International Women's Day 2020

International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women - while also marking a call to action for accelerating gender balance.

The event is celebrated annually on March 8, yet the global campaign theme continues all year long to encourage action.

Miindia.com  in collaboration with the vibrant Detroit Indian Women’s Association (DIWA) will be celebrating its first International Women’s Day event through championing the #EachforEqual campaign within their communities, networks, organizations and groups. The event offers an opportunity to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.

In essence, “an equal world is an enabled world” truly. Gender equality is essential for economies and communities to thrive. Collectively, we can make a change. For that to happen, each of us have to strongly believe that our individual actions, mindset and behavior can impact a larger society.

Let's be #EachforEqual.

Join the community for an interactive discussion about Women in Film/Media - over hot tea and refreshments - Buy your tickets here.

A resident of Michigan since 1996, Manasa is the founder of MN Tax and Business Services, a boutique firm that caters to individuals, small businesses, trusts and non-profits. She is an Enrolled Agent and is licensed to practice and represent taxpayers by the Internal Revenue Service. Manasa started her own practice in 2012 and went into partnership with her mentor, Kay Harris as Harris Nadig LLC in 2015 after nearly a decade of experience in tax practice with other firms. Manasa’s practice has a niche in foreign income and cross border operations planning & reporting for both individuals and small businesses. Manasa brings her love of writing, literature and travel to her tax blog. She is an avid tax writer and blogger. Her tax blog, The Buzz About Taxes, is very popular and has won awards and accolades and mentions in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters News, to name a few. Her twitter account has been on the top 100 Tax accounts to follow by Forbes for 3 years (2018, 2019 & 2020) in a row. Manasa has brought her tax expertise and her passion for helping budding entrepreneurs by teaching them about building and sustaining a profitable business. She also coaches women and young adults to make financially savvy decisions. She has served on the boards of Pampa Kannada Koota and MaiFS as a Board Member & Treasurer (naturally). She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Society of Enrolled Agents.

Mumtaz Haque has been an educator and a radio host for several years. Mumtaz has chaired several boards such as CAPA, International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit, India League of America winning several awards for her diversity and leadership. She was the principal of Detroit's Mark Twain School for Scholars and was instrumental in turning it around in seven years, raising its MEAP scores to be among DPS' (Detroit Public Schools) best.

Mumtaz is also the member of the MEAP / MME / M-STEP Bias and Sensitivity Committee, saved the International Institute from bankruptcy and was also declared one of the 25 most powerful women in Detroit by Walkers Legacy in 2016. She is also the recipient of the Salute to Diversity award by Corp Magazine in 2017.

Mumtaz is currently the Principal of Ford Early Learning Center, part of Ypsilanti Community Schools.

Poonam Torgal - your quintessential woman of today. Having started her career as a software developer to being in a Sr. Management role at General Motors, Poonam is spearheading art, culture and community engagement wearing several hats. Poonam was involved with amateur Marathi theater as a child, with Jaydev Hattangadi as her guru. She reignited her love for theater in 2006. Since then she has performed in multiple theatrical platforms including being selected as the only overseas participant for a theater workshop by the renowned Vijaya Mehta in 2014. Poonam co-founded Bhumika along with Ashish Joag, an amateur organization that produces shows with local talent, and hosts/promotes shows from India. Bhumika is also involved with several cultural projects with the Marathi Shala (school) in Southeast Michigan. All profits from their endeavors have been donated to non-profit organizations. Poonam was also one of the founders of DEN (Detroit Entrepreneurial Network) – an organization for small businesses in Detroit. DEN is now merged with TechTown. Poonam served on the ICAE Board for 5 years and continues to consult local as well as international students with college admissions. For the past couple of years, she has been actively working to create more Mental Health awareness and is closely collaborating with WeAreSaath (formerly I-Am Shakti) – an organization working toward offering hope and support to mental health challenges. Poonam is an avid blogger and continues to pen Marathi literary pieces (punvechetare.wordpress.com) which have found great recognition among literary experts and the community.

