Global IndianstoryDr. Santanu Paul: Transforming deep tech education in India with TalentSprint

Dr. Santanu Paul: Transforming deep tech education in India with TalentSprint

Written by: Bindu Gopal Rao

(December 2, 2023) In 2007, Dr Santanu Paul did what few IIT-ians in the US chose to do. He returned to India. In Hyderabad, in the epicentre of the Indian tech boom, Dr Paul realised that the industry was struggling to hire talent with relevant skills, despite the thousands of engineers and techies being churned out by the higher education ecosystem every year. It sparked the idea for TalentSprint, now a global platform for deeptech and high-end coding bootcamps, with over 3,50,000 learners to date. TalentSprint caters to a wide spectrum of people, from young graduates to seasoned professionals, bringing them up to date on disruptors like AI, machine learning, spacetech and digitial health. WISE, their program aimed at reducing the gender gap in tech, received funding from Google in 2019.

A storied career

After finishing school at Ramkrishna Mission in Narendrapur near Kolkata, Paul, always a bright student, joined IIT-Madras for a degree in engineering. Armed with a BTech in Computer Science, he moved to the US for postgraduate studies in 1990 and received a PhD in Computer Science & Engineering in 1995 from the University of Michigan. This started his professional journey as a research scientist at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in New York from 1995-1999. “I was soon bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and I co-founded a co-founded a B2B tech company, Viveca Inc., where I was the CTO for two years. In 2000, Viveca was acquired by OpenPages and I continued as CTO till early 2003. Both were Boston-based tech firms, with investments from Matrix Partners and Sigma Partners, both blue chip East Coast venture capital firms,” Dr Paul tells Global Indian.

Dr Santanu Paul, founder, TalentSprint, is on a mission to revolutionise deep tech education in India

Creating industry-ready talent

Later that year, Dr Paul decided to relocate to Hyderabad with his family, and he took on the role of Senior Vice President and Head of Global Delivery Operations for Virtusa Corporation until 2008. By 2007, Virtusa had listed on NASDAQ and he played an instrumental role in building Virtusa India into a 4000+ strong organization. Post his corporate life in Virtusa, he returned once again to entrepreneurship and co-founded TalentSprint, an edtech firm with a difference. “We began our journey at the end of 2009 with an idea to help 90% of India’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) graduates who receive degrees but are ill-equipped to pursue careers in software engineering because of inherent weaknesses in our higher education ecosystem,” he says.

These flaws meant the booming industry struggled to hire young talent with relevant skills. The conversion rate from interviews to actual hires was quite low, often just 2-3%. To address this problem, he created coding bootcamps as their core offering. These bootcamps equipped fresh STEM graduates with the hard and soft skills they needed to start their careers with great confidence. “Then we noticed there was a huge gap between the demand and supply for deep tech talent, so we went on to introduce deep-tech programs for experienced tech professionals as well,” Dr Paul explains. This was done in close partnership with some of India’s top institutions, including the IIMs, IITs and IIITs. These initiatives became the cornerstones of TalentSprint’s success.

The edtech revolution

Around a decade ago, Dr Paul realised that even seasoned industry professionals aren’t immune to disruption – AI, machine learning, data science and space tech were creating a new genre of demand for talent. TalentSprint followed with deep tech education for executives. TalentSprint has made significant contributions to the ed-tech sector by focusing on developing deep tech talent, offering courses in AI, machine learning, data science, semiconductors, space tech and digital health, among others. The programmes were designed to be specialised and futuristic, “providing learners with in-depth knowledge, hands-on experience, and practical skills in deep tech domains, offered in collaboration with top academic institutions, global corporations, and industry experts to ensure their relevance and effectiveness,” says Dr Paul. By nurturing deep tech talent, they play a vital role in bridging the skill gap and meeting the industry’s demand for skilled professionals and contributing to the overall development of the technology ecosystem.

Naturally, his journey at TalentSprint has been phenomenal. The team offers innovative learning programs and transformational bootcamps to new-age professionals who want to build deep expertise to future-proof themselves. Global big-tech businesses such as Google, PegaSystems, and elite academic institutions like IISc, IITs, IIMs, IIIT Hyderabad, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Michigan have partnered with them in this current journey. World-class academic rigor and industry-leading practitioner expertise are seamlessly blended in the programs we offer. With TalentSprint’s patent-pending AI-powered learning platform, the team has reached over 350,000 learners. “Our programs have a 95% completion rate, coupled with an outstanding Net Promoter Score of 85 — a benchmark that stands among the highest in the ever-evolving landscape of educational technology,” Dr Paul remarks.

Bridging the gender gap

The company has also been working on addressing gender disparity in the tech industry as a focal point. Even in 2023, women remain drastically underrepresented in the tech sector, with their share among tech professionals being only 29 percent. Although they have been breaking traditional barriers in recent years, women make up only 8 percent of leadership roles in tech industries. They also tend to earn around 17% less than their male counterparts. TalentSprint flagged off the Women in Software Engineering (WISE) program in 2012, their attempt to make strides towards gender inclusivity.

