Kiran Manral is a writer and major social media influencer. After quitting her full-time journalist’s job when her son was born, Kiran became a mommy blogger on the internet, with a remarkably original voice. She was a journalist at The Asian Age, The Times of India, features editor Cosmopolitan, India Cultural Lead and Trend spotter at Gartner Icon culture US, Senior Consultant at Vector Insights, Ideas Editor, SheThePeople.TV. Kiran is currently a celebrated author and an independent research and media consultant. She was shortlisted for the Femina Women Awards for Literary Contribution in 2017. The Indian Council of UN Relations (ICUNR) supported by the Ministry of Women and Children, Govt of India, awarded her the International Women’s Day Award 2018 for excellence in the field of writing. In 2021, she was awarded the Womennovator 1000 Women of Asia award. In 2022, she was named amongst the 75 Iconic Indian women in STEAM by Red Dot Foundation and Beyond Black, in collaboration with the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India, and British High Commission, New Delhi. Her novella, Saving Maya, was long-listed for the 2018 Saboteur Award, supported by the Arts Council of England in the UK. Her novels ‘The Face At the Window’ and ‘Missing, Presumed Dead were both long-listed for Jio MAMI Word to Screen, and ‘The Face at the Window’ was showcased at the South Asian Film Festival 2019. The Kitty Party Murder was shortlisted for the Popular Choice award at the 2021 JK Papers TOI Author awards. Her other books include The Reluctant Detective, Once Upon A Crush, All Aboard, Karmic Kids-The Story of Parenting Nobody Told You, A Boy’s Guide to Growing Up, True Love Stories, 13 Steps to Bloody Good Parenting, Raising Kids with Hope and Wonder in Times of a Pandemic and Climate Change, More Things in Heaven and Earth and Rising: 30 Women Who Changed India. She also has published short stories in various magazines, in acclaimed anthologies like Have A Safe Journey, Boo, The Best Asian Speculative Fiction 2018, Grandpa’s Tales, Magical Women and City of Screams. Kiran lives in Mumbai with her family.
Anant Vijay is a National Award winning Journalist and Author. Presently working with Dainik Jagran, his journalism experience spans more than two decades across TV and Print, writing mainly on the Cinema, politics of Culture and Literature. His weekly column has been running for 12 years in Dainik Jagran, the largest read newspaper in India. Writing with consummate ease, he’s authored 12 books across genres. His Book Bollywood Selfie was the best seller. His latest book Amethi Sangram became a best seller within a week of its launch. A keen student of the Hindi language, Anant has organized literature festivals, been part of Hindi literary bodies playing active advisory roles, been on editorial boards, been a Jury Chairman at the National Film Awards twice, Chairman of the selection Jury (Konkani Films) of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2019 and Member of Jury, 75 Creative Minds, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 2021. He has actively engaged with academia to train the next generation journalists/writers across educational institutes of repute. Apart from the National Award, Anant Vijay is the recipient of the most prestigious Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Award and Father Camille Bulcke Award.
ElsaMarie D’Silva is the Founder of Red Dot Foundation (India) and President of Red Dot Foundation Global (USA). She is a 2020 Gratitude Network Fellow, 2019 IWF Fellow and a Reagan Fascell Democracy Fellow, a 2018 Yale World Fellow and an alumni of the Stanford Draper Hills Summer School, the US State Department’s Fortune Mentoring Program, Oxford Chevening Gurukul and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Leadership Program. She is also a fellow with Rotary Peace, Aspen New Voices, Vital Voices and a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader. She co-founded the Gender Alliance which is a cross-network initiative bringing together feminists from various German networks including the German FFO’s GDL. She won several awards including Government of India Niti Aayog’s #WomenTransformingIndia award. In 2017, she was awarded the Global Leadership Award by Vital Voices in the presence of Secretary Hillary Clinton. Her work has been recognised by the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations through the Intercultural Innovation Award, SDG Action Festival and the UN Foundation at the Solutions Summit 2016. She is a co-editor and author of “The Demographic Dividend and the Power of Youth” published by Anthem Press on behalf of the German Federal Foreign Office’s Global Diplomacy Lab. Her latest book is She Is: Stories of Women Advancing Sustainable Development Goals in India. She has penned articles that have appeared in CNN, Huffington Post, WIP amongst others. She has spoken about her work at the Rotary International Assembly 2019, Aspen Ideas Festival at TEDx MidAtlantic, UN Women, State Department, Vital Voices South to South Leadership Summit. She has been a panelist for World Bank, NDI, USIP, SheThePeople and hosted a roundtable at the Bloomberg CityLab London 2015. Prior to Safecity, she was in the aviation industry for 20 years where she worked with Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. Her last portfolio was Vice President Network Planning & Charters where she oversaw the planning and implementation of 500 daily flights.
