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Personne Extraordinaire

Personne Extraordinaire

by Zehn Kashyap

Education for Kids Personal Journals

Season 1

Personne Extraordinaire - Rama Chari

Ms. Rama Krishnamachari, who is one of the foremost advocates for disability management and equality in India today. She has  over two decades of experience in the field of disability inclusion and equality and has specialized in the area of disability policy. She has undertaken several studies on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its  application in various aspects. Ms. Rama has developed the disability inclusion framework for employment in the corporate sector which has been recognised nationally and internationally. She lead the development of HR Manual, called Values Route to Business Success – The why and How of Employing people with Disabilities, which was published by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). This is, today, a reference book being used by NGOs and the Corporate sector. Ms. Rama has developed training modules and conducted several trainings in the area of disability for different stakeholder groups and is a trusted advisor to many organizations and diversity professionals.    

Personne Extraordinaire - Amanda Matthews

Amanda Matthews, an incredible individual and very talented artist, whose remarkable work over several decades is an inspiration in countless ways!She is an American sculptor/designer of large-scale public art and the space it inhabits. She is also a writer, public speaker, and CEO of Prometheus Art, a Design/Build Firm located in Lexington, KY. Fairness, civil rights, community, and accessibility are central to Matthews’ work. She serves as President of the Artemis Initiative Board of Directors, Chair of the Kentucky Oral History Commission, and is a founding member of Monumental Women of Kentucky, a State Commission. A graduate of the University of Louisville, she holds a BA in Studio Art & Philosophy and studied Fine Art & Architecture in Paris, France. She has received 23 professional grants and several significant business awards, including the SBA Pacesetter Award, NAWBO Business Owner of the Year STRIVE Award, and the National Association of Women in Construction Bluegrass Diamond Award – and was a honored speaker at the 2022 United Nations Foundation Global Leadership Summit, Girl Up Division, on Storytelling and Advocacy in Public Art. Her work has garnered national and international media coverage, including features for CBS Saturday Morning and NBC News NOW, alongside pieces in the New York Times, Washington Post, Forbes, NPR, All Things Considered, and Smithsonian Magazine, which listed The Girl Puzzle Monument 3rd of 9 “Must-See Sculptural Installations” in the world. Matthews’ work resides in notable collections such as New York City Public Art Collection, Kentucky Capital Monuments Collection, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport Collection.

Personne Extraordinaire - Sanjna Kapoor

Sanjna Kapoor was born into the illustrious Kapoor Family of Bollywood. With grandparents and parents deeply associated with films and theater, she starred in several films. She ran the famous Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai and later launched Junoon Theatre. She has done a lot of work with children and upcoming theater artists across India. In recognition of her outstanding contribution to theater she was awarded the French honor Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.

Personne Extraordinaire - Cindy Scholts

An extremely creative individual, Cindy Scholts is a globally recognized Learning and Development manager, content and project manager, remote working expert and change agent. As accomplished leader and inspiring professional she has a passion for L&D initiatives that meet the evolving needs of the business. With a proven international track record and almost 20 years of experience in the Learning and Development field at corporate organizations she works with stakeholders to optimize the company's investment in talent and skills at all levels and make learning available to everyone, everywhere and at every time.

Personne Extraordinaire - Mandeep Jhajj

Mandeep founded TribesforGOOD (TFG) in 2018, a new-age social impact platform that helps Gen Z and Millennials discover; learn and contribute to social & environmental issues. Over the past 5 years, Mandeep has been able to expand TFG to 7 countries and built a sustainable business model. TFG has activated 1750+ changemakers.Mandeep has been part of IIM Bangalore’s Women Startup program and Rebalance Incubator. Mandeep has a Master’s Degree in Business Management from Symbiosis International University (SIIB) and Bachelor's in Electronics & Communication.

Personne Extraordinaire - Usha Rengaraju

Usha currently heads the data science research at Exa Protocol and is the World’s first women triple Kaggle Grandmaster. She specializes in Deep Learning and Probabilistic Graphical Models and was also one of the judges of Tiger Graph “Graph for all - Million Dollar Challenge” in 2022 and the judge for Intel oneAPI Hackathon organized by Intel software in 2022. She is ranked as top ten Data Scientists in India for the year 2020 by Analytics India Magazine, ranked as top ten women data scientists by Analytics Insight magazine for 2021 and also ranked as top 150 AI Leaders and Influencers by 3AI magazine. She organized NeuroAI which is India’s first-ever research symposium in the interface of Neuroscience and Data Science as well as the Neurodiversity India Summit which is India’s first ever conference in Neurodiversity . Usha is one of the winners of “ML in Action” competition organized by the ML Developer programs team at Google and her team won first place in WiDS 2022 Datathon organized by Stanford University . She is also the winner of Kaggle ML Research spotlight for 2022.

Personne Extraordinaire - Prachi Deo

Prachi Deo is the founder and executive director of technology-based non-profit, Nayi Disha. Nayi Disha is a lifelong support system for parents and families who are the primary caregivers for children affected by Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities.Through a digital knowledge hub, community and accessible helpline, it draws families into an ecosystem and makes comprehensive and credible information for families.Under her leadership, Nayi Disha has won several awards including the prestigious Zero Project Award at UN Office, in Vienna. She is also Salzburg Global Fellow (2020) and India Inclusion Fellow (2018). An engineer by training, she has worked with reputable organizations like Microsoft and TCS before founding Nayi Disha. Her brother who has Down Syndrome is her inspiration.

Personne Extraordinaire - Shadille Estepan

Shadille Estepan is a storyteller and mental health advocate. Currently, she serves as the Communications and Creative Manager for Born This Way Foundation. With over six years of experience as a communications expert, she is committed to eliminating the stigma surrounding mental health and advocating for a world where young people are more emotionally equipped to navigate life's challenges. Through her role, she curates conversations that foster positive mental health and lead young people to tangible resources that support their wellness, create community, and builds kind, empathetic communities. Shadille has been part of Born This Way Foundation since 2012, when she served as part of the inaugural Youth Advisory Board. She is currently based in Miami, FL.

Personne Extraordinaire - Reena Gupta

Reena Gupta is a Clinical Psychologist and a Certified Educational Therapist. She is the Founding Director of the Office of Learning Support, Ashoka University. She founded this office in 2016 to support students with disabilities and other neuro-diverse needs such as dyslexia. She is focused on expanding the scope of neurodiversity and disability management in higher education in India and has created several collaboration opportunities with schools, universities and foundations that promote inclusion in their institutions. She is also working with regulatory bodies to establish policy frameworks for disability management in the higher education system in India. She firmly believes that diversity and equity is central to achieving quality education for all learners for them to harness their full potential.