Saturday, March 18th, 2023

IWD 2023 Campaign Theme: #EmbraceEquity

Focus /Theme of JKYog IWD, 2023: Embracing Equity Through Innovation & Innovative Leadership

On the 112th anniversary of International Women's Day, JKYog International  will honor the spirit of exemplary women from across the world who have  shown the grit, commitment, and passion to excel in their chosen field.

JKYog is excited to announce the honorees for the 2023 women leadership awards:

• Woman with a cause - Social Leadership Award
• Woman with a mission - Humanitarian Leadership Award
• Woman with drive - Business Leadership Award
• Woman with passion - Innovation Leadership Award
• Woman with a green vision - Environmentalist Award
• Woman with a purpose - STEM Leadership Award
• Youth with a green vision -Environmentalist Youth Award 

Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women's equality!  Collectively we can all Embrace Equity through Innovation & Innovative  Leadership. Celebrate women's achievement on March 18, 2023 with JKYog. Raise  awareness about discrimination. Take action to drive gender parity. IWD belongs  to everyone, everywhere!

Rabbi Sharon Brous

Social Activism Award

Prabhavati Dwabh

Humanitarian Award

Nita Cumello

Innovation Award

Reena Bajowala

Business Leadership Award

Padma Shri Smt.Tulsi Gowda

Environmentalist Award

Dr. Kavita Ramanan

STEM Leadership Award

Prasiddhi Singh

Youth Environmentalist Award

Keynote by Swami Mukundananda

• Distinguished alumnus of IIT and IIM
• World-renowned authority on Mind Management and Holistic Health
• Founder of JKYog, an International Educational & Charitable Organization
• Founder of the Yogic system, “Yoga for the Body, Mind and Soul”
• Powerful Speaker and Logician
• Given Keynote Addresses at Fortune 500 companies and top universities like MIT, Stanford and Yale
• Inspired youth around the world to succeed - both internally and externally
• His annual Life Transformation Programs inspired many to live productive and fulfilling lives

Rabbi Sharon Brous

Spiritual Leader of IKAR Temple & Community in Los Angeles, California

Rabbi Sharon Brous is a leading voice in reanimating religious life in America, working to develop a spiritual roadmap for a soulful, justice driven, multi-faith ethos in Los Angeles and around the country. Brous is the senior and founding rabbi of IKAR, a Jewish community that launched in 2004 to reinvigorate Jewish practice and inspire people of faith to reclaim a moral and prophetic voice. IKAR quickly became one of the fastest-growing and most influential Jewish congregations in the country, and is credited with sparking a rethinking of religious life in a time of unprecedented disaffection and declining affiliation. Brous’s 2016 TED talk, “Reclaiming Religion,” has been viewed by more than 1.4 million people and translated into 23 languages. In 2013, she blessed President Obama and Vice President Biden at the Inaugural National Prayer Service, and returned in 2021 to bless President Biden and Vice President Harris, and then to lead the White House Passover Seder that spring. Brous spoke at the Women’s March in Washington, DC in 2017 and at the opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice the following year. She was named #1 on the Newsweek/The Daily Beast list of the most influential Rabbis in America, and has been recognized by The Forward and the Jerusalem Post as one of the fifty most influential Jews. In 2021 she was one of CAP’s 21 Faith Leaders to Watch, and she was featured on the cover of TIME magazine in a 2018 tribute to Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms.

Prabhavati Dwabh

Founder of Ramana’s Garden Orphanage in Rishikesh, India

Dr. Prabhavati Dwabha traveled around the world in search of purpose and meaning, and eventually found it in the lives of India's poorest children. Dr. Prabahvati is the founder of Ramana's Garden, an orphanage in the mountains of Northern India that provides food, shelter, clothing, education, and a future to abandoned, orphaned, and destitute children. In addition to the orphanage, she has also created programs that provide medical, vocational, and educational assistance to those living in these remote mountain villages. Her life mission, Ramana’s Garden, is a children’s refuge, home, school and organic café situated in the beautiful North Indian city of Rishikesh. Located between mountains at the bank of the holy River Ganga (Ganges), Ramana’s was founded by Prabhavati Dwabha more than 20 years ago as a refuge for children at risk of poverty and abuse in India and Nepal. Approximately 70 kids live full time at Ramana’s Garden, and more than 200 kids attend school at Ramana’s each day during the school year. Her good works have changed and saved the lives of hundreds of children throughout the years.

Nita Cumello

Strategic Growth & Business Consultant at Thomson Reuters Company

Nita is a Strategic Executive with 20 years of B2B field experience at Thomson Reuters – Legal. She has been recognized for long-term, consistent, high award-winning achievement in sales and management of legal workflow solutions including information, software, business development and professional development solutions. Nita is primarily responsible for working with global and large law firms in the United States. Additionally, she offers consultative presentations and discussions on legal industry trends. Global and large law firms prioritize efficiency, productivity, profitability, integration, and growth. She’s a strategic problem solver who marries customized solutions to unique customer needs, concerns and growth initiatives. Nita is proud to work on the Thomson Reuters team that gives law firms a smarter way to work by providing unrivaled legal solutions that integrate content, expertise and technologies. Most recently, she has provided innovation in the area of Well-being In The Law.

