Bachi Karkaria is a game changer in India’s journalism, having helped elevate local issues to Page 1 and created path-breaking brands for the Times of India Group. She is also a popular columnist, best-selling author, litfest curator and international media trainer. She was the first Indian board member of the Paris-based World Editors Forum, a Jefferson Fellow at Hawaii’s East-West Center, and a recipient of the Mary Morgan Hewitt Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Karkaria’s books include the critically acclaimed In Hot Blood: The Nanavati Case That Shook India; the bestseller biography of M.S. Oberoi, Dare To Dream; Mills, Molls And Moolah; Behind The Times; Mumbai Masti; The Cake That Walked; and collections of her columns. Her biography of Capt C.P. Krishnan Nair, Capture the Dream, was published in February 2022.
Devina Mehra, Founder & CMD of First Global, is a gold medallist from IIM Ahmedabad (one of the only two women in the institute's 55 year plus history) as well as from Lucknow University, where she broke several records and got 8 Gold Medals. She spearheaded First Global's globalisation 25 years ago, making First Global the first Asian (ex-Japan) firm to become a member of the London Stock Exchange in 1999 and then the NASD.
First Global is now a Global Asset Management firm managing over USD 700 million in assets in India & Globally using a unique Human + Machine (Artificial intelligence and machine learning) model.
She has been quoted widely on Global as well as Indian markets by global financial media like Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune, Forbes, CNBC, Financial Times etc.
She has been featured among the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune magazine in 2025 and 2022. She has been featured as one of India's leading entrepreneurs by Outlook Business and Entrepreneur magazines. She has been a prolific writer in various newspapers & magazines. Most recently she has written a book ‘Money Myths and Mantras: The Ultimate Investment Guide' which has become a bestseller on debut, becoming the number one seller on Amazon across all genres of books.
Harinder Baweja is a senior journalist and author. She has been reporting on current affairs, with a particular emphasis on conflict, for over four decades. Her journey has taken her through the battlefield of Punjab and onwards to insurgency-ridden Jammu and Kashmir. She has also mapped various crises in Pakistan and was in Afghanistan when the Taliban first rode into Kabul in 1996.
She has been honoured for her work and has won the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award for excellence in journalism, the Prabha Dutt award, and the Haldighati award. She authored a book on Kargil, A Soldier’s Diary: Kargil the Inside Story, and edited and contributed to various anthologies, including two titled, 26/11: Mumbai Attacked and Most Wanted: Profiles of Terror.
Latha, who was born and brought up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, has been writing poetry since the age of twenty, giving vent to her pent-up emotions.
She has always been questioning the validity of many of our social norms and the hypocrisies hidden under the garb of tradition and culture-in her family and in society at large, where she witnessed the stealthy and shocking acts of people, which made her realise that appearances are often deceptive.
Driven by the urge to talk her mind out, Latha started publishing a monthly magazine titled The Way Forward, which she used as a medium to voice out her views on subjects like religion and education. However, the magazine could not be continued after seven issues.
The Toilet Seat is her first attempt at writing a book.
Daughter of an Army officer , Surgeon Rear Admiral Nirmala Kannan finished her schooling from Bishop Cotton Girls School Bangalore. Having joined the Indian Navy in 1977 as a Doctor, she acquired an MD in Obstetrics and Gynaecology from Mumbai University , but her interest in Hospital Administration and Health Management made her switch her path very early in her Naval career. She has not only held several important executive assignments including the Command of the hospitals of the Eastern and Western Naval Commands, she is also an MSc in Defence Studies from the Defence Services Staff College , Wellington in 1991.
Later in 2004, she was the first Woman Officer from the Indian Armed Forces to get selected for the prestigious National Defence College at New Delhi.
During her career in the Indian Navy, she was conferred two Presidential Awards for Distinguished Service - Visisht Seva Medal in 1993 and the Nao Sena Medal in 2012 .
Following retirement in 2013, she has settled down in Coimbatore along with her husband who is a retired Vice Admiral.
Having always followed the Mantra of living life every day to its fullest and maintaining a fine and healthy balance between work and pleasure, she continues with her lifelong passion for singing English songs besides enjoying a few rounds of Golf every week. The creation of her own You Tube channel in 2021 and uploading renditions regularly has been her way of sharing her joy and happiness with the world besides spreading the message that “ It’s never too late to follow one’s dreams.”
Paul Waters fell in love with India when he fell in love with his wife, Aneysha. He’s from Belfast. She's from Chandigarh/Delhi. He’d already set his previous book, Blackwatertown, in Ireland, so she suggested he set his next one in India, because they’re there so much. That's how his new book, Murder in Moonlit Square, came about.
Paul has been a night club cook in New York, he made iconic Brazilian footballer Pelé his dinner, smuggled a satellite dish into Cuba, reported undercover in Zimbabwe, survived riots as a reporter in Northern Ireland, conducted sports crowds in Bulawayo, was an award-winning BBC journalist, led the BBC World Service live coverage of the 9-11 attacks on the USA, co-hosts the We’d Like A Word books and authors podcast, and is co-organiser of the Chiltern Kills crime festival and the Khushwant Singh LitFest London.
Bedi, born to two strong, celebrated, bohemian, celebrity parents has carved out a strong identity of her own With a career spanning 3 decades across TV/film/ advertising/ talk shows/ Reality shows/ Print & digital media and now as wellness entrepreneur. Her wellness brand “HAPPY SOUL” & Holistic wellness start-up Magicians of wellness (india) PVT LTD, combine an amalgamation of her 30+ years of study in alternative sciences. Her Online ecommerce aggregator platform for Feminine empowerment through Holistic Wellness aims at creating positive change for individuals, communities and the planet as well.