The breakthrough moment occurred when they presented data from their WISE program to Google in the US. Google offered them funding in 2019, giving rise to their pioneering Women Engineers program (WE), now in its fifth edition. WE offers scholarships and full tuition coverage for two years and has impacted the lives of over a thousand female students from tier 2/3/4 locations. “The WE programme is aimed at cultivating a self-reliant ecosystem of technically adept and confident women professionals,” Dr Paul explains. Continuing with the spirit of giving back, their C-STEM (Computational Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Programme is designed for middle-school students, particularly those from underprivileged backgrounds, aiming to bridge the access gap to STEM education.

Racial diversity in the US

Inspired by this feat, TalentSprint and Google extended the model to address racial diversity in the US. Their TechWise programme, now in its second cohort, “is dedicated to empowering minority students that are historically underrepresented in the Silicon Valley narrative,” says Dr Paul.

The company is also strategically broadening its collaborations with top-tier universities in the United States. “We take a responsible approach to financial performance, which has allowed us to scale,” Dr Paul says. The company is also venturing into new areas like management, leadership and K-12 segments, alongside an emphasis on expanding our their B2B offerings. “Innovation is in our DNA,” he smiles. That’s evident in their development of iPearl.ai, an AI-powered learning management system. “We want to launch hyper-niche, industry relevant programs through innovative business models catering to diverse audience segments,” he says.

Advice to aspiring entrepreneurs

For aspiring entrepreneurs, his advice echoes the wisdom of visionaries like Steve Jobs. Success in entrepreneurship stems from a long-term perspective and striving to make a difference with all sincerity means that outcomes are likely to follow. “We must embrace adversity as our greatest teacher on the road to accomplishment. My foremost counsel is to pick substantial, challenging problems to solve. We must resist the allure of quick gains and instead focus on addressing pivotal issues and build enterprises around solving intricate problems through impactful and elegant solutions. This approach does not just promise financial success, it also brings inner fulfilment and garners respect on a global scale,” says Paul.

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Published on 02, Dec 2023

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How Bem Le Hunte is ‘Future-proofing’ education in a changing world

Thirty years had passed since Bem Le Hunte first stood on the doorstep of Mongrace in Kolkata, her first school. Her spirits lifted as she heard the children inside singing about "a little duck with a feather in its cap," a song she still remembered. Back in India to write her second book, Bem found herself drawn to the school once more, wanting very much to find Aunty Grace and say thank you. The door swung open and a woman stood before Bem, who told her what she wanted. To Bem's surprise, the woman burst into tears - Aunty Grace had just passed on. She might not have had the chance to see her old teacher again but her timing was startling, nonetheless. It's the sort of thing that happens in Bem's world - her own story is as riveting as the ones she likes to tell in her novels, which often draw from her real-life experiences. Now an internationally-acclaimed author and academic, Bem is at the forefront of futuristic education herself, as the founding director of the award-winning Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation at the University of Technology, Sydney. Half Indian, half-British and totally Australian by choice, Bem

y, Sydney. Half Indian, half-British and totally Australian by choice, Bem Le Hunte's story unravels like a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel, a heady mix of mysticism and materialism.

[caption id="attachment_34249" align="aligncenter" width="319"] Bem le Hunte[/caption]

Building a brave new world

Bem moved to Australia when she was 25, tired of her life in the UK. Within a month, she had met her would-be husband, Jan, whom she married soon after, and also landed a full-time job as a lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology (UTS). There, she is the founding director of a first-of-its-kind course on Creative Intelligence, that she says is “informed by consciousness based education.” A long-time practitioner of yoga and transcendental meditation, she tells Global Indian, “My Curriculum for Being informs everything I do. It informs how I write and the learning experiences I design."

She describes it as a "creative response to this dilemma of our time." Through a transdisciplinary approach combining 25 different degrees, it’s an attempt to "future proof" careers in a rapidly changing world, one with which the education system has not yet managed to keep pace. "You have to do the ontology of learning, not just the epistemology, it's about the being, not the doing," Bem explains.

Schooling systems the world over continue to emphasise rote learning, gearing students up for the competition-driven ecosystem of western capitalism. That won't work, Bem feels, in the workplace of the future, where "you're going to do 17 different careers in totally different fields. We aren't future proofing them if we're only training them for one." The other response is to create an ecosystem of "radical collaboration." Here, the unity of all disciplines is the goal. Students work in transdisciplinary teams, an engineer collaborates with a communications person, a businessperson with a healthcare person and "they tackle a challenge together that globally affects a lot of people."

[caption id="attachment_34254" align="alignnone" width="1017"] Course Director, Associate Professor Bem Le Hunte accepting the BHERT Award.[/caption]

Early life

Bem was born in Kolkata, to an Indian mother and English dad. Her grandfather ran a mining company that he eventually sold to the Birlas and was "quite an international person, who had studied at Bristol University." Her mother went to Cambridge, where the gender ratio at the time was one woman to every 10 men. "I’m not just the product of a tiger mum, but also of an English father. So I was half tiger and half pussycat," she grins. "My mother was very motivated about my education and encouraged me to write. I had a good mix of 'relax and do what you want' and this really motivated learning."