Reena Bajowala

Law Firm Partner at Ice Miller

Reena Bajowala is active in several professional associations that help South Asian and other diverse attorneys foster their careers. She served as chair of the Indian-American Bar Association Women’s Committee. She also served as chair of the North American South Asian Bar Association’s (NASABA’s) Membership Committee and as a chair of NASABA’s 2008 Annual Convention. She serves as Midwest Regional Programming Chair for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s Alumni Network. Reena is an advocate for racial equity and access to justice. She serves on Ice Miller’s Racial Justice Task Force. In 2021, she spearheaded the launch of Ice Miller’s Project H.O.O.D. pro bono clinic. She serves as President of the Board of the Albany Park Theater Project (APTP). From 2019-2021, she served by appointment by the Lawyer’s Trust Fund of Illinois as Co-Chair the Illinois Legal Aid Diversity & Inclusion Working Group, whose work culminated in the publication of the March 2021 Legal Aid Diversity and Inclusion Working Group Report. She also serves on the advisory board of Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS). Her previous board service includes the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI), the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and Apna Ghar. While in law school, she founded the Origins Fellowship Program run by the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association at the University of Michigan Law School, which has distributed over $125,000 to dozens of students dedicated to careers in public interest. Reena received the "Best Under 40" award from NAPABA, the POW! award from Womenetics and a "Most Powerful and Influential Woman" award from the Illinois Diversity Council. She is a 2013 Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. She has also been recognized for her pro bono work on human trafficking, fair housing, civil rights and access to justice. In 2014, The American Lawyer featured Reena for her work defending residents in low income housing in a civil rights lawsuit where she logged a notable 1,550 pro bono hours, the highest individual performance among any lawyer nationwide. In 2018, she received a Distinguished Alumni award from the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) and in 2014 she received the inaugural Corporate Partner Award from the Shriver Center on Poverty Law.

Dr. Kavita Ramanan

Professor of Applied Mathematics

Professor Ramanan works on probability theory, stochastic processes and their applications, including reflected processes, large deviations theory,high-dimensional probability and applications to asymptotic convex geometry.She has also developed novel mathematical frameworks for the analysis of stochastic networks, Markov random fields and interacting particle systems, which arise as models in a variety of fields ranging from operations research and engineering to statistical physics and neuroscience. Her work combines tools from several fields including discrete probability, stochastic analysis and partial differential equations.She also has four patents to her name. Her research has been recognized by several honors, including a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Newton Award, and the Erlang Prize from the Applied Probability Society.She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of several societies including the American Mathematical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Institute for Mathematical Statistics and INFORMS. She has served as the Area Editor for Mathematics of Operations Research, is currently co-editor-in-chief of the Annals of Applied Probability and serves on several other editorial boards. She is an Associate Director at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics (ICERM). She cares deeply about inclusivity and math communication to diverse audiences, and runs a math outreach group called the Math CoOp. She also founded the SEAM (Social Equity and Applied Mathematics) seminar, and initiated a bilingual math outreach program, called Mathematics Sin Fronteras. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (continually since 2003), Department of Defense, Army Research Office, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Office of Naval Research, Guggenheim Foundation and Simons Foundation.

Padma Shri Smt.Tulsi Gowda

Encyclopedia of forest

Padma Shri Smt.Tulsi Gowda is an environmentalist with no formal education and hailing from a very humble background in a small village in Karnataka, India, has planted more than 30,000 saplings and has been involved in environmental conservation activities for the past six decades.

Prasiddhi Singh

Social Entrepreneur & Environmental Activist

Prasiddhi Singh, Age 10, Prime Minister National Child Awardee (Highest Civilian HonorUnder 18 years). She is the founder of the Prasiddhi Forest Foundation. She is the youngest Fruit Forest Creator of India-by-India book of Records. Prasiddhi is Brand Ambassador for the Nationwide Girl literacy campaign – “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” by Tamil Nadu Government. She has also been appointed as Child Ambassador of Green Tamil Nadu Mission. Prasiddhi has been featured in Wikipedia for her plantation program & environmental contribution. Prasiddhi has planted over 1Lac trees and created several Prasiddhi micro forests in government schools, colleges, Panchayat & farmer’s land. Prasiddhi is an advocate of biodiversity, she has created her own eco army of 36,000+ eco-warriors spread across the globe through 550+ (online & in-person) workshops on topics like climate change, circular economy, sustainability, 3Rs and how to be an impact creator to students, corporates, villagers & farmers successfully. Two times TEDx speaker, Prasiddhi is also the youngest keynote speaker of Harvard Model United Nations, India. Now she is working on Web3 Climate technology & Nature Based Solutions.