NewsBack to News

ATA Celebrates Women's Day on a Grand Note

(Americalo Aadapadachulu)

International Women's Day celebrations were held in United States of America in prominent cities Washington DC Metro Region, Philadelphia - PA, New Jersey/New York, Dallas/Ft Worth, Chicago-IL and many more cities across the US in March. Karunakar Madhavaram, President of ATA said, "ATA is the first Telugu Association in USA to celebrate WOMEN'S DAY for the first time, and will be organizing more of these events in the future". The ATA Woman's day became a good social networking place to interact with successful stalwart ladies in our society and the distinguished guests spoke on the occasion how to balance between work and life, women and peace, climbing up the corporate ladder, health is wealth, raising kids in USA, entrepreneurship, empowerment, economic independence, stress management, violence against women. They also shared their experiences and achievements, which inspired the audience to face challenges with courage. Panel discussions were held with Q&A sessions with panelists. At every location the spirit of the day was brought in through a short movie presentation showcasing women through time.

ATA is the first Telugu Association in USA to celebrate WOMEN'S DAY for the first time. This event was a grand success in every city, and ATA plan to make this event as ATA scheduled event every year. Thank you to Washington, DC, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, Dallas and Chicago teams for the great job!

Washington DC Metro Area: March 8th 2013

The event began at Swedish Banquet Hall with the traditional lighting of lamp by distinguished guests. Mrs. Soma Kondapalli welcomed the gathering of 200 women and guests Dr. Shimla Naomi (OB/GYN), Mrs. Needleman Mehta (Global Television Network), Mrs. Saikantha Raparla (Community Service leader/Dance Teacher), Mrs. Prabha Palepu (Educationist), Mrs. Radhika Rajesh (Carnatic vocalist), and Mrs. Prathibha Polapragada (Entrepreneur) in Washington DC Metro Region. On behalf of ATA Mrs. Janetha Kancharla and Mrs. Soumya Kondapalli honored the special guests for the event and Master of Ceremony (MC) is done by Mrs.Vasudhara.The other attractions were the cultural performances. Mrs. Jyothirmayi Chavali, performed Kuchipudi dance, violin recital by Yuthi Madireddy, Leena and Rashmi's Bollywood dance and quiz conducted by Mrs. Vasudhara entertained the audience.Mrs. Janetha Kancharla highlighted ATA's commitment to women. She spoke about the budding Women's Forum at ATA. She ended the celebrations by thanking all the guests and the members who volunteered for the event.

The event was supported by Regional Coordinators ,Trustees and ATA ardent supporters Ravi Bojja,Venkat Kondapolu , Sridhar Banala , Bhuvanesh Boojala Rajesh Madireddy , Vishveshwar kalvala ,Manoha Enugu and RamMohan Konda.

Media Gallery:

Photo Gallery
TV9 Coverage
TV5 Coverage
VanitaTV Coverage

Philadelphia: March 9th 2013

The actively involved ladies were Soundarya Mayreddy, Janaki Chintapalli, Shravanthi Madipadaga, Banu Thota, Leena Kolluru, Rajini Ankati, Madhavi Srikoti, Nirmala Moosani, Mrudula Garikapati, and Madhavi Kamathala. Anchoring by Leena Kolluru and Madhava Kamathala.

Opening speeches by Madhava Mosarla and Janaki Chintapalli. Songs provided by Sameera Sripada and Mrudula Nudurupati. The speaker for the night was Ujwala Dixit from SEWA.

This event was organized by ATA Regional Coordinators Venkat Krishna Madipadaga & Govind Kondakindi.

Media Coverage:

Photo Gallery
ATA Coverage
TV9 Coverage

New Jersey/New York: March 10th 2013

ATA Women's day Organizing committee member Mrs. Jamuna Puskur welcomed the around 400 women gathering from all walks of life including doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, , IT professionals, and community leaders attended.

The Program started with lighting of lamp by chief guest, acting Consul General of India, Indian Consulate NY, Dr. Devyani Kobragade. Guests Mrs. Devyani Kobragade, Dr. Suneeta Kanumuri, immediate past president of AAPI, Madhavi Aruva, and Sister Sandhya of Brahmakumari's spoke on the occasion.