When she was four years old, the family moved to the UK. Every summer though, they would return to Calcutta or Delhi where a young Bem would dip into her grandmother's book collection, reading Sri Aurobindo and Swami Vivekananda late into the night. At their home in Wales, Bem created a cathedral temple in the forest at the edge of their backyard, "a green space to encounter the natural world and the continuity of self that it gives to you." This mysticism has only grown stronger – her life is peppered with stories of healers, quests and spiritual journeys. One hour each day for the past thirty years has been spent in transcendental meditation. Her grandmother, Bem says, learned meditation from Maharishi Mahayogi himself. Don't, however, mistake her for a new-age hippie, her approach is one of discovery and questioning, of exploring the mystic realms of the human mind rather than blind faith in the unknowable.

Breaking away from mainstream education

A gifted student, Bem found the mainstream education system quite unfulfilling and in high school, informed her mother she wanted to quit, taking her A-Levels after being home-schooled. She learned English literature from her mother, who, incidentally, was among those responsible for the English A-levels curriculum. After a year spent studying journalism and realising it wasn’t for her, she moved on to Social Anthropology and English Literature at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

"I wanted to go on to do other things," she says. "Education has a way of holding people back. I know that Indians see it as a key to a door but it has a strangulation effect, it can kill your creativity, too." Over the [ast few years, Bem has returned to the problem, this time as a champion of new ways of learning. Her year-long experience with journalism, which she agrees, helped her craft her writing, “was quite restrictive creatively." So, she switched to social anthropology instead. All in all, Cambridge was an exciting time, in an interview, she speaks of how she starred in a student movie, befriended controversial artist Marc Quinn, lived with the octogenarian Doctor Alice Roughton in a house filled with people from around the world where “we ate food she rescued from school dinner leftover bins."

[caption id="attachment_34255" align="aligncenter" width="572"] Bem Le Hunte[/caption]

Arrival in Australia

She went on to travel the world, visiting Japan and then Chicago, before returning to Delhi to make films on women’s development for the United Nations. At 25, she moved to Australia and began working as a lecturer at UTS and also met her husband. A month after their wedding in Rajasthan and a communal honeymoon in the desert, Bem contracted Hepatitis A. She was rushed back to London, to an isolation ward, where her condition showed no improvement. In a panic, Jan recruited a healer who offered to help and Bem, who was asked to sign papers acknowledging that she would die if she left hospital, moved to his house. The "polarity therapy" proved effective and brought with it a new fascination for Bem - alternative therapies.

In 1995, heavily pregnant, she was asked to oversee the Australia launch of Windows 95. During that time, she was working in a range of industries, and also focussing on educating students and clients on digital innovation. "The Windows launch was scheduled for the same day as my due date," she says. Three years later, when Windows 98 came along, so was her second child. This time, she decided on maternity, to "sack my clients and go live in the Himalayas. I wanted to write that book so badly and at the time I didn't know what it was going to be. I placed radical trust in the creative process. It's one of the things I believe in. Mystery has to remain mysterious and I enjoyed the creative process of being able to stay in the mystery for longer."

A time of renunciation and a literary career

Living in the mountains, she wrote The Seduction of Silence, a multi-generational, magical saga that takes the reader on an intensely emotional and spiritual journey. The story begins with Aakash, a sage in the Himalayas who continues to offer his teachings even in death, through a medium. Over generations, the family oscillates between the spiritual and the worldly, coming full circle through Aakash's great granddaughter, who returns to the Himalayas.

"If we were to believe that our lives are not magical," Bem remarks, "We would be deluding ourselves. Unhealthy people have a very realistic view of the world, for the most part, we have magical minds. If we didn’t, advertising wouldn’t work.” The book did well, and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize. In 2006, she published There, Where the Pepper Grows, a World War 2 tale about a Polish-Jewish family's stay in Calcutta during their journey to Palestine. Her third novel, Elephants with Headlights, came in 2020.

Bem continues to live in Sydney with her husband, Jan and their sons, Taliesin, Rishi and Kashi.

Kishore Indukuri: The US techie who founded a thriving dairy farm

(July 10, 2022) "Sid's Farm has given me everything that I have ever wanted." Kishore Indukuri, the founder of what is one of Telangana's most successful dairy farms, speaks straight from the heart. "It wasn't a typical business, but it pushed me to my limits. It showed me what I was capable of enduring to survive. That's what I truly cherish." What began as a means to ensure his two-year-old son was drinking fresh and pure milk, a small operation that started with 20 cows on a piece of leased land in Shamshabad, is a leading dairy brand today, with an annual turnover of Rs 65 crore. Named Sid's Farm, after Kishore's son, Siddharth, the company distributes over 25,000 litres of milk a day. Fresh, raw milk is procured each day from local farmers and put through a series of stringent tests, "an average of 6,500 daily," Kishore says, during an interview with Global Indian. "The emphasis is on purity - no antibiotics, no hormones, and no preservatives." From Massachusetts to Telangana, polymers to pasteurisation [caption id="attachment_26759" align="aligncenter" width="614"] Kishore Indukuri[/caption] Always a bright student, Kishore chose the conventional, much-revered Indian Institute of Technology route to building a career. After

e-26759" src="https://www.globalindian.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/RAJ03087.jpg" alt="Kishore Indukuri | Sid's Farm | Global Indian" width="614" height="409" /> Kishore Indukuri[/caption]

