Debasmita Dasgupta is an internationally published, Kirkus Best Prize nominated illustrator, graphic novelist, and a screenwriter. She was born in Kolkata and lived in Singapore for more than a decade. Currently, she lives in the United Kingdom.
Debasmita enjoys drawing both fiction and non-fiction for children and young adults. She has illustrated over twenty picture books, comics and poems working with publishers across the globe.
She has also illustrated animated stories that have been showcased in the Raindance Film Festival, in London and Toronto. As an art-for-change advocate, she tells stories of changemakers from around the world partnering with global non-profits. Her art has been exhibited around the world and more than forty international media outlets have featured it. Debasmita mentors aspiring and emerging visual storytellers in Asia.
ANA LUENEBURGER has had a global career with organizations such as INSEAD, Danone and the Boston Consulting Group. Following a decade and a half of coaching and advisory work, Ana is a Master Certified Coach (MCC) with the International Coaching Federation, has a PhD in business from the University of St Gallen, Switzerland, was a postdoctoral research fellow in change management at INSEAD, France, and a founding fellow of the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School, USA. Ana is also a fully licensed and accredited integrative psychotherapist in the UK.
Harinder Kohli is the Founding Director and Chief Executive of Emerging Markets Forum as well as the Founding Director, President, CEO, and largest shareholder of Centennial Group International, both based in Washington, DC.
Yogi Trivedi is a former broadcast journalist, communications strategist, classical musician and a scholar of religion and bhakti studies at Columbia University. His time in war zones and monasteries, coupled with his uniquely close relationship with Pramukh Swami Maharaj, constitutes the foundation for his reflections on the guru’s everyday spirituality.
Dr Hansaji Yogendra is the director of The Yoga Institute, Mumbai, and president of the Indian Yoga Association (IYA). She is an exemplary yogi, philanthropist, scholar, internationally-renowned spiritual guru, wellness mentor and thought leader. She is a global symbol of peace, balanced living and yoga. She is the leading face of Householder Yoga and has personally conducted more than 1.5 lakh theoretical and practical yoga sessions.
Through the Householders Yoga Movement, it has been her mission to spread the teachings of Classical Yoga to the masses. She has trained over one lakh yoga teachers, who are dedicated to creating awareness about yogic living in the world. She has enriched millions of lives with her wisdom by authoring and co-authoring more than 100 books. Dr Hansaji has a robust and compelling digital
presence on various social media platforms and connects with millions worldwide. Under her guidance and training, millions have gained spiritual enlightenment, mastered mindfulness, unlocked hidden happiness and found balance in life.
Under her powerful leadership and guidance, The Yoga Institute has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Award by Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ‘Outstanding Contribution in Yoga’. She brought about revolutionary changes in the institute by designing health systems, special techniques, health camp programmes and well-being modules that cater to a wide range of people across age, ethnicity and gender. She has led numerous research programmes in developing yogic solutions for common ailments. Dr Hansaji is on the board of numerous national and international committees devising yoga syllabi and yoga policy. In a lifetime dedicated to service, she has been committed and devoted to helping others lead a healthy and happy life. With her humble nature, compassionate attitude and charming personality, Dr Hansaji continues to influence, shape and transform people’s lives with her enlightening wisdom and simple, effective methods.
Makarand R. Paranjape has been Professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, for over twenty-three years. He also served as the Director, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. The author/editor of over 50 books and hundreds of academic papers, he is also a poet, novelist, columnist, and public intellectual. His latest books include JNU: Nationalism and India’s Uncivil War (Rupa, 2022), Identity’s Last Secret (BluOne, 2022), and Swami Vivekananda: Hinduism and India’s Road to Modernity (HarperCollins, 2020). He has been in touch with the works of Sri Aurobindo and modern India’s spiritual masters for over forty years.
Sidhartha Mallya is an American-born, British-raised actor of Indian descent.
After a short career in the business world, Sidhartha made the switch to acting. He trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, graduating with a MA in acting. He made his feature film debut in the Netflix Original Brahman Naman, which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Aside from acting, Sidhartha’s main focus has been on the promotion of mental health amongst the youth. In 2020, he launched an online series called ‘ConSIDer This’, which talks about the mental issues he has struggled with over the years, and offers advice to the public on how to deal with such challenges.
Michael Hutt is a former professor of Nepali and Himalayan Studies, SOAS, University of London. He has written and published extensively in Nepali and numerous pieces by him have appeared in international media.
Nitin Pai is co-founder and director of the Takshashila Institution, an independent think tank and school of public policy. He is a columnist with Mint, the Print and Sakal, and has previously written for Business Standard
and The Hindu. He has been blogging on international relations and national security issues at the Acorn since 2003. Pai was a gold medallist at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, from where he has a master’s degree in public administration. As an undergraduate scholar, he studied electrical engineering at Nanyang Technological University, after which he spent more than a decade in the telecommunications and technology industry, including a long stint as a policymaker in the Singapore government. He lives in Bangalore with his wife, three kids and a golden retriever.
Vinod N. Bhat has more than fifteen years of experience in the financial services industry and is currently working as a senior vice president and portfolio manager at Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd in Mumbai. He has an MBA in finance from the Wharton School, USA, an MS in industrial engineering from Pennsylvania State University, USA, and a BTech in mechanical engineering from IIT Bombay. Vinod is also a chartered financial analyst (CFA) charterholder. As part of his work, he has been writing, speaking and creating videos on various topics, including investments, the current state of markets and future outlook, and mutual funds, for the past four years. His audience has been retail investors, high-net-worth individuals, independent financial advisers and mutual fund distributors, among others. He has conducted more than 400 sessions with them so far. This has given him a good understanding of their knowledge of the subject (or lack thereof) and the best way to communicate with them. He lives with his mother, wife and daughter in Mumbai/Pune. You can connect with Vinod on LinkedIn and Twitter.
