Manvendra Singh Gohil
Chairperson, Lakshya Trust
Manvendra Singh Gohil is the Crown Prince of Rajpipla, an erstwhile princely State of Gujarat, and the 39th direct descendant of the 650-year-old Gohil Dynasty. He is the first member of a royal family to openly come out as gay to the world. He is the Chairperson and Co-founder of Lakshya Trust dedicated to the Empowerment of the LGBT community. Currently, he is developing his dream project, A LGBTQA community campus at his royal establishment of Hanumanteshwar for the social and financial empowerment of the LGBT community.
Palki Sharma Upadhyay
Palki Sharma Upadhyay, from WION, is someone who believes in saying it as it is. Her tremendous work with WION on issues like politics, business, international affairs, and social commentaries has made her an icon for aspiring journalists and youngsters alike. She also leads the only international news program in India called Gravitas.
Starting her career with the iconic Doordarshan, she has traversed her journey with stints at the Hindustan Times, CNN News-18, and iTV. Her work has touched the realm of journalism across the years, and today, she proudly represents objective and analytical journalism in India.
Quasar Thakore Padamsee
Quasar is a theatre-holic and lover of all things theatrical. Since 1999, he has directed and produced over 25 plays with Theatre and Arts Management company QTP, including Every Brilliant Thing, Mother Courage and her Children, A Peasant of El Salvador, Project S.t.r.i.p., So Many Socks, and many others about contemporary social concerns. Internationally he has worked on Tim Supple’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the aerial drama Mind Walking. He is also the founder of the youth theatre movement Thespo, which is now in its 23rd year. At present, he is also serving as the Executive Director of Tata Literature Live! The Annual Mumbai International Litfest.
Tanvi Girotra
Tanvi is a social entrepreneur and an advisor to social impact organizations around the world, focusing on both the head and the heart of building leadership capacity, organizations, and movements from the ground up. She founded the Becoming I Foundation at the age of 19 with the aim of transforming educational systems that negatively impact India’s most marginalized communities. She holds a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University.
Her work has been recognized at the UN, where she has been awarded for ‘Contribution to Humanitarian Development’ in addition to being awarded the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award and the Karamveer Puraskar for Justice & Citizen Action.
Vikram Chandra
Vikram Chandra is the founder of Editorji Technologies - a start-up that seeks to transform video news through innovation in user experience using artificial intelligence. Editorji provides personalized video newscasts on mobile phones. In his earlier avatar, Vikram was one of India’s best-known TV news anchors, presenting shows like ‘The Big Fight’, ‘9 o’clock News’ and Gadget Guru, together with programs for social transformation such as the Cleanathon, Greenathon, and “Save our Tigers”. He has helped pioneer innovations such as news on mobile phones, the live streaming of video on the internet, and the first major news app in India. Vikram has been named ‘Global Leader for Tomorrow’ by the World Economic Forum in Davos; and has won the Indian Television Academy Award for ‘Best Anchor for a Talk Show’, the Hero Honda Award for ‘Best Anchorperson’, and the Teacher’s Achievement Award for Communication, along with featuring in the top 20 on the Impact List of the Digital Power 100.