Always a bright student, Kishore chose the conventional, much-revered Indian Institute of Technology route to building a career. After he graduated from IIT-Kharagpur, he took the full scholarship he was offered at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and moved to the United States for a master's and Ph.D. "Everything was paid for and I enjoyed my research," Kishore recalls. "But all the while, I felt something was missing in my life."

Kishore stayed in the US to work at Intel for the next seven years. "It was an amazing time, I got to travel to countries like Japan, South Korea, and Canada. Still, I needed to do something more. I knew that. I just didn't know what it would be." One day, he knew he had to take the leap. He walked up to his boss and announced that he was moving back to India with his wife and their infant son. "We sold the house, packed up, and moved back."

Got Milk?

Back in India, he tried his hand at several business ideas, including providing coaching for competitive exams like the GRE. And every day, he wondered if the milk his son was drinking was safe and pure. The answer wasn't clear. The Food and Safety Standards Authority of India has strict guidelines on dairy and its affiliate products, but "how far are these implemented?" Kishore asks.

[caption id="attachment_26754" align="aligncenter" width="672"] Kishore Indukuri | Sid's Farm | Global Indian Kishore Indukuri[/caption]

"India has done so much good work. You can walk to any shop and get a packet of milk," he adds. "We are the largest producers of milk and we consume all of it." In this pursuit of plenty, however, the emphasis on quality took a backseat.

As he did his research, Kishore found that India's dairy industry continues to thrive, recording an annual growth of 12 percent CAGR. Having grown up in an agrarian household, he felt a natural affinity for the industry. "I also learned that dairy had lots of potential as a business venture," he recalls.

The trial-and-error business model

With two degrees in industrial chemistry and polymer science and engineering, as well as a doctoral thesis on the "squalid mechanics of polymeric materials," Kishore entered the dairy business as a rookie. So he did what he knew best - hit the books. A veterinarian friend, Ravi, helped him choose his first batch of cows. "He told me, 'you have to look at the cow's beauty'. I had no idea what that meant," Kishore laughs.

He and his wife visited numerous farms across India, learning everything they could. They hired staff to milk the cows and started in the wholesale market. The plan didn't work. "We were selling at Rs 15 per litre when the cost of production was anywhere between Rs 25 and Rs 30," he says. So, they decided to sell directly to customers. It meant visiting them personally, distributing pamphlets that his wife designed, explaining the benefits of milk that contains no preservatives, antibiotics, hormones, or thickening agents.

[caption id="attachment_26757" align="alignnone" width="1370"] Kishore Indukuri | Sid's Farm | Global Indian Graphic courtesy: Sid's Farm[/caption]

"Milk doesn't take a break," Kishore says. "We were transporting fresh milk twice a day, 730 times a year, starting 2013." The obstacles were many, especially on the distribution side. There were accidents and numerous untold delays. "It doesn't matter how good the milk is, if the customer didn't get it in time for his morning coffee, he will go elsewhere." Eight years later, they do 16,000 deliveries a day and have separate apps for customer interaction as well as delivery. "We didn't even stop during COVID," he says.

He recalls another occasion when the staff, who would milk the cows threatened to go on strike, demanding more money. The team was at a loss, the cows needed to be milked. Local farmers took pity on their plight, milked their cows, and then came to help them. "That's how we started working with farmers, we sell their milk for them."

Put to the test

Fresh, raw Indian milk is among the best in the world, Kishore remarks, sourced from smaller farmers who keep grass-fed, free-range cows. However, with little implementation of the regulations, thickeners, preservatives, hormones, and antibiotics are a common presence. Making sure their dairy farm produces pure and unadulterated is a point of pride for Kishore, who has never held back from spending on the best equipment. "A lot of the technology is available in India because of our thriving dairy industry," he says.

Kishore Indukuri | Sid's Farm | Global Indian

First, raw milk is tested for thickeners, using an ultrasound pulse. Salts, sugar, urea, and maida are commonly used thickening agents, to help the sellers get more value for money. Hormones are also commonly found and used to increase milk production. "When antibiotics are given to a cow, they go from the bloodstream to the milk," he says. Consuming trace amounts of antibiotics causes microbial drug resistance within the human body - when the medicines are needed, they will not work.

"Preservatives are commonly added too. Nature designed milk to be drunk immediately, but we don't do that. Bacteria feed on the milk and convert the lactose into lactic acid. The thinking seems to be, if you add a base like hydrogen peroxide or caustic (to neutralise the acid), or modify the pH levels, it won't go bad." The answer to this is effective chilling systems - and Kishore insists on the best. "Antibiotic testing alone costs us up to Rs 4 lakhs a month," he says.