Koral Dasgupta has published an eclectic range of books from academic non fiction to relationship dramas. Her stories explore the inherent nature of complex minds leading to a relatable conflict and unpredictable climax. Having published widely with Westland Books, Niyogi Publishers and Rupa, her books are discussed from the context of gender studies, art, myth and ecocritical literature. Other than India, Koral’s books are shelved in the libraries of University of Harvard, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago, University of Wales, Duke University, University of North Carolina, TAMU, and others. Her fourth book has been optioned for screen adaptation. She is currently working with Pan Macmillan on the five-book Sati series – a retelling of the stories of the Pancha Kanya from Indian mythology – Ahalyaand Kunti are on the shelves. www.tellmeyourstory.biz founded by Koral leverages literature to design and execute extensive learning programes which inspire social engagement and behavioural change for Inclusion & Diversity. She conducts writing programmes and critical thinking workshops for educational and corporate floors.
Koral lives in Mumbai.
Kuldeep Verma is a Fellow Chartered Accountant and Insolvency professional having 17+ years of professional experience which includes turnaround and restructuring experience of more than 10 years (including more than 5 years as insolvency professional). As a registered insolvency practitioner, he has led 10 engagements as (in role of Interim Resolution Professional/Resolution Professional/Liquidator/Authorised Representative of Class of Creditors) besides multiple engagements as an advisor. As advisor and interim management his expertise is in crisis management, liquidity management & the turnaround of distressed & stressed companies in the healthcare, hospitality and industrial products. He has provided consultancy services focused on start-up e-commerce space, sustainable social impact investments in start- ups, IT companies, Bio Technology Companies. He has worked in PwC and EY in Audit and Transaction Advisory services.
Mona Verma is an award-winning author of 8 works of fiction and over a dozen anthologies. She had edited various science journals, self-help books, and biographies and specializes as a Haiku, Limericks, and Tanka poet. Her books have been the subject of the thesis for many Research Scholars and the ICSE ELT series. She is on the board of various universities as an academic advisor and visiting faculty.She is the Chief Coordinator for FLO FICCI, Uttarakhand Literature Committee. Her name is mentioned in Dateline Dehradun as one of the most influential literary figures of Uttarakhand. Recently, she has been listed in the 50 Iconic Authors 2022 Category by Aesthetics International.She has served as a member of the Asia Development Bank for the Uttarakhand chapter.She is a Paul Harris Fellow and serves with Interplast, Germany annually for free treatment of Burns victims. Mona co-owns DISHA, a Corporate Training firm that is much sought by leading MNCs, PSUs, Corporate Houses, and Universities for Executive presence training, Faculty Skill enhancement, PEP and PSI, and OB programs in India, the U.K., and the U.S.A. She is passionate about Indian classical music, acrylic oil, and charcoal pencil art.Her work is exhibited in the book, Daivya Sutras.
Pooja Bahry was the 3rd women Insolvency Professional in India and has been handling cases under the Insolvency Bankruptcy Code 2016 since early 2017. She is an alumni of Sri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University and is a Gold Medallist. She has over 20 years of unblemished specialized experience and strategic advantage in stressed assets management, resolution and restructuring of non-performing assets of various banks and financial institutions since 2002. Born in a reputed business family, with known history of philanthropy, she maintains high standards of ethics and values. The topper of her school Springdales School and in SRCC, she has received various awards. She regularly acts as a faculty on behalf of IBBI, various IPAs. government authorities, law schools and others. Landmark jurisprudence has emerged in cases handled by her under the Code.