Kanthi Sundar, a long-time resident of Michigan is the daughter of a poet, movie director, lyricist, author, writer Padmashri Kothamangalam Subbu. Starting her writing career in 2001, Kanthi was called to write an article about the Chinmayananada Ashram and its activities in the weekly news India Times. Kanthi writes articles under her pseudonym Mandakini. Apart from interviewing several writers, poets, singers and artists, Kanthi was also the President of the Michigan Tamil Sangam and in 2009, she proposed to start a school for Tamil which is now flourishing. Since 2008, Kanthi has been involved with the monthly magazine Thendral published from California. She also writes for the reputed daily vernacular newspaper Dinamalar, published from India. Kanthi has also served as the co-editor of Chetana, the magazine of The Bharatiya Temple in Troy. One remarkable moment was the interview she organized with some community children with Padma Bhushan Balamurali Krishna, the late Carnatic musician. Coming from a heritage that was deeply rooted in Tamil literature, Kanthi continues to live up to her passion of writing and storytelling in the vernacular medium. Empowerment sees no language, but a soul filled with passion, commitment and practice.

Dr. Usha Ram is a practicing OB/GYN at St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital in Pontiac for over FOUR decades. Dr. Ram in her career span has delivered around 5000 babies. Dr. Ram has been one of the founding members and Board member of Mai Family Services. She has served twice as the chairperson of Bharatiya Temple and participates in several free health camps in India on behalf of MAPI. Dr. Ram admits that she is “already starting to deliver the fourth gen baby of the same family”. Dr. Usha Ram apart from being a fabulous medical professional has won several awards for teaching at St. Joseph’s and Pontiac General hospitals. Dr Ram loves delivering babies as she feels that there’s a profound meaning behind her calling as the power of the supreme being resides in every child and how god is the supreme architect. In a serious vein with a tinge of humor she admits that there is nothing that a woman cannot do. "Society has made a woman play different roles. Female is a XX chromosome, Male is a XY chromosome – the little missing arm. That adds the additional caring and nurturing factor for a woman". Dr. Usha Ram’s professional calling is beautifully summed up in a quote from Kalidasa, greatest classical Sanskrit writer of any epoch. “Yesterday is but a dream, Tomorrow is only a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope.”

Sangeeta Mahapatra Kar, a longtime resident of Midland, Michigan for close to four decades is a versatile dancer and singer originally from Odisha, India. She has been trained in classical Odissi dance by renowned Padma Vibhushan Kelucharan Mahapatra since she was 3 years old. She passed Nritya Vibhushan (Master’s degree) in Odissi dance with distinction. In music she has passed Sangeet Alankar (Master’s degree) in Hindustani classical vocal music under Pandit Deepak Basu of Gwalior gharana. She also has a Masters degree in English Literature. Sangeeta has received more than a hundred awards and has the unique distinction to be conferred both Suramani title in music and Shingaar-mani title in dance from Sur Shingaar Samsad, Mumbai. She is an “A” class singer in All India Radio and Doordarshan TV and has sung in several Oriya movies and a solo for the late Smita Patil in Hindi movie Bheegi Palkein. She has 10 solo albums of bhajans, ghazals, patriotic songs, folk songs and modern songs. In dance, she has choreographed 12 dance dramas based on mythology of India with more than 50 dancers in the cast. Sangeeta is a regular performer on several platforms - TV, festivals, libraries, schools, colleges, senior centers and is affiliated with Michigan Humanities Council.