The journey so far

The dairy farm has grown tremendously over the last decade, branching out over the years into other dairy products like paneer, ghee, (made with lemon juice, not synthetic chemicals), curd, and butter, all made in-house. Cow milk and buffalo milk are processed and sold separately. Kishore also hopes to expand to other states soon.

As our conversation draws to a close, Kishore smiles, adding, "There's one more thing. When we bought this land, there was nothing on it. We have planted over 500 trees in 10 years. We also harvest rainwater to recharge the groundwater table."

Follow Sid's Farm on Instagram or visit their website

Reading Time: 8 mins

Power of the Pen: Brit-desi children’s author Manjeet Mann is actor, playright, trainer & more

(April 23, 2022) Manjeet Mann has been riding on the success of her books. Her debut novel Run Rebel was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2021, and won the CILIP Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Award, the UKLA Award, Diverse Book Award and Sheffield Children’s Book Award. It was also a Guardian best book of 2020. Her second novel The Crossing won the 2021 Costa Children’s Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Book Prize 2022, and the Carnegie Medal 2022. Her debut picture book Small's Big Dream got published in March 2022. [caption id="attachment_23533" align="aligncenter" width="615"] Manjeet Man, children's author and actress[/caption] Manjeet, an actress for close to two decades, travelled extensively all-around UK touring for her plays. Films and TV, and even a stint in radio, Manjeet has a creative surge that always shines. She is the former associate artist with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, the Soho Writers Lab and Kali Theatre’s Writers lab. Payback, The Other Eden, She’s the bitchy one, Flying Solo, A dangerous woman and Starting Out – all plays she wrote and acted in give you a glimpse of her repertoire. First Love Acting was this multi-talented artist’s first love. The Kent, England resident always

>, The Other Eden, She’s the bitchy one, Flying Solo, A dangerous woman and Starting Out – all plays she wrote and acted in give you a glimpse of her repertoire.

First Love

Acting was this multi-talented artist’s first love. The Kent, England resident always wanted to be an actor. “I was in every single school play from about five years old till 18. When I left school, I studied drama at university. Then I moved to London, and got myself an acting agent, and started acting. Writing came a lot later, I always wanted to tell other people’s stories first, and bring other people’s world and words to life, rather than my own,” says Manjeet in a conversation with Global Indian.

Understanding the teenage voice

An affinity towards young adults, writing for teenagers is special for Mann. She attempts to empower young minds through her book. “My teenage self had many stories to tell. I understand the teenage voice. So, when it came to writing books, the teenage voice just came out, and what I wrote became suitable for a young audience,” she avers.

[embed]https://twitter.com/ManjeetMann/status/1405135809150341121?s=20&t=NJy_bXVbbWkHVo2IXybezA[/embed]

Mining ideas

She mines her life, voracious reading and observing the world for her ideas. The theme of her award-winning book, The Crossing, came from her environment, “where I’m living now is a coast, and the refugee crisis is a big talking point. That has seeped into the book.”

The inspiration of her first book, Run Rebel, is from the working-class town she grew up in, and its people.

[embed]https://twitter.com/ManjeetMann/status/1477259953278705666?s=20&t=NJy_bXVbbWkHVo2IXybezA[/embed]

The writing process

Four hours of writing in short spurts with a workout to clear her mind, Manjeet is working on her next, cajoling herself to write 1,000 words a day. The award-winning author-actress is sporty, loves boxing and is a registered trainer too. Pilates, open water swimming, running long-distance , she was a personal trainer in the initial years of her career while finding a foothold in acting.

Run the World

She also runs a not-for-profit organisation, Run the World, that evolved naturally (2018), where she intermingles sports and theatre to empower women and girls who have faced hardships. The motley crew meet for sports and creative brainstorming. On the backburner due to the pandemic, she has worked with two groups – domestic abuse survivors and refugees seeking status, in all 100 women, which she hopes to begin again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mta5rjK1Zbo

Her first group created an audio walk available on Run the World website. The second wrote poems, and narrated poetry on International Women's Day. Her next, she hopes will be a cookbook. “It’s all about being expressive,” says Manjeet.

Love for India

The youngest of five siblings, her parents moved from a village near Jalandhar to England in the 70s. Born in England, she says, “I remember going on a big family holiday at 14. We saw our village, stayed at my dad’s house. Since then, no family holidays but have backpacked as a tourist in India – north, central and then south, and west. It was absolutely fantastic,” she says.

Fluent in Punjabi - reading and writing, she loves the cuisine. “Nothing can beat Indian food, especially Punjabi food and the diversity in local fare. I love the colours, the Indian wedding - clothes, bangles and saris. I love Bollywood movies,” she gushes, adding that Kajol is her favourite.

