Global IndianstoryMeet Amit Paley the Indian American LGBTQ activist who’s in the 2021 Fortune 40 Under 40 list

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Meet Amit Paley the Indian American LGBTQ activist who’s in the 2021 Fortune 40 Under 40 list

Written by: Global Indian

(October 15, 2021) Did you know that lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are four times more likely to consider suicide when compared to their straight peers? A startling statistic, but not all that startling compared to the abuse and ostracization a lot of them continue to face… at the hands of society and their own families. The Trevor Project in the US has been working to help the LGTBQ community and prevent suicide among queer people through a dedicated hotline since 1998. Helming it is its dynamic 39-year-old Indian American CEO Amit Paley.

Since he took over in 2017, the nonprofit organization has seen a dramatic increase in the number of young people receiving much-needed support. Amit has been using a healthy mix of technology, innovation and research to help create awareness about mental health in the LGBTQ community. This Indian American also serves on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline steering committee and the executive committee of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. As he forges ahead in the mental health space and advocated for the LGBTQ youth, Amit finds himself in the 2021 Fortune 40 Under 40 list — one of the four Indian Americans on the list this year — for the impact he’s been creating through his work.

Check out and share @TrevorProject's Coming Out Handbook – you never know who's exploring what coming out can mean for them. https://t.co/Hr5GKzpiPK https://t.co/wWpV1TpBfd

— Amit Paley (@amitpaley) October 11, 2021

Experience talks

Born in 1982 in a mixed-race family in the US, Amit grew up in Waban, Massachusetts where he attended Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston and The Roxbury Latin School. Growing up, he had to battle his own demons. It was a time when anti-gay sentiments were still pretty high in America and the world and Amit had no idea how to express his identity. He grew up as a lonely, scared, closeted kid, who’d never known anyone who was openly LGBTQ. He’d never really hoped to gain acceptance for who he really was. In fact, when he got married in 2019, he’d tweeted, “I grew up as a closeted, lonely, scared kid who didn’t know anyone who was openly LGBTQ. I never dreamed that one day I would find a man who would love me, that we could be legally married, & that my family & friends would come celebrate us, not shun us, at our wedding.”

Amit Paley with his husband Jonathan Naymark

For this Global Indian to reach this place of confidence and happiness was a long and arduous journey. He finally found his voice and came out as gay when he was an undergraduate student at Harvard University where he studied Social Studies and East Asian Studies. Soon after he graduated from magna cum laud from Harvard, he began his professional career with The Washington Post where he reported on the Iraq war and the 2008 financial crisis. He quit his job in 2009 when he was awarded fellowships at Columbia Journalism School and Columbia Business School from where he went on to graduate in the Dean’s Honors List with an MBA and MS in Journalism.

Making inclusion important

Upon his graduation in 2011 he joined McKinsey & Company in New York as an Associate Partner while also serving as an adjunct professor CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. It was also around this time that he first began volunteering as a counselor with The Trevor Project, one of the largest organizations in the world dedicated to suicide prevention in the LGBTQ youth. Despite his busy day job, Amit would man the 24-hour TrevorLifeline, taking up the night shifts and weekend phone lines. Eventually, he joined its board which gave him exposure to the operational and financial challenges of such groups and inspired him to get more involved in McKinsey’s nonprofit work, he served as a leader of McKinsey’s LGBTQ group and spearheaded the firm’s global efforts on inclusion for transgender and nonbinary people.

Indian American Amit Paley

At Trevor Project, he has answered hundreds of calls from LGBTQ youth in crisis. By 2017, Amit was appointed The Trevor Project’s CEO, making him the first volunteer counselor to become the organization’s CEO… and he still continues to answer calls on the TrevorLifeline. Talking about going that extra mile outside of his regular job, Amit said in an interview, “By investing my time outside work in things I was passionate about, I learned things that made me better at my job. Those experiences also prepared me for future leadership roles that I didn’t know I would have.”

