Taking place at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha Hall on September 29 this month, the first edition of this project will be a day-long conference that features the likes of many prominent personalities in Chennai, interacting with the audience.

 

“Entrepreneurs, innovators, creators and doers: Josh Talks Chennai is going to be all this and more. The idea is to bring under one roof some of the greatest minds of our country and use their stories as a tool to get others thinking. It simply shows you the value of human potential,” Shobhit, one of the founders, said.

One of the speakers will be Namrata Sundaresan, a recipient of the Nari Purashkar in 2017, who has helped to bring a change in the lives of women with disabilities. Her venture Käse Cheese has given these women not just a chance to learn cheese-making skills, but also become self-sufficient. Women entrepreneurs, G Sree Vidya and Madhu Saran, are also recognisable names on the list. 

Co-founder of Naturals Salon CK Kumaravel, inspirational speaker Ilango, who is the only visually-challenged person to have won accolades in the fields of music, voice-over, public speaking, and business, as well as IT secretary Santhosh Babu, who served as the Chairman and Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation, are some of the others. 

Kavitha Ramu IAS, the Bharatanatyam artist also presently Director, Department of Museums, Government of Tamil Nadu, is excited to be part of the event, and said, “I will be talking about people from my everyday life who have inspired me in different ways. I want the people to understand that artistes and art can be used to bring about socially-relevant change. I will also be performing to the audience.”

Supriya, one of the founders of Josh Talks added, “Josh Talks Chennai is a step to bring the community of Chennai together and show them what’s really happening in the world today.”