Brown representation mattered

Having imbibed the fabric of an Indian living in London, she has special fondness for Meera Sayal (British comedian, writer, actor), who is also from where Mann grew up - West Midlands. “For a long time in the UK, it was difficult to see brown faces on TV, stage, or books. We were not represented. It's changing now. Growing up, I was mesmerised by her. She inspired me. I think she has inspired a lot of Asian actors and writers more than she probably knows,” says the awe-struck fan who was thrilled that she got to do a play, Behind the Beautiful Forevers with Meera at the National Theatre, and a couple of radio plays. Reminiscing the brilliant experience, she recalls how Meera was supportive, giving good reviews about Manjeet’s work, which was helpful.

Children's Author | Manjeet Mann| Global Indian

Can’t have career in arts - a misconception

The author loves connecting with her muse – thus visiting schools, talking to students, she tries to dispel the myth that a career in the arts is not financially stable. “If you have to go out there, you have to be determined and self-motivated. You have to make your own luck; your own opportunities with consistent hard work,” advices Manjeet who thinks the arts for her does not feel like “work.” “You are your own boss, and you choose your own hours. I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” she says.

[embed]https://twitter.com/ManjeetMann/status/1463494824972140550?s=20&t=NJy_bXVbbWkHVo2IXybezA[/embed]

Next book set in India

Her next book is set in India, revealing how she has consultants on her books to ensure she is writing the right thing. “Even though I'm Indian, I'm British Indian, so I am ensuring that the story I'm telling is truthful, real and appropriate,” says the British Indian author-actress who is developing two comedy dramas for TV, and will collaborate with award-winning filmmakers Poulami Basu and CJ Clarke for her next film - Bloodspeaks: Maya the Birth of a Superhero.

Just like her new book, she wants to keep information about her partner, a secret too. “All I can say, he is also a writer and always encourages me to write,” signs off Manjeet.

Follow Manjeet Mann on her, Twitter and Instagram

Reading Time: 5 mins

Shantanu Narayen: The CEO who is heart and soul of Adobe

(June 30, 2022) Shantanu Narayen is one among the celebrated tribe of Indian-origin CEOs shaping the global business world. Under his leadership, Adobe, which is one of the largest software companies of the world achieved record revenue and industry recognition for being an inclusive, innovative, and exceptional workplace. For the sixth year in a row, Adobe has been identified as one of the 25 World’s Best Workplaces. While, Narayen has earned himself the title of ‘Top CEO’ on Glassdoor, which is based on employee feedback. Global Indian turns its spotlight on the pioneer of creativity and digital media who puts a lot of effort on creating leaders. [caption id="attachment_26332" align="alignnone" width="1160"] Shantanu Narayen, CEO, Adobe[/caption] Narayen wanted to be a journalist but later pursued engineering upon his parent's advice. He started his career with Measurex Automation Systems, a startup. The Hyderabad-born business executive went on to start his own company, Pictra, an early pioneer of digital photo-sharing on the internet, which he eventually decided to sell off. Incidentally, while trying to sell it off to Adobe, he landed a job at the organisation, becoming its vice-president of worldwide product research in 1998. That's another story that he did not succeed

a startup. The Hyderabad-born business executive went on to start his own company, Pictra, an early pioneer of digital photo-sharing on the internet, which he eventually decided to sell off. Incidentally, while trying to sell it off to Adobe, he landed a job at the organisation, becoming its vice-president of worldwide product research in 1998. That's another story that he did not succeed in making Adobe buy Pictra.

Under his leadership, Adobe now offers nearly 100 creative products, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, Acrobat and Acrobat Sign. This wide array of tools helps students, business communicators and the world’s largest enterprises to meet their goals.

Narayen has been a smart player landing close to 400 deals for the company. Big media firms like Viacom, and CBS all play their videos with Adobe flash player, thanks to Narayen.

He once remarked at an Adobe summit:

“To win in today’s world every business has to transform itself to become maniacally focussed on the customer experience." - Shantanu Narayen

Reaching heights

It took him only a decade to rise to the top position of CEO. As chairman and chief executive officer, Narayen has been at the helm of driving the company’s strategy to unleash creativity for all, and power digital business. The software giant, which has always aimed at changing the world through digital experiences, has taken a dramatic turnaround in recent years and has become a global brand with a huge customer base.

Narayen, the recipient of India’s civilian honour Padma Shri (2019), has a special place for India in his heart, “We have got incredible talent in India and they are responsible for major parts of every aspect of our business, including product. Whether it’s Acrobat or creative or digital experience tools, so much of the pioneering engineering work is done in India,” he said in an interview.

The typical journey of unusual success

Born in 1963, Narayen grew up in an affluent, Telugu-speaking family in Hyderabad. His father ran a plastics company, while his mother was a teacher of American literature. He is an alumnus of Hyderabad Public School that boasts of a great repertoire of former students who are top CEOs and business executives like Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, Ajay Singh Banga, CEO of MasterCard, and Kunal Bahl of Snapdeal.

[caption id="attachment_26333" align="alignnone" width="960"] Indian CEO | Global Indian Shantanu Narayen with his schoolmate, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft[/caption]

He was one of the thousands of young men who headed to the US in the 1980s packing their mom’s homemade snacks and pickles to ward off homesickness. By then, Narayen was armed with a bachelor’s degree in electronics and communication engineering from Osmania University. In the US, he earned a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University and another master’s degree in business administration from the University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. The Indian-American business executive was honoured with a doctorate degree for applied science by his Alma Mater, Bowling Green State University in 2011.