The Trevor Project takes advocacy seriously at the government level and is working to end conversion therapy, oppose anti-transgender legislation and establish 988 as the number Americans can call on to reach their suicide prevention lifeline. The fact that many LGBTQ youth are also homeless in America makes their mental health that much more precarious and the situation has only worsened since the pandemic broke out in 2020. Taking cognizance of the situation, Amit has taken The Trevor Project entirely remote for the first time ever in order to deal with the call volumes which had doubled when compared to the pre-pandemic levels.

Awards and more

Under Amit’s leadership, Trevor Project has dramatically expanded the number of LGBTQ youth that it helps. The organization has also built and launched a new, integrated crisis services platform, expanded its chat and text services and has more than quadrupled the number of youths it has reached out to every month.

His voice has been featured across major publications and channels such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CBS, Reuters, and Fortune among others. He has also received several awards and accolades for his leadership. From being featured in Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list for 2021, to World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader, NBC’s #Pride 50, and Crain’s 40 Under 40, he’s come a long way from being the scared and lonely teen in his school days.

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Published on 15, Oct 2021

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Diipa Buller Khosla: The law graduate who became first Indian influencer to walk the Cannes red carpet

"Having given birth just 2.5 months ago, never had I imagined myself to be walking my third red carpet on the 74th Cannes Film Festival. But, here I am...for the first time as a mother and the third time as Diipa," read the Instagram post of Diipa Buller Khosla, the first Indian-born influencer to make it big internationally. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Diipa Büller-Khosla (@diipakhosla) Beyond Influencer The 30-year-old, who prefers to be referred to as a new-age digital celebrity than an influencer, is making heads turn with her glamorous appearances at the Cannes Film Festival. Her Cannes debut happened in 2018 and with every passing year, she is becoming a stronger brand ambassador for India. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Diipa Büller-Khosla (@diipakhosla) From just another brown girl to gracing the cover of international magazines such as Elegance and Conde Nast Traveler and being on the billboard at London's Piccadilly Circus, Kholsa has come a long way. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Diipa Büller-Khosla (@diipakhosla) A popular Instagrammer with 1.4 million followers, Khosla is using her clout to create healthy dialogues around

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A post shared by Diipa Büller-Khosla (@diipakhosla)

Beyond Influencer

The 30-year-old, who prefers to be referred to as a new-age digital celebrity than an influencer, is making heads turn with her glamorous appearances at the Cannes Film Festival. Her Cannes debut happened in 2018 and with every passing year, she is becoming a stronger brand ambassador for India.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Diipa Büller-Khosla (@diipakhosla)

From just another brown girl to gracing the cover of international magazines such as Elegance and Conde Nast Traveler and being on the billboard at London's Piccadilly Circus, Kholsa has come a long way.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Diipa Büller-Khosla (@diipakhosla)

A popular Instagrammer with 1.4 million followers, Khosla is using her clout to create healthy dialogues around women empowerment and racial discrimination. She is also a founder of Post for Change Foundation, which uses social media to bring social change.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Diipa Büller-Khosla (@diipakhosla)

Law graduate-turned-fashionista

Born and raised in India, Khosla was 17 when she moved to the Netherlands to study law. After completing her degree in international human rights law, she moved to London for her master's. But life had different plans for her: She bagged an internship at a fashion agency during the four-month break between her university and job as a lawyer.

In a conversation with HT Brunch, she said, "To my utter surprise, it turned out to Europe's first influencer agency. I knew nothing about this world, yet on my third day in the sales team, I was closing huge deals with fashion brands like Mango and Kiara."

That internship helped Diipa understand the power of influencers and how working with them could be a great business strategy for consumer-facing brands.

"At that time, almost all the influencers came from the US and Europe, and it struck me that there was no Indian representing us in the global beauty and fashion space. I realized that if I could do this, I could totally change the whole influencer game," she added.

Indianness as a gold medal

Like most desis abroad, Khosla, too, had to face racism.

"In 2016, I was rejected by a PR firm to attend a London Fashion Week show and another influencer, who was Caucasian with less followers, was allowed. The only difference was our skin tones."

However, Khosla channeled all her anger into hard work. "I started wearing my Indianness like a gold medal and that gave me confidence."