Vision: "Unlocking human potential, one happy soul at a time & creating a world where joy, love, and positivity thrive."
Mission: "Empowering individuals to break free from limitations, embracing happiness through discovering their true essence, and living a joyful, purpose-driven life. Through positive mindset coaching, immersive workshops, and heartfelt connections to kindle profound impact, ripples of love, compassion, and happiness across the globe."
Pooja has been awarded multiple times for all her avatars, be it for her individual contributions, as a professional and a humanitarian. Her recent awards (2024 and 2023) include Inspiring Women Leaders (2024) ET inspiring women leaders 2024 by Economic Times Healthcare heroes Award (2024) for Wellness entrepreneurship
leading wellness entrepreneur 2023 by Shakti Awards was part of the “We women want” movement which was tweeted about by PM Modi. Wellness Entrepreneur of the Year 2023 by Business Goa
Pooja is diploma holder with CHII on modalities for behavioural resolutions, health resolutions, spiritual hypnosis, clinical hypnotherapy, as well as has certifications in courses such as NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). Her certifications also include metasciences such as Karuna Reiki, Usui Reiki, Magnified healing, Heal your life, Shamanism and more.
She is also a Jay Shetty certified life coach and accredited to the AC ((international body of coaches) Her transformational workshops have also been conducted for FICCI-Flo chapters pan India, EO (Entrepreneur Organisation), corporates, various women’s groups, Social entrepreneur groups & educational institutions across the country.
Her wellness brand Happy Soul has caught the attention of healers, the business community and health enthusiasts. Under the guidance of the Goldman Sachs 10K program at the IIM in Bangalore in 2023, she recreated, restructured and created a robust business model for her Passion Project. Happy Soul is being positioned to be an umbrella and front runner in the world of wellness which is globally a 6 trillion dollar industry.
Sangeeta Waldron is a multi-award-winning communications expert and bestselling author, specialising in climate change, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility. A Climate Reality Leader trained by Al Gore, she brings deep insight and strategic vision to her work with global brands, government ministers, and leading charities.
She is the founder of Serendipity PR & Media, a London-based agency, and has written speeches for UK government officials while advising some of the world’s most influential organisations.
In May 2025, Sangeeta co-launched Legacy Makers, a limited podcast series exploring climate change, alongside Giles Trendle, former Managing Director of Al Jazeera English.
An international speaker, guest lecturer, and moderator, she is also the global contributing editor for the India CSR Network, one of India’s largest sustainability news platforms.
Her third and latest book, What Will Your Legacy Be? – Conversations With Global Game Changers About The Climate Crisis, was published in January 2025 and presented at Davos 2025. The book quickly became a bestseller and is praised for its urgent and insightful dialogue on the future of our planet.
Sangeeta’s second book, Corporate Social Responsibility Is Not Public Relations (2021), was shortlisted for the UK Business Book Awards, with a foreword by acclaimed British journalist Lucy Siegle. Her debut, The PR Knowledge Book, was published in 2019.
She currently serves on the advisory board of Bridge India, a progressive, award-winning think tank focused on public policy and international dialogue.
Smita Tharoor is a motivational keynote speaker and thought leader on the Unconscious Bias and how it influences all of us. Smita has spoken at conferences all over the world from Philadelphia to Penang with Berlin and Bangalore in the middle. She talks about women’s empowerment, emotional resilience, change management, cultural agility, leading in times of uncertainty and other similar topics all embedded by our unconscious bias.
She is the co-founder of Culturelytics a company that uses artificial intelligence to understand culture in an organisation and the founder of Tharoor Associates a Training,
Coaching and Organisational development company. She is a TEDx Speaker, Broadcaster, Trainer, Coach, Mentor, Mindfulness Practitioner and University Lecturer.
In her podcast, Stories Seldom Told she has interviewed people around the world to share their stories and life lessons on how they manage their unconscious biases. The podcast has just completed eight seasons including 43 inspirational women. These 43 women have all shown how they have managed themselves when times were tough, how resilient they have been and how entirely due to their own sense of self belief they have overcome odds that many others would crumble under. It currently has the global ranking of being in the top 5% of podcasts listened and is heard in 107 countries.
Smita is a Coach, an Adjunct Professor at OP Jindal Global University, India. She is the recipient of the “Global Diversity Leadership” Award at the 2017 World HRD Congress. She is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development, an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) Practitioner, Coach, Mentor and Mindfulness Practitioner.
Growing up in pluralistic India taught her the value of tolerance and the appreciation of accepting differences. She is passionate about the unconscious bias and how it impacts on all aspects of leadership development. Her experience working in the UK, India, Europe, Asia, and the USA gives her a unique advantage in understanding the expectations and needs of different cultures.
Sonali Gupta is one of India’s leading clinical psychotherapists with two decades of experience. She works with young adults, artists, couples, and corporates to enhance their emotional well-being. She works at the intersection of relationships, grief, anxiety, and compassion.
Sonali was awarded the Elle Mental Health Expert Award for 2023. She won the Cosmopolitan Mental Health Advocate for the year 2023-2024. Sonali writes a fortnightly column for the national daily Hindustan times called Adulting sucks and for Mint Lounge called ‘Heart of the Matter’ Her first book 'Anxiety: Overcome It and Live without Fear” was released May 2020 on by HarperCollins. Her second book, 'You will be alright :A guide to navigating Grief published by Penguin Random House, released in October 2024 and is the first book that looks at grief and loss from an Indian perspective
With over 1 lakh subscribers, her YouTube channel “Mental Health with Sonali’ is one of, if not the, largest for a mental health professional in India. Sonali’s work and expertise has been recognised by mainstream media. She is also deeply loved and respected within the mental health community.