Renuka Sane is an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). Her research interests are in household finance, especially on household choice in financial instruments such as credit, pensions, insurance and equity markets, as well as consumer protection in finance. She is also interested in research and policy on the criminal justice system in India.She has a PhD in Economics from the University of New South Wales and holds an M.A. in Economics from Mumbai University. She was a peer reviewer for the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) on consumer protection. She was also on the research team for the Bankruptcy Legislative Reforms Committee (BLRC) on the insolvency of individuals (2015) and the research team for the DEA Committee on Mis-selling (2015). She is also a member of the Pension Advisory Committee of the Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA). Her research areas include, household finance, pensions, consumer protection in finance. Renuka lives in Mumbai.
Dr Sakshi Chanana is an Assistant Professor, at the School of Liberal Studies, UPES, Dehradun. A Fulbright Fellow at the University of Notre Dame (2018-19), and a gold-medalist in M. Phil, she completed her doctoral thesis on Popular Literature from JNU, Delhi. During 14 years of teaching, she has taught English Literature, Creative Writing, Communication Skills and English Language, at Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Guru Nanak Dev University, Sri Aurobindo Centre of Arts and Communication, Kathmandu University and University of Notre Dame, USA. She has published a poetry anthology titled ‘Webs of Light’ and her poems have appeared in journals like Muse India, Kritya, Reading Hour and Tajmahal Review. She has conducted Creative writing and Soft skills workshops in different cities and has been invited for talks and guest sessions at various universities and colleges. Her recent publication (2022) is an English Translation titled ‘Since She Left’; authored by Hindi poet KrishnakantNilosey. Her current interest areas include Popular Literature, Creative Writing, Translation Studies and Digital Humanities. Sakshi lives in Dehradun.
Swarupama Chaturvedi is Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court of India, Additional Advocate General (AAG), for the State of Madhya Pradesh at New Delhi and Standing Counsel, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). She has over 16 years standing at the Bar and 6 years as an academic in two National Law Universities as full time faculty and three foreign Universities for guest lectures. Swarupama represented States of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and Election Commission of India as standing Counsel in Supreme Court. She has contributed in more than 165 Reportable Judgements. Swarupama is registered with Government of India for providing pro-bono-legal services. Adjunct Faculty in the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Corporate Affairs from the year 2019 (occasional lectures). She has published one book and multiple book chapters/ papers in national daily/ magazines/ online legal news portal as well as international legal journals. She has represented Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India before the Hon’ble Supreme Court, Delhi High Court, NCLAT, NCLT New Delhi and have also represented before NCLT Allahabad and NCLT Kolkata.
Vikas is an award winning author who has written many popular novels and books published in Hindi, English and Bengali – Bihar: Criminalization of Politics; Satta Ke Sutradhaar; Bhog – A Novel; IssBarish Mein (Poetry Collection); Parichay Patra – Essays in Bengali; McCluskieganj– A Novel- In Hindi by Rajkamal Prakashan and in English by Harper Collins; Varshavan ki Roopkatha– A novel on the village Agumbe, famously known as Malgudi; GayasurSandhan– Story of the twin cities Gaya and Bodhgaya; Ullas Ki Naav; The biography of Usha Uthup, Queen of Indian Pop (Hindi by Rajkamal Prakashan and English upcoming release by Penguin India) and Raja Momo Aur Peeli Bulbul. He has vast experience as a journalist. He was Correspondent, Ravivar Magazine (1983-84); Bureau Chief, Maya Magazine (Hindi Fortnightly) (1985-2000); Bureau Chief, Outlook Magazine, Hindi (2002-2004); Editor, RashtriyaPrasang (2004- 2013); and State Head, News Express Channel (2013-2014). He has anchored a programme, ‘AamneSaamne’ (a political hard talk) on ETV Bihar (2001- 2005); a public issue programme, ‘Suno Lucknow’ on ETV Lucknow (2001-2005); and a public issue programme, ‘Duhai Sarkar Ki’ on ETV Bihar (2007- 2008). He has received Katha UK Honour 2011 for the novel McCluskieganj at The House of Commons, London. He lives in Patna.