Khosla was recognized as the 'The Changemaker Influencer of 2019' by Inflow, the world's largest influencer platform, and this feat gave birth to the Post for Change Foundation. Along with her Dutch diplomat husband Oleg Buller, she started the foundation to bring about a change. Post for Change has collaborated with UNICEF for Red Dot Challenge to emphaise the importance of menstrual hygiene.

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A post shared by Oleg E.H. Büller-Khosla (@olegbuller)

"There was not a single influencer representing India on a global scale. So, I decided it was about time I change that," she added.

Reading Time: 4 mins

From a cancer survivor to Delhi’s Matka Man: How Alag Natarajan is bringing about change

(November 26, 2021) "The living are dirtier than the dead," was Alagarathanam Natarajan's response to his mother-in-law, who once reprimanded him for not taking a shower after returning from a crematorium. He was then a volunteer in his 60s and was driving a hearse that he would park outside her house every single day. Cut to 2021, the hearse has been replaced with a specially crafted Mahindra Bolero maxi-truck that this engineering drop-out drives around Delhi each day to place potable water across the city to help quench people's thirst. Meet Alag Natarajan, popularly known as Delhi's Matka Man, a moniker he earned from his daughter on one of his birthdays. Not all superheroes wear capes. Some wake up early in the morning to provide clean drinking water to the underprivileged. Each day the London-returned Natarajan drives his truck, which carries 2,000 litres of water, to refill the 70-80 matkas or earthen pots that he has placed around South Delhi. The Panchsheel Park resident decided to dedicate his life to serving others. Being hailed as a "superhero that's more powerful than the entire Marvel stable" by industrialist Anand Mahindra, Natarajan's selfless work has grabbed attention in India and abroad. "His

dia and abroad. "His tweet was comforting. He is known to bring attention to the stories that matter," Natarajan tells Global Indian in an exclusive interview.

A Superhero that’s more powerful than the entire Marvel stable. MatkaMan. Apparently he was an entrepreneur in England & a cancer conqueror who returned to India to quietly serve the poor. Thank you Sir, for honouring the Bolero by making it a part of your noble work. 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/jXVKo048by

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) October 24, 2021

Sri Lanka to India to England

Born in Chillaw in Sri Lanka to a Sri Lankan mother and an Indian father, Natarajan lived in Bengaluru for most of his life before moving to London. An engineering drop-out, Natarajan recalls his days as a "messed up young boy who came from a broken family and was into drugs and alcohol." To change the trajectory of his life, he boarded a flight to London. "In 1974, I left for the UK on a tourist visa that was sponsored by my sister and didn't return to India until three decades later. For 10 years, I was an illegal immigrant in England. I was 24 when I boarded that flight to London and like every other young man, I, too, had dreams," reveals Natarajan.

[caption id="attachment_16745" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Matka Man distributing salad at construction sites.[/caption]

He worked many odd jobs — from being a street hawker to driving long-distance trucks — to stay afloat. "I was quite ambitious and after working hard for a few years, I bought a souvenir shop on Oxford Street. I ended up adding two more shops, including one near Harrods. Things were going perfectly until I was diagnosed with colon cancer in my mid-50s. That's when life took a turn and after my surgery, I decided to return to India," reveals Natarajan.

A call for service

Upon his return, he "wandered like an aimless madman" for a while. The battle with cancer had left him emotionally drained; that's when he began volunteering for a terminal cancer centre in Delhi. "I took over their maintenance completely. Since it was for terminally-ill patients, an ambulance was often required to take their bodies to the crematorium. So I bought a car and converted it into a cremation van and started taking the bodies myself to Sarai Kale Khan Crematorium. It was an abandoned ground with no water or any facilities," recalls Natarajan.

[caption id="attachment_16740" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Matka Man filling water near a bench installed by him.[/caption]

This pushed him to help quench people's thirst and he installed his first matka stand outside his home in Panchsheel Park. Guards, house helps and drivers from the locality began to flock to his matka as they braved Delhi's scorching summer heat. The response spurred Natarajan to install more matkas across the city. "When I curiously inquired with a guard one day, he revealed that his employer didn't make any arrangements for water for him. He was not allowed to leave his position even for a minute and access to clean drinking water was a luxury for people like him," reveals Natarajan. Soon, he went about installing several matka stands across South Delhi to ensure that the needy had access to clean drinking water. Most of the stands also feature a cycle pump and bench, should anyone need a rest or a quick fill of air for their cycles. "Everyone needs to relax. I want people to have a space where they can relax for a while. In winters, I distribute blankets," he says.

