WALTHAM, MA—INDIA New England News, the oldest and largest print, online and video magazine serving the Indian-American community in the region, has released the list of the Outstanding Women of 2017, who be honored at the Woman of the Year Awards gala on May 26, at Burlington Marriott Hotel in Burlington, MA.
“First of all, we would like to congratulate everyone who has made to this year’s coveted list of outstanding women. We are doubly excited that that this year also marks the 15th anniversary of the Woman of the Year awards gala,” said Upendra Mishra, producer of Woman of the Year gala and publisher of INDIA News England News and its sister publications IndUS Business Journal and Boston Real Estate Times. “This year, we will honor 21 women as there was a tie and we could not break it.”
Since 2002, INDIA New England News has been honoring 20 outstanding women from various fields.
“This year’s list also reflects how the demographics of the Indian-Americans have changed, as we see women from various areas and a completely new generation of women in leadership roles,” Mishra added.
This year’s Outstanding List represents a diverse group of women in areas of government, science, technology, business, education, healthcare, art and culture, and community and social services. The Lifetime Achievement Award this year will go Dr. Shashikala Dwarkanath, a pathologist at Lowell General Hospital and one of the founders of Chinmaya Mission Boston and its Resident Acharya, or Spritual Head.
“I truly believe that there is no other institution that honors South Asian women with such elegance and style as INDIA New England News’s Woman of the Year gala,” said Dr. Manju Sheth, a 2011 Woman of the Year who has helped organize the event since 2013. “It changed my life and inspired me to do more, and it’s a great pleasure to see this honor roll of special women who are making the world a better place.”
This year’s gala is sponsored by the Boston Group USA, The Desai Foundation, Motwane Foundation, the Mishra Group and Marriott Burlington, among others. Supporting sponsors are Alankar Wedding planners & Decorators and Boston Sound & Light Company.
Here is the list of Outstanding Women 2017 (in the alphabetical order):
Sheetal Acharya
Co-Chair, Girl Rising India Boston
Co-Chair, South Asian Women’s Coalition
Management Consultant, Slalom Consulting
Susri Anuradha
Founder, Mathnasium – The Math Learning Center, Acton
Director, Mathnasium – The Math Learning Center, Burlington
Jayanti Bandyopadhyay
Professor, Salem State University
Co-founder, Stage Ensemble Theater Unit (SETU)
Rama Bansil
Professor of Physics, Boston University
Researcher, Nanotechnology Innovation Center, Boston University
Manisha Bhatt
Senior Attorney, Family Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services
Educator, Know Your Rights
Neha Dalal
Research Economist
White House Council of Economic Advisors
Megha Desai
President, The Desai Foundation
Founder, Marketing Strategy Dharma (MSD)
Asha Dixit
Managing Partner, Shah, Dixit & Associates, P.C.
Namita Dodwadkar
Senior Scientist, Novartis
First Mrs. India Worldwide
Gretchen Hayden
Founder, Chhandam Institute of Kathak Dance (Chandika)
Asmita Khanolkar
Manager of Manufacturing, Engineering and Operations, CeQur Corp.
Volunteer, India STEM Foundation, Women in Engineering
Deepika Kurup
Student, Harvard University
America’s Top Young Scientist and Forbes’ “30 Under 30”
National Geographic Explorer Award Winner
CEO and founder, Catalyst for World Water
Aditi Mehta
Doctoral Candidate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Winner of 2017 Priscilla King Gray Award for Public Service
Zenobia Moochhala
Co-founder and Senior Vice President, Care.com
One of Boston Business Journal’s “40 under 40”
Emerging Executive Award by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
Taniya Nayak
Principal Interior Designer and Television personality
HGTV, Food Network and ABC
Reena Patel
Foreign Service Officer, US Department of State
Author, “Working the Night Shift: Women in India’s Call Center Industry”
Dhanashree Ramachandran
Founder and CEO, Nous Lab
Director of Community Advancement and Public Relations, Art of Living Massachusetts
Meara Sharma
Producer, NPR’s “On The Media”
Winner of 2017 Gracie Award for Outstanding Producer for “Kidnapped”
Aditi Taylor
Principal and Partner, Deloitte
Boston Business Journal’s “40 under 40”
Jaya Voruganti
President, India Association of Greater Boston (IAGB)
Darshana Zaveri
Partner, Catalyst Health Ventures
Board member of Lantos, nVision, Aria CV, Augmenix, and Maxwell Health
I am very proud that these many woman work hard to comprehend with the world not only that but they succeed. I like to congrats and salute this womans who go beyond there way do do so many good things for woman, society , country and world.
Everyone of them is an Excellent choice — congratulations and best wishes for their futures – thanks for recognizing their talents and contributions – along with others who are yet to be nominated, these are the real players from our cultural heritage, traiblazing for others to follow.
It is so important to recognize many of the wonderful woman doing subpch excellent work impacting the lives of so many. All are winners. Thanks Upendra jee.
Very impressive selection from wide variety of fields. Good job INE and Upendra Misra for recognizing these incredible women
Asmita Khanolkar – very proud for your nomination in this list! It’s really great to see your enthusiasm in motivating our girls to wards, science and engineering! We need more girl power and this world will be a better place. Congratulations again.