links and the long time friendships she has been able to make in her life where each one supports each other and cheer each one on. Shailaja is extremely optimistic about the future and several plans are on the cards with her desire of taking on the role of an Associate Director in a feature film. She is clear though that her activities will focus on media related topics. Expect the unexpected from Shailaja!!
To Contact Shylaja Chetlur mail to contact@womanationindia.com or call 91768 12377 Citing Code: WN02 030
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Open the door to divinity ! Exquisite Pooja Doors from Poompuhar
TE S TIMO N IAL I was impressed with the excellent handicrafts compositions displayed by Poompuhar at the T3 & T4 international terminals of Chennai Airport. Hence I decided to approach them for my dream pooja door, and was struck by their professionalism and enthusiasm, and decided to go ahead! The door was done in record time, fully teak, traditional and exceptionally appealing to my conservative family. I was totally bowled over by this experience ! In honour and gratitude to their fantastic service, I am posting this testimonial here. Dr. Hemashree Rajesh, Singapore
Shop online at www.poompuhar.org You can also shop using our smart phone app Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation Ltd., (A Government of Tamil Nadu Undertaking) 759, Anna Salai | Chennai - 600 002 | Phone : 044 2852 1271 | 2852 1798 | 2852 1325 Fax : 2852 4135 E-mail : thdcltd@tnpoompuhar.gov.in / tamilnaduhandicrafts@yahoo.co.in | Website : www.tnhdcltd.com Follow us on : Poompuhar Tamilnaduhandicrafts tnhandicrafts tnhandicrafts
Call us for customized solutions too. We reach your doorstep to service you. 7272 | WOMANATION | August 20162016 | WOMANATION | March
For free Home delivery of gift items call 2852 2222 (Chennai only)