"Helping the needy is paramount to me," says Matka Man. He reveals that though his locality is home to plenty of affluent families, barely anyone steps forward to extend a helping hand to those in need. "People often tell me that I am doing good work but in the last few years, I've received not more than ₹10,000 from the residents as donation. I often think, 'How much more can somebody want?' It's greed that's threatening humanity. I have had my share of living in vanity, now I just want to serve," says the 72-year-old, who likes to spend time in his garden during his free time.

[caption id="attachment_16742" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Matka Man filling up water at one of his matka stands.[/caption]

For the 2,000 litres of water that goes into filling the 70-80 matkas that are placed across South Delhi, Natarajan was earlier using the borewell water from a nearby school. But now he has access to Delhi Jal Board's potable water. "When I initially began setting up matka stands across the neighbourhood, many thought it to be a campaign stunt by the Aam Aadmi Party. Gradually they realised that I am neither associated with an NGO nor do I work for the government. They understood that my intention to help the poor is genuine and without any agenda," he explains.

Man on a mission

Natarajan begins his day at 5.30 am to fill the matkas he's installed through his maxi-truck that's fitted with two 1,000 litre water tanks. Though he chose to drop out of his engineering course back in the 1970s, his passion for innovation is evident in his specially modified vehicles. Apart from helping people access potable water, he also spends a few mornings each week distributing a nutritious salad to construction workers and daily wage labourers in the vicinity. He prepares the salad using a variety of legumes such as channa, moong, rajma, sprouts and veggies like potaties, tomatoes and onions. "Construction workers are the most exploited, and I want to help them with a nutritious fix."

The senior citizen employs only a skeletal staff to keep overhead costs low. "I don't want to compromise on the quality of food. I am involved in the entire process hands-on. I have installed industrial machines at home which aid us with the peeling and cutting. For me, it's not about charity, I work like a professional. I visit the sabzi mandis (vegetable markets) to buy fresh produce. I treat them as equals," adds the Good Samaritan, who worked relentlessly even during the lockdown.

[caption id="attachment_16743" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Matka Man's truck ready for salad distribution.[/caption]

He uses his savings and investments to fund most of his projects; though there are times when he receives donations from well wishers as well. "During the pandemic, one lady sponsored my entire staff for one year," he reveals.

Natarajan, who found his biggest cheerleader in his mother-in-law, calls her his biggest support system. "She would often brag about the work I did to others. She never questioned me even when I used to park a cremation van right outside her house every single day," he reminisces.

It has been 15 years since Natarajan returned to India and has been using every opportunity to work for the needy. "Giving and serving has been an integral part of my life. Pain is a teacher. So after I recovered from cancer, I wanted to help more people. But I was soon disillusioned by the workings of an NGO and decided to do something myself. I started spending my own money to bring about the change that I wanted," says Natrajan, who is quite inspired by Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning.

[caption id="attachment_16744" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Matka Man driving his Bolero truck.[/caption]

At 72, Natarajan is a force to reckon with as he is diligently working for society. "I try to do everything with absolute sincerity. It's important to be sincere in whatever you do. It's not about what you do but how sincerely you do it," signs off Natarajan.

Follow Matka Man on his website

Reading Time: 7 min

Raj Echambadi: Indian American iMBA pioneer and first person of color to helm a 131-year-old American university

