Nirmala Nair (2011-12)
Nirmala Nair graduated from the National Institute of Design with a specialization in Film and Video Communication Design and has gone on to use the Power of Media effectively to create social awareness. She has to her credit a series of videos for a multimedia museum at the Gandhi Smriti and I Dalit-Reclaiming Dignity- a film that positions the issue of Caste discrimination as an issue of inequality and human rights violation and was the editor and associate director of India Untouched: Stories of a People Apart, a feature length documentary exploring the notions of untouchability. After a short stint at Video Volunteers where she trained young people from underprivileged background in using media for empowerment, she joined MTV EXIT - End Exploitation and Trafficking, a media awareness campaign against human trafficking. She continues to work there as the Campaign Manager for South Asia region. Utilising the power and influence of music, film, and celebrities, the campaign has produced award-winning On Air, On-The-Ground, and online components, that have successfully reached and educated over 20 million people since its launch 2004. As a campaign manager since 2007, she has been providing strategic perspective as well as operational guidance to the campaign, managing and creatively supervising the delivery of all campaign components including television, event, website production, anti-trafficking marketing materials, and PR campaigns. She has been instrumental in launching the campaign in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. She Produced a landmark documentary SOLD: an MTV EXIT special hosted by Lara Dutta which has till date been translated into 9 languages and has been broadcast on over 8 channels apart from MTV, VH1 and CNBC and cable networks. She has also Produced 2 International quality PSAs that are being used by the campaign to reach out to people.Shereen Bhan (2010-11)
Shereen Bhan is the Executive-Editor CNBC-TV18. She has been producing and anchoring CNBC-TV18's flagship shows like India Business Hour and Whats Hot. Through her shows such as Young Turks, Change Agents and The Heart of Business, she tries and focuses on social entrepreneurs who believe in the magic of changing lives and who are the real change agents for the society. She believes that social entrepreneurs have emerged with innovative solutions to society's most pressing social problems. Shereen feels that more than the government or public policy, it is the entrepreneurs who are going to change the face of India. Driven by passion and not profit, they are both visionaries and realists. They have taken on the mantle to question status quo rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business. She has tried to highlight the stories of champions of change, people who are making a difference for society. In future, Shereen plans to venture into the field of education and make a difference there.