Theme: Millennials: Fidget Spinners or Game Changers

Millennials today, might just be the most misunderstood generation. Fear of making the wrong choices and disapproval from older generations, has brought about new anxieties and apprehensions among them. They strive to achieve a work life balance, are passive-aggressive in voicing their opinions, and yet stand their ground. Our TEDx event has speakers from different walks of life: a behaviour analyst, a career diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service, an educationalist, an occupational therapist, and a spiritual leader, to guide the millenials to deal with the competition in a healthy manner, without it affecting their emotional and mental health. We wish to not only understand the challenges faced by the millennials, but also help them navigate the future course of life.

The Orchid School
The Orchid School, Baner Mhalunge Road
Pune, Maharashtra, 411045
India

Divya Amarnath

Cultural Transformation Evangelist

Divya Vikas Amarnath embraced the differing nuances of culture from her early years in India and Saudi Arabia while she started curiously experimenting with creative expression as a young child. Currently, she facilitates corporate learning in areas ranging from innovation through Design Thinking to impactful communication through Cross Cultural collaborations. Through her career spanning 17 years, traveling across continents, Divya has worked in various industries ranging from Hospitality to Education, Banking to Information Technology. She has been an evangelist of creating inclusive cultures for organization transformation. Author, speaker, dancer, researcher, facilitator, mother, Divya is passionate about stirring minds.

Dr. Dnyaneshwar Mulay

Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs

Dr. Mulay has a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from the Shivaji University, Kolhapur. He pursued his Master’s Degree from the Mumbai University in Personnel Management. He currently holds office as Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in-charge of Overseas Indian Affairs and Consular, Passport &Visa. He belongs to the 1983 batch of Indian Foreign Service. He has since served in several capacities, including the Consul General of India, New York and High Commissioner of India, Male. He is a successful writer and has written over 15 books, which have been translated in Arabic, Dhivehi, Urdu, Kannada and Hindi. His magnum-opus – ‘Maati, Pankh ani Akash’, written in Marathi, has received immense popularity and have also been prescribed in the Arts curriculum at the North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon. Well-known writer Deepa Deshmukh authored a book titled ‘Dr. Dnyaneshwar Mulay – Passport Man of India’.

Lakshmi Kumar

Founder Director, The Orchid School

Lakshmi Kumar is the Founder Director of The Orchid School, Pune. The school is under the banner Pradnya Niketan Education Society. She brings in her expertise in defining philosophical and ideological path to education. She is leading the team for institutional building, leadership development, pedagogic choices, curriculum enrichment program and above all students’ overall development. She has specialized in training culture workers from Sweden – teachers, social workers, lawyers, nurses and doctors – to work with multicultural communities. She has initiated exchange programs funded by Swedish Council for higher education with The Orchid School. She has been the academic supervisor and coordinator for Sweden-India Project- a field- based training program on trans cultural sensitivity for global social work - based in Orebro University, Sweden for last twenty-five years.

Nithya Shanti

International Spiritual Teacher, Seminar leader and Educator

Nithya Shanti specializes in facilitating profound shifts in awareness for people to release limitations and awaken latent potentials for a fulfilling life. He went through several schools, each with different philosophies on education; he studied economics and psychology at Fergusson College, Pune and completed a post graduation in Human Resources from XLRI, Jamshedpur. He was ordained as a forest meditation monk in the the tradition of Ven. Ajahn Chah in Thailand for a period of six years. His work has been featured nationally and internationally. Nithya Shantiʼs aim is facilitating a paradigm shift from “seeking happiness” to “spreading happiness” through simple, joyful and practical teachings.

Raviraj Shetty

Manager, Ummeed Child Development Center

Raviraj lives in Mumbai with his parents, sister and an amazing bunch of friends. He is an occupational therapist, trainer, supervisor and a manager at Ummeed Child Development Center, a non- profit organization which collaborates with children experiencing disabilities and their families. He believes in his heart that people are not the problem, but the problem is the problem. Curiosity, Hope and Magic are things that guide his life. At Ummeed, he initiated The Magical Pen-pal project, The Pen-Pal project, The special something along with The I'mperfect Fathers group.