It was like being “forged by fire” says Raj Echambadi as he describes his first tryst with the American academia; he stands to take charge as the 10th president of the illustrious Illinois Institute of Technology. The India-born educator will be the first person of color to head the 131-year-old research-focused university. Considered a pioneer in online iMBA which he conceptualized in 2016, Echambadi has also been working with the Indian government to build entrepreneurial hubs in Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati and Utkal University in Odisha. The incident he mentions is an episode from his early academic years in the mid-1990s which is etched in his mind and shaped his outlook towards education. As a young PhD scholar at the University of Houston, Echambadi had thought that the dissertation proposal he’d submitted was pathbreaking. “During a discussion with my mentor, we spent the first five minutes talking about my Indian roots in what seemed like a casual conversation,” he says. “For the next 15 minutes, however, my mentor launched a professional criticism of my dissertation. It was eye-opening. He dissected my dissertation and told me why it was wrong. I was stunned.” “The funniest thing was that after the meeting ended we had coffee and spoke about tennis; just like friends. He made sure I was comfortable with his criticism.” This incident, he says, was demonstrative of the quality of US

PhD scholar at the University of Houston, Echambadi had thought that the dissertation proposal he’d submitted was pathbreaking. “During a discussion with my mentor, we spent the first five minutes talking about my Indian roots in what seemed like a casual conversation,” he says.

“For the next 15 minutes, however, my mentor launched a professional criticism of my dissertation. It was eye-opening. He dissected my dissertation and told me why it was wrong. I was stunned.”

“The funniest thing was that after the meeting ended we had coffee and spoke about tennis; just like friends. He made sure I was comfortable with his criticism.”

This incident, he says, was demonstrative of the quality of US academic dissemination, and the caliber of culturally sensitive faculty members.

From Chennai to the US

[caption id="attachment_4282" align="aligncenter" width="413"] Indian American Raj Echambadi will be the first person of color to helm the 131-year-old Illinois Institute of Technology. Raj Echambadi with his friend Ramesh Kumar during his MBA days in India[/caption]

Born in Chennai, Echambadi graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University in 1989. He went on to work as a sales executive at Castrol in Chennai before moving to the US to do his PhD in Marketing from the University of Houston. He then went to work at the University of Central Florida for 11 years, before joining the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was during his time here that Echambadi conceptualized and launched the first-of-its-kind MOOC-based online MBA (iMBA as it is popularly known) in partnership with Coursera. The iMBA has now reached over 80 million people around the world and is considered one of the most disruptive and breakthrough programs in graduate MBA.

Following this, Echambadi was appointed the Duncan Family Dean at D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University in Boston.

In pursuit of excellence

Raj Echambadi belongs to a generation of Indians who migrated to the US in pursuit of excellence in diverse fields such as academia, medicine, and technology. Their success stories, in turn, sculpted India’s repute in the global order. Asked what worked for the diaspora, he says: “When I came here, there was no safety net. We had to survive. And, the Indian middle class’ emphasis on the value of education played a role too.” This is precisely what the Indian-American educator wants to impart to the next breed of aspirants.

[caption id="attachment_4283" align="aligncenter" width="569"] Indian American Raj Echambadi will be the first person of color to helm the 131-year-old Illinois Institute of Technology. Raj with his brother Rajnarayan and cousin Sreedevi in the US in 2013[/caption]

The democratization of education by making it both affordable and accessible has been central to his initiatives such as the iMBA program at the University of Illinois – which scaled up the institution’s outreach and gave access to global learners. The breakthrough iMBA project brought down the cost of the two-year program from $100,000 to just $22,000. A significant number of Indians from both inside and outside the US benefited from it.

Besides, the academic research expert’s initiatives – through collaborations between American institutions and the Andhra Pradesh government – to teach entrepreneurial skills to high school and college students are beginning to bear fruits. “The Indian government has invited us after seeing our pilot project in Andhra Pradesh. I’m hoping this model will benefit over 10,000 students by 2025.”

Hoping to make a similar impact in his new role at Illinois Institute of Technology from August onwards, he reveals the recipe for the success of any project.

“Start small, dream big, experiment, iterate, and scale-up very fast,” he says.

As a parting shot, Echambadi ends on a somewhat philosophical note on his continuing educational endeavors and giving back to the global community. “Action is thy duty, fruit is not my concern,” quoting Bhagavad Gita.