Not many are aware that Narayen holds five patents. All are focussed on creation and editing of electronic documents on digital processing systems that he invented during his Pictra days. That apart, multifaceted business executive’s golfing IQ is superb. He would have become a professional golfer if he hadn't been a business executive.

[caption id="attachment_26334" align="alignnone" width="948"] Indian CEO | Global Indian Shantanu Narayen posing with a golf ball[/caption]

He also loves cricket and sailing, and has even represented India in sailing at an Asian regatta. Along with his cricket-loving schoolmate Satya Nadella, he has invested in Major League Cricket (MLC) to be hosted by the American Cricket Enterprises (ACE). It's an upcoming professional Twenty20 cricket league in the United States with plans to begin matches in 2023.

Creativity in DNA

With creativity in his DNA, Narayen is shaping the future of storytelling. By transforming how people and brands tell their stories, the suave orator and debater has been connecting content and data with new technologies.

As CEO, Narayen has revamped the company, shifting its creative and digital document software franchises from the desktop to the Cloud. Under his leadership, as of June 2022, Adobe has a market cap of $172.76 billion. Adobe's business is powered by three cloud-based solutions: Creative Cloud (Adobe XD, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator etc.); Document Cloud (Acrobat DC, Adobe Sign and powerful mobile apps) and Experience Cloud that helps organisations design campaigns, advertise and gain deep insight on business performance.

For the Adobe CEO, the company's most valuable assets are its people.

"Every single engineer at Adobe we've invested in is being trained in future technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Cloud to help businesses deliver better customer experiences" - Shantanu Narayen

Impressive collaborations

Narayen swears by the importance of communicating well with people – a lesson that he has learned from his experiences as a CEO. “Simply put, good communication is needed to ensure that all the components which make up a corporation will move in the same direction, instead of each component pulling this way and that way.”

Just before starting Pictra in 1996, Narayen enjoyed a stint at Apple in senior management positions between 1989 to 1995. The top CEO takes pride in lessons learned from Gursharan Singh Sandhu of Apple Talk who mentored him during his Apple days and taught him how to challenge others and himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw6A6cQ4Y6g

In 2011, Barack Obama had appointed him as a member of his Management Advisory Board. Narayen has been the lead independent director on Pfizer’s board of directors, and vice chairman of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum. The India-bred CEO expects more Indian-origin leaders to helm global corporations.

He has been staying in Palo Alto, California with his wife Reni, whom he met during his college days in the US in the mid-1980s. She holds a doctorate in clinical psychology. They have two sons.

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Reading Time: 5 mins

Waris Ahluwalia: Sikh-American designer and actor has a day named after him

(February 17, 2023) Serendipity - something Waris Ahluwalia is not alien to the concept. Be it his first Hollywood film offer, the launch of his boutique store House of Waris or a day in his honour, 49-year-old Waris has been at the right place at the right time. The polymath has gone from strength to strength in the last few decades. From fashion to jewelry and films to activism, this Indian American has been a prominent face of it all. Though many things have happened as an act of fate in this designer and actor's life, he has always worked for what matters the most to him - standing up for religious tolerance and speaking out against racial discrimination. But it hasn't been an easy journey for this boy from Amritsar who made it big on the global stage. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) The odd one out in America It was in Punjab where Waris's journey began. Born to a linguistic professor father and a teacher mother in Amritsar, Waris was all of five when he moved to an American neighborhood in New York with his parents. With no Indians

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A post shared by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris)

The odd one out in America

It was in Punjab where Waris's journey began. Born to a linguistic professor father and a teacher mother in Amritsar, Waris was all of five when he moved to an American neighborhood in New York with his parents. With no Indians or Sikh friends around, his family made sure to keep him rooted to his Indianness.

Being a Sikh boy among Americans, he was often made to feel like the odd one out. But Waris was unperturbed as he was too comfortable in his skin. "Whenever you're different, your existence presents a challenge for other people. You're the odd man out. But I think from an early age I was just comfortable with who I was, largely due to the way I was brought up," he told NBC.

His lesson in diversity began early when his father named him after his favorite poet Waris Shah. "He didn't give me a traditional, Indian, Sikh name, which are beautiful names. But it just made an extra point for me. Even within my own community, I didn't fit in," added Ahluwalia.

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A post shared by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris)

With his roots firm in Indian culture, he opted for political science and liberal arts for his major. After completing his studies, he dabbled in a few creative projects before serendipity hit him at a lavish boutique in Los Angeles.

How serendipity led him to House of Waris and Hollywood

It was at Maxfields that two elaborate self-designed diamond rings that adorned his fingers caught the fancy of its owners. Pleased by the intricate design, they placed their order for the rings, and in no time, the whole bunch was sold out, and the fashion press came calling at his doors. Waris, who until then had never planned on designing jewelry, started learning the intricacies of the trade and opened his own boutique, House of Waris in 2007. The New York-based boutique has become a one-stop shop for exquisite jewelry, ceramics and textiles which are handcrafted by artisans from across the globe.