Dr. Vasu Tolia is a physician, visual artist and a poet. She had a successful career in Pediatric Gastroenterology for 35 years when she headed the division at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. She decided to pursue art and literature upon retirement from medical profession. She has rewired herself by learning painting and joining the poetry tribe to pour her creative energy on canvas and paper. Her works connect nature and humanity. Each subject, whether a human, animal, still life, nature, space or abstraction is caught in a particular moment in time. She is a strong advocate for women’s causes. She pursues the theme of empowering women’s role in everyday life in the community, state, country and the world using her muse - WOMAN - through art . It is a true joy for her to depict the women as role models of success, love and inspiration .Her goal is to provide a spiritually uplifting experience while delivering message of respect and equality for women to the world. She regularly participates in local and national shows and competitions and has won many awards for her work. Her works are in many private collections. At community level, Vasu is a member of several local art associations. She has worked closely with MAPI, AIWA, Haven, FAR therapeutics, Ted Lindsey Foundation, Gilda's Club, MaiFS and regularly donates art for auctions and fundraising events.

Sucheta Walimbe is Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer, Ford Credit. Previously, she led global strategy and operations for Connected Vehicle and Connected Consumer products and services within Ford’s Mobilityorganization. Prior to that, she was responsible for Global Marketing and Sales IT with team based in Asia, Europe and the Americas. During her tenure at Ford, Sucheta was responsible for enterprise technology, infrastructure architecture, and large program development and deployment within the Mobility, Marketing and Sales, Product Development, Enterprise IT and Manufacturing skill teams.

Sucheta started her career in India and moved to the United States in 1993. Sucheta is also the President of the Ford Asian Indian Association - one of the biggest and active ethnic groups within a corporation. She is on the board of Michigan Council of Women in Technology (MCWT) and RouteOne.

A world-class exponent of Sugam Sangeet, Sunitha comes from a family of musicians. As a child, Sunitha grew up in an environment surrounded by music and poetry. She is the daughter of Mysore Ananthaswamy, the pioneer of Sugam Sangeet in Karnataka who has left an indelible mark with his numerous songs & compositions. Her father being her first Guru, she has also had formal training in Hindustani classical music under gurus, Pt. DB Harindra and Pt. Rajeev Taranath. An All India Radio and Doordarshan artist, she gave her first stage performance with her father when she was 13 and has accompanied him in many performances all over Karnataka and in many Indian and US cities. A talented composer, she can play instruments like Harmonium, Keyboard, Guitar and Mandolin. Sunitha Ananthaswamy has a unique voice made for rendering Bhav Geet and Ghazals. A composer herself, she has set to tune many Kannada poems, Hindi Bhajans, Geets and Urdu Ghazals. For the past 25 years, in a home away from home, she has consistently been performing and teaching Indian Music. For the past 15 years she has been teaching preschool music at Novi Northville Montessori center and for the past few years at Minto’s Casa.

Dr. Surekha Rao is happily retired and an active contributor to the Bharatiya Temple in Troy for several years. Her work in the medical fraternity has been inspiring and motivating to many. A Physician who specialized in Radiology, Dr. Rao was in practice for almost 40 years, with VA Hospital and Beaumont Health System. Dr. Rao was director of Breast Care Center Wayne, for 10 years.One of the very first women achievers (in our community) wearing several hats, Dr. Surekha Rao was the President of Michigan Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (MAPI), in 1996 where she instituted a scholarship program for students of Indian Origin in all four major medical schools in Michigan. Dr. Rao was also the Chairperson of Board of Trustees of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) - representing almost 35,000 physicians and medical students of Indian Origin. In 2000, Dr. Rao was the only Indian American from Michigan to have been invited to the State Dinner hosted by then First Lady Hillary Clinton in honor of India’s Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.Sharing one of her favorite quotes by Sri. Rabindranath Tagore – “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”

A lifelong student of the classical and folk dances of India, Chaula Thacker's gurus include Shri Srinivasan Shenoy, a disciple of Acharya Parvatikumar; Shri K. Ramaiah and Padmashri late Shreemati Bala Saraswati, “Queen of Abhinaya or Expression”. Chaula is the artistic director of Nadanta as well as the founder of the Chauladevi Institute of Dance and Yoga in Michigan where for over 42 years she has been teaching Classical, Creative and Folk dances as well as Yoga, Meditation and Ayurveda (certified instructor). She is a Reiki Master and offers Reiki treatments.She is a visiting faculty at UMS-University of Musical Society (UofM). She had been a faculty member at CCS and has also taught dance courses/master classes at the Wayne State University, Oakland University and Marygrove College. She is involved with coaching Olympic ice-dancing teams for their various competitions. She also works as a dance and movement therapist for individuals with special needs. She is a recipient of the project grant for Nadanta, Inc. from Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs and National Endowment of the Arts for the last 33 years. In 2006, Chaula directed Super Bowl XL multicultural show “Nations in Rhythm Detroit!”.