RELATED READ: Dr Ashish Jha: The straight-talking dean and pandemic expert

Reading Time: 5 mins

Masoom Minawala to Prajakta Koli: 5 Indian influencers who are making it big globally

(August 5, 2021; 10 am) They are funny, witty, stylish and sassy — meet the Indian influencers who have taken over social media and how. This social media brigade is presenting a slice of India to the world one post at a time, and are loved by their army of followers. Every post, reel or story is smothered with thousands of likes and comments in no time. Welcome to the world of Instagram and influencers. In a world where millennials are literally living and breathing on the digital platforms, there are a handful of content creators who are putting Brand India on the global map with their creatives. If some are brushing shoulders with the likes of Michelle Obama, others are strutting the red carpets of the biggest international events. Here's are five Indian influencers who are living it up on social media and making a difference. Masoom Minawala With over 1 million followers on Instagram, Belgium-based fashion influencer and entrepreneur Masoom Minawala is a woman on a mission — to make Indian fashion global. Her social media accounts are a testimony to her love for Indian attire, especially saris, and she doesn't shy away from sashaying in them

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With over 1 million followers on Instagram, Belgium-based fashion influencer and entrepreneur Masoom Minawala is a woman on a mission — to make Indian fashion global. Her social media accounts are a testimony to her love for Indian attire, especially saris, and she doesn't shy away from sashaying in them on the streets of Europe. Her mantra in fashion is a perfect mix of culture and style. The 27-year-old is one of the few Indian fashion influencers who is a regular at Paris Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week and London Fashion Week. This year was no different when she made heads turn with her Indian style quotient at the Cannes Film Festival. Draped in a Manish Malhotra sari, Minawala was a vision. With her initiative #SupportIndianDesigners, she is promoting homegrown brands and designers on the global platform. From someone who began her journey as a blogger a decade ago when it wasn't so mainstream to making it to CNN's 20 under 40 list, Minawala has come a long way.

Niharika NM

Niharika NM is a content creator

One million followers in two months, now that's the fastest any content creator has grown on Instagram. But that's LA-based Niharika NM for you. The Indian-American made surviving 2020 a bit easier, thanks to her humor, sass and relatable reels on everyday life. Well, before Mindy Kaling came out with Never Have I Ever, social media found a perfect and relatable representation of South Indians in Niharika, and since then people are unable to get enough of her — the influencer's following on social media is proof of it. Born in Chennai and brought up in Bengaluru, the 23-year-old moved to the US, and now her journey to amassing a million followers in such a short span is a case study at California's Chapman University, where she is pursuing MBA.

Prajakta Koli

Prajakta Koli with Michelle Obama

How popular is Prajakta Koli, you ask? This Indian influencer has just received a personally signed copy of Michelle Obama's Becoming. The social media star had been chosen by YouTube and the UN for Creators of Change, which brought together 50 creators from around the world to create content on social issues — in her segment Koli was in conversation with Michelle Obama to talk about girls' education. She went on to win the Daytime Emmy Award and the 26-year-old became a global brand in her own right. Her powerful song No Offence on cyberbullies, misogyny and homophobia was selected by the United Nations for screening at International Tolerance Day in 2018. Koli, who began her journey with a hilarious Valentine's Day video on YouTube has reached global heights. With 4,120 posts and 4 million followers, Prajakta Koli aka MostlySane is a hotshot blogger and influencer on Instagram. A popular YouTuber, influencer and now an actor, Koli is making it big with one video at a time.

Ruhee Dosani

Ruhee Dosani is a social media content creator

Ruhee Dosani just wanted to make cool videos of her 'we deshi' friends dancing to Bollywood songs, but little did she know that one such video would catch the fancy of singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh, and as they say, the rest is history. The US-based 'Punjab di kudi' is every desi's delight. Her hilarious spins on brands and group dances with videshi friends have become a hit on social media. Such has been the entertainment quotient of her videos that even Netflix couldn't stop going gaga over her, and regrammed her video. This content creator and influencer is definitely making it big.

Ami Desai

Ami Desai is a beauty influencer

At a time when there is no dearth of beauty influencers on social media, Ami Desai is rallying for Asian perspective in the beauty world, and that's what sets her apart from the others. The US-based Desai's video on make-up, self-care and beauty practices have earned her a devoted fan following. From appearing in the Seventeen Magazine to being a regular on the Golden Globes red carpet, Desai is a popular figure in the West. But it's her everyday tips on approachable beauty that makes her a star on social media.

