Women from diverse fields had a reason to celebrate at a recent event that cherished the spirit of women. The Naturals Extraordinary Women Awards 2014 were presented to women from fields such as health care, education, social work, media, arts and sports, at Taj Coromandel. It was also an evening of entertainment, thanks tofoot-tapping numbers and a fashion show that revealed the latest hairstyle trends of the year. The awardees were Mariazeena Johnson (MD of Sathyabama University); life designer Puja Gupta; racer Alisha Abdullah; RJ Sanobar Sultana; Vandana Gopikumar (founder of Banyan); journalist Pramila Krishnan; Swarnamalya Ganesh (arts); Divyadarshini (entertainment); Rekha Shetty (social transformation); Sumathi Srinivas (media solutions); Bhavna (media personality); Bama Murugan (youth empowerment); and Saundarya Rajesh (women empowerment).
And there was more — two Lifetime Achievement Awards! One of the recipients, obstetrician-gynaecologist and pioneer in infertility treatment, Kamala Selvaraj said, “It’s extremely gratifying. A bigger takeaway from the event is that I understand that the world is looking at you. Appreciation induces you to do more revolutionary things in life. It was also endearing to learn about so many women who do such brilliant work in their chosen fields.” Squash champion Deepika Pallikal, the other recipient, said, “Getting an award is a great feeling and helps me aim for bigger things in the realm of sports. I think, with dreaming big and being disciplined, women can conquer anything they wish.”
Communications mentor Sanjay Pinto, the keynote speaker of the evening, shared vignettes on entrepreneurship and reasoned out his opinions on why women are better entrepreneurs.