Supriya grew up in Michigan, where she learned Hindi as a child by watching three Hindi movies a week. Winner of the New Visions Award for her middle grade novel AHIMSA, (Tu Books, 2017), Supriya is a screenwriter who has worked on the writing teams for several Hindi films, including Lage Raho Munnabhai and Eklavya: The Royal Guard, India’s entry into the 2007 Academy Awards. She was an associate producer on the Hollywood feature, Broken Horses.

Supriya’s books include AHIMSA, THE MANY COLORS OF HARPREET SINGH (Sterling, 2019), AMERICAN AS PANEER PIE (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, 2020) STRONG AS FIRE, FIERCE AS FLAME (Tu Books, 2020), BINDU’S BINDIS (Sterling, 2021), and THAT THING ABOUT BOLLYWOOD (Aladdin/Simon and Schuster, 2021).

Mandy Grewal - 15 years ago, Mandy became the first South Asian and first immigrant to hold elected office in Washtenaw County. After serving as County Commissioner for a few years, she ran for Pittsfield Township Supervisor. Having had the privilege of serving in that position for the past 11 years, she leveraged her Ph.D. in Urban Planning to provide for an equitable and sustainable community that has the second largest tax base (after Ann Arbor) in Washtenaw County.

Pittsfield Township is governed by the most racially diverse set of elected officials in Washtenaw County and is ranked the 10th most diverse suburb in the State of Michigan. Mandy is committed to promoting agricultural and open space preservation, public gathering spaces, multi-modal transportation, historic and cultural diversity, infill and mixed-use development.

Rashmi Rao (resident of Michigan) is an award-winning technologist and leader with over 20+ years of tech experience. She is currently Sr. Director, Global Accounts, Early Pursuits, for automotive business at Harman/Samsung. Rashmi leads a team of designers and engineers, responsible for developing various advanced user experience design and human-machine interactions from entry level to high end luxury vehicles, including BMW, Daimler, Audi, Porsche, Maserati, FCA, Ford, Harley to name a few, combining various software components in infotainment, embedded systems and vehicle interface.Prior to HARMAN, Ms. Rao was at Apple, focused on Technology and Strategy for iPhones. Rashmi has also worked on developing MEMS and nanotechnology-based sensors at GE Global Research Center; and worked with Nobel Laureate Dr. Alan MacDiarmid on developing carbon-nanotube-based sensors. Ms. Rao is an active advocate of STEM education.She continues to promote her passion as a female engineer through HARMAN’s partnership with the Square One Education Network and the 1000 Dreams Scholarship. Ms. Rao is the recipient of Diversity Journal’s “Women Worth Watching in STEM” 2017 award. She was also recently inducted into the prestigious “Women in Technology Hall of Fame” by WITI in 2018. She holds an M.S in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas and has over 32 global awarded patents and several published papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Leela Fernandes is the Director of the Center for South Asian Studies and the Glenda Dickerson Collegiate Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Michigan. She has spent the past twenty five years writing, teaching and speaking about women's rights and inequalities of gender and class in India. Her work is based on original field research that she conducts in India. She has also worked on changing western stereotypes of women in India and has sought to develop understandings of the rich histories of women's lives in India that do not measure women against U.S-based models.

She also has taught and written about race and gender in the U.S and has worked on shedding light on the under-representation of Asian American faculty in leadership positions in higher education in the United States.