Editor's Take

Indian women are taking over the world, and these influencers are a proof of it. From fashion to beauty to ethnic representation, these content creators are making social media a better place with their artistic expression. But more than anything, they have put India on the global map through their creatives.

Reading Time: 4 mins

Guneet Monga: The Oscar-winning Indie producer who tackled ageism and early failures

(July 26, 9:40 am) "And the Oscar goes to Period. End of Sentence for Best Documentary Short Film." As director Rayka Zehtabchi and producer Melissa Berton rose to receive the trophy on February 25, 2019, co-producer Guneet Monga was cheering the loudest sitting at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. And why not? This was her first win at the Academy Awards. Years of hard work, persuasion, conviction found a fitting culmination. Monga is one of those rare firebrands in Indian cinema that puts bucks behind offbeat stories. It's powerful storytelling that attracts Monga, and she makes sure to bring both arthouse films as well as commercial ones to international film festivals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wap5W4v_B_g Her persuasiveness to bring Indian cinema to the global map is reaping fruits: Think of with films such as Gangs of Wasseypur, Masaan, and The Lunchbox making it to Cannes line-up. In April, Monga received the second-highest civilian French honor - Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters - for her contribution to world cinema through Indo-French productions and "her relentless work towards women empowerment." But behind the successful career has been a story of struggle, perseverance, and a never-give-up attitude. Childhood Struggles Born and brought up

ion to world cinema through Indo-French productions and "her relentless work towards women empowerment."

But behind the successful career has been a story of struggle, perseverance, and a never-give-up attitude.

Childhood Struggles

Born and brought up in Delhi in a Punjabi family, Monga witnessed domestic violence within her home at the hands of her relatives. On one such violent night, she along with her parents left their ancestral home and fled for their lives. Her mom wanted a home of their own, and Monga vowed to buy her their dream home. To help her dad financially, Monga took up every possible job - a DJ, an insurance agent, a rally car driver, and a property saleswoman. But it was at a movie set that Monga found her true calling.

After finishing her master's degree in mass communication, she started interning with her mom's friend who was into the production of international films. Monga realized that this was something she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She borrowed ₹50 lakh from her neighbor in exchange for a business plan she made for him and took the first train to Mumbai.

Train to Bollywood

She met people at malls and food courts asking if they had a story to tell. It was then that she found an exciting script in the form of Say Salaam India, about four guys and their passion for cricket. Sure of hitting a jackpot with a film like this in a cricket-crazy country, Monga released the film in 2007. However, the film tanked badly as it was released a few days after the Indian cricket team crashed out of the World Cup in the Caribbean.

She was down but not out. Because she had a plan - to showcase the film in schools at a nominal fee. In few months, she recovered her money. This taught her the biggest lesson so far: There is always an audience for every film.

In 2008, she made Vinay Pathak-starrer Dasvidaniya under her own banner, Sikhya Entertainment, which turned out to be a sleeper-hit. With a few films to her credit, Monga was ready to buy her mom her dream home. But destiny had a different plan. Her mom was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. Within a few months, her father succumbed to kidney disease. She was just 24 then.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Guneet Monga (@guneetmonga)

Struggling with grief, Monga returned to Mumbai and immersed herself in work.

Things really began to shift for Monga after her chance meeting with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who went on to become her boss and mentor. Basking in the success of Dev D, Kashyap had become the face of indie films in India. Every aspiring newcomer wanted Kashyap to take them under their wings. Monga's work caught his eye and he took her onboard for his production company Anurag Kashyap Films (AKFPL).

In a conversation with Outlook Business, Monga said,

"Anurag's faith gave me wings. At 25, and two years after joining the company, he asked me to co-own the company with him. I had produced two films with the company and I knew I could do it. But it was his belief in me that really pulled me through."

Ageism - a bigger bias

Monga was breaking deals as a young 25-year-old producer, and ageism did catch up with her many times. "People get very intimidated by a young, strong, opinionated woman. Age was a bigger hindrance than being a woman. During big deals, it was difficult to get beyond that. I just decided to never acknowledge the difference in age,” she added.