If becoming a jewelry designer was a beautiful accident, his arrival into Hollywood was nothing short of an act of fate.

It was on a balmy afternoon in 2003 over lunch that director Wes Anderson offered Waris a part in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou that had Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Cate Blanchett as his co-stars. "He sent me the script for his new movie and told me he had a part for me. He did not even call me for an audition,” Waris told The National News.

[caption id="attachment_6611" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Waris Ahluwalia in The Darjeeling Express Waris Ahluwalia and Owen Wilson in a still from The Darjeeling Express[/caption]

This was the beginning of Ahluwalia's journey in Hollywood. For the next few years, he made appearances in films like The Darjeeling Limited (2007), I Am Love (2010), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Beeba Boys (2015) and Ocean's 8 (2018). Despite being a Sikh, Ahulwalia has never been stereotyped on screen, and it's this ability that he plays to the gallery every single time.

His love for films and jewelry had also extended to the realm of fashion. For someone who often appeared on the Best Dressed Men lists in Vanity Fair, Vogue and GQ, he hit another milestone in 2013 when he became the first Sikh man to model for Gap, and make a statement on tolerance with ad campaign #MakeLove. However, the subway advertisement came under a full-blown racial attack when it was defaced with messages by vandals. The caption "Make Love" was altered to "Make Bombs" by the culprits. Gap backed their model and changed its Twitter background to a picture of Waris to show solidarity and support. This gesture found appreciation from the Sikh community who soon started a Thank You Gap campaign.

Waris Ahluwali in Gap advertisement

"I'm from New York. People write things on subway posters all the time. When that happened, I wasn't hurt. But I was amazed at the response. I think it was a beautiful thing. What it did was create an opportunity for dialogue and race relations," said Waris.

But this wasn't Ahluwalia's first tryst with racial discrimination. After the 9/11 attacks, Ahluwalia was eyed suspiciously, for he wore a turban and sported a beard. "I remember the months following 9/11 - people would glare at me with anger and hate as I walked down the street here in New York. My own city, my home. Six months after that terrible day, I was assaulted and nearly lost my vision in my right eye. The oldest and strongest emotion known to mankind is fear. The hate and anger experienced is one of its ugliest byproducts - fear of the 'other'. When I was punched in the face, I could have let fear get the better of me. But then I would have truly lost. So, instead I decided to fight the fear - and to do so with love, understanding, and education," he told TOI.

In February 2016, Waris once again faced discrimination when he was denied entry into a flight from Mexico to New York because he refused to take off his turban during security check. Not one to be easily rattled, he posted a photo on Instagram explaining the situation. The incident was met with outrage on social media and soon Aeromexico issued an apology. He later said that he wasn't angry but wanted to raise awareness about racism that one faces at airports.

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A post shared by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris)

Winning everyone with his #LoveNotFear, the designer-actor was in for a surprise when the former New York City mayor decided to dedicate a day to Waris. Bill de Blasio declared October 19, 2016 as Waris Ahluwalia Day in recognition of the Sikh-American actor and designer for his powerful message of countering ignorance and advocating for religious understanding and tolerance.

"Put love in all that you do. Exist with love. It's our only weapon against fear. Know yourself as love and know the stranger you pass on the street as love — not as the other. There is no other. Just us. That's how I do it. With love and empathy. Each and every day," he said.

Giving Back

Apart from raising awareness against racial discrimination, Ahluwalia is involved with saving Asian elephants in India with an NGO, Elephant Family. Every two years, he embarks on a 500-kilometre journey across the Indian countryside to raise money for the charity. "We raise awareness across the world about the dire need for conservation. The money goes to protecting the elephant corridors and the villagers who live amongst the wildlife. We're working to create a world where wildlife and humanity can co-exist.”

A designer, an actor, a model, and an activist - Waris Ahluwalia is a creative polymath. He loves fashion, films, jewelry and activism in equal measure. For someone who began his career by chance to becoming a torchbearer of cultural inclusivity, Ahluwalia has come a long way.

Follow Waris Ahluwalia on Instagram

Reading Time: 6 min

Dr. Santanu Paul: Transforming deep tech education in India with TalentSprint

Written by: Bindu Gopal Rao

A storied career

Creating industry-ready talent

The edtech revolution

Bridging the gender gap

Racial diversity in the US

Advice to aspiring entrepreneurs

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Shantanu Narayen: The CEO who is heart and soul of Adobe

“To win in today’s world every business has to transform itself to become maniacally focussed on the customer experience." - Shantanu Narayen

Reaching heights

The typical journey of unusual success

Creativity in DNA

"Every single engineer at Adobe we've invested in is being trained in future technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Cloud to help businesses deliver better customer experiences" - Shantanu Narayen

Impressive collaborations

Waris Ahluwalia: Sikh-American designer and actor has a day named after him

The odd one out in America

How serendipity led him to House of Waris and Hollywood

Giving Back