International Women’s Day observed on March 8 every year celebrates the many achievements of women globally and raises awareness about gender equality. The day is marked by a multitude of events and rallies that are held across the globe.

United India Association of New England together with Saheli, Women Who Win #Dreamcatchers, and Asian American Commission, is holding a virtual International Women’s Day event on March 6^th from 3.00 to 5.00 pm in partnership with Team Aid, TAGB, Sewa International, Project Just Because, INE Multimedia, and Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Massachusetts Senate President Karen E. Spilka will headline the event as a keynote speaker. As the 95^th President of the Massachusetts Senate, the legislative accomplishments of Senator Spilka are broad ranging and cover critical areas like criminal justice reform, economic development, education and services for the elderly and differently abled communities.

The theme of the International Women’s Day event is ‘Celebrating Women’s Leadership’. The event will highlight achievements of inspiring women leaders from South Asia, raise awareness about challenges facing women and prevailing gender biases, and present suggestions and recommendations for brand elevation and emotional well-being. The event will feature presentations and discussion on topics like unconscious bias, building your personal brand, emotional first-aid, women in leadership, and the role of men as allies.

The topics will be curated by accomplished women leaders in the South Asian community who will bring their leadership perspectives to the discussion.

·       Aditi Soni, Director, Program and Alliance Management at Dyne Therapeutics and President of the United India Association of New England (UIANE)

·       Meenakshi Bharath, Commissioner, Asian American Commission' and 'Chair, DESE Gifted & Talented Education Advisory Council'

·       Dr Malini Prabhu, Psychiatrist at Newton Wellesley Hospital, Assistant professor at Tufts University and Vice President of UIANE.

·       Roopal Patel, Vice President at Parexel International and Leadership & Executive Coach

·       Shaleen Sheth, Co-Founder, Women Who Win #Dreamcatchers

·       Dr. Deepa Zhaveri, Podiatrist at Beth Israel Lahey Hospital & Boston Medical Center, Treasurer, Indian Medical Association of New England, and Co-founder Women Who Win #Dreamcatchers

·       Dr. Rollie Lal, Associate Professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University

·       Divya Chaturvedi, Co-Executive Director, Saheli Inc.

·       Shweta Agrawal, Director of Marketing and Mobile development at a smart city startup based in Burlington and Saheli Board Member

·       Tanu Debasri Basu, Saheli Board Member

·       Samantha Ganglani, Vice President of Global Development at D-L Incentives,

·       Dr. Anupama Gotimukula, Pediatric Anesthesiologist, Children’s Hospital of San Antonio and President elect, AAPI

·       Pratima Penumarthy, Founder and Director of Arya Math Academy

·       Shova Sharma, Financial Service Professional at New York Life and Board Member of Sewa International

The International Women’s Day event hopes to inspire women to embrace the leader within them and become agents of change in making the world a better, more equitable place.

To register for the virtual event and view the full agenda and speaker lineup, please visit bit.ly/CelebrateIWD. To join the International Women’s Day conversation on social media, use the hashtags #uianeboston, #ChooseToChallenge, #IWD2021 on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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