Monga wanted her work to talk for itself and that's what she was doing at international film festivals. She was meeting the biggies in independent cinema and promoting her films.

"I always say that there are two ways of entering this industry —one is to work with the biggies and the other is to do something so disruptive that people sit up and take notice. When you do something disruptive, you’re always doubting yourself or feeling isolated. You’re worried the projects will never see the light of day. But when you work for yourself, the day doesn’t end," she added.

Innings with Indie films

But it was the 2012 gangster drama Gangs of Wasseypur that catapulted Monga to the forefront. The two-part series not only made ₹23 crore but also attained a cult status with a fam following to this day. This film took Monga to Cannes Film Festival, and as they say, the rest is history.

She kept backing interesting scripts such as Aiyyaa (2012) and Shahid (2013). But it was Ritesh Batra's 2013 film The Lunchbox (an official co-production between India, France and Germany) that earned her another milestone. The film earned a BAFTA nomination, grossed $7.4 million worldwide, and went to become India's official entry to the 2015 Oscars.

[caption id="attachment_5972" align="aligncenter" width="561"] Guneet Monga takes The Lunchbox to Cannes Guneet Monga with The Lunchbox actors Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui at Cannes.[/caption]

However, the blinding success of The Lunchbox left Monga depressed. She describes that period as one of self-doubt.

"My peers termed the success of the film as a fluke. I felt lost about what it was that I wanted to do. I had to take that break and see if I wanted to be a part of the industry," she told India Today.

Monga used this break to learn Kalarippayattu, to go for detox, and travel the world in search of the answers. The 37-year-old wasn't ready to give up and went right back into the business of making films. "I believe that if you put something out there, it will manifest itself into something bigger. There is a difference between faith and blind faith. If you really love what you do, there is nothing stopping you," she added.

With films like Masaan, Haraamkhor, and Period. End of Sentence to her credit. Monga became one of the first Indian producers to join the Producer branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2018. The very same year, Variety named her as one of the 50 women from entertainment 'doing extraordinary things on the worldwide stage'.

However, her achievements got a dismissive response from her industry peers.

"They said I am there to tick a box, the diversity one, the woman one, the inclusivity one. When The Lunchbox succeeded as a true crossover project, they said it was luck. When our film, Masaan, went to Cannes, they still said the same. But I’m not bothered. I work bloody hard. My work is for all to see. Constantly putting Indian films on the map doesn’t happen by fluke, it takes a lot of relentlessness, a lot of hard work," she told HuffingtonPost.

The Oscar Glory

But it was her 2019 documentary Period. End of Sentence that earned Monga her first Oscar. The film based on the stigma around menstruation in India made waves at the 91st Academy Awards. Even Hollywood actors like Reese Witherspoon lauded the film's Oscar win.

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“A period should end a sentence , not a girls education” - best quote of the night ✨#OSCARS @NoShamePeriod #bestdocshort

— Reese Witherspoon (@ReeseW) February 25, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KocJP8dG1OA

After dipping her toes in independent films and mainstream Bollywood, Monga ventured into Tamil cinema with Soorarai Pottru based on the life of Captain GR Gopinath who found India's first low-cost airline Air Deccan.

She is also keen to discover and amplify the works and voices of women directors with Indian Women Rising, a collective started by Monga, producer Ekta Kapoor, and filmmaker Tahira Kashyap.

"There was a lot of judgment when my films didn't have distribution. I felt unprotected when I didn't have support in India. I wish there was something like Indian Women Rising when I was starting out."

Editor's Take

Earning one's stripes as a path-breaking producer in an industry that usually ignores the arthouse world is no easy feat, but Oscar award-winning producer Guneet Monga shattered all the stereotypes bit by bit. With films such as Gangs of Wasseypur to her credit at the age of 25, Monga had announced her arrival with a big bang. The Lunchbox was a pathbreaker on many counts: It was the first film to be made under the 1985 Indo-French film co-production treaty. Monga is one of those rare producers who's a regular at international film festivals and takes up every chance to make a global impact with Indian cinema.

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