Geeta Pradhan, President, Cambridge Community Foundation was awarded the India New England News Woman of the Year award for 2024. This event held under the direction of Manju Sheth and Upendra Mishra is in its 21st year. Radha Jalan was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award. 

Every year Indian New England News identifies ten nominees as finalists for the Woman of the Year. Ten judges then select the winner who is named as the Woman of the Year. Mandy Pant and Sheetal Acharya served as the master of ceremonies for the evening. Desh Deshpande was the chief guest for the evening. Following a brief welcome, Dr. Manju Sheth shared some introductory remarks. Desh Deshpande delivered the keynote address and applauded the amazing work done by each of the nominees. Radha Jalan, who was a founding member of TIE, spoke about how she took over her company when her husband died and made it a grand success. Desh said how Radha Jalan was one of the very few female entrepreneurs not just in the Indian community but in Massachusetts. He applauded her life’s work. Radha also spoke about the domestic abuse she had endured. 

The nominees this year had a chance to speak about their lives. In addition to having accomplished a great deal, many of the nominees had many personal challenges that they weathered. Each story was truly inspirational. 

The entertainment for the evening included a dance presentation by the Amudasri school of dance under the direction of Kalaimangai Anbazhagan  and a musical presentation by Din Check. 

The ten finalists were Deepa Agrawal, Yasmin Padamsee Forbes, Snehalata Kadam, Gunjan Kuthiala, Rowena Kay Mascarenhas, Bala Venkat Muthukaruppan, Akanksha Patel, Tanu Phoenix, Geeta Pradhan and Samata Sharma. 

 

The 11-member judging committee comprised of Vivek Arora, a partner in McKinsey’s Boston office; Sam Bhambhani, Director of Sales at LaserStar Technologies Corporation; Java Joshi, co-founder and CEO Academy of Creative Arts; Sunayana Kachroo an award-winning poet, lyricist, and film writer;  Farida Kathawalla, a long-term supporter of the nonprofit community and philanthropy;  Dr. Sonal Pandya, MD, a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center;  Bhaskar Panigrahi , Chair of TiE Boston’s flagship TiECON East 2024, and Chairman and CEO of ConnectM Technology Solutions;  Eshani Shah, co-owner of S4 Inc.;  Kim Shah, CEO of CREDA Health, Vivek Sharma (Chair of the WOY Judging Committee 2024); and Lalit Sudan, Managing Director of Market Data Group LLC, and President of Vision-Aid.

The attendees felt it was inspiring listening to the stories of the women in the room and look forward to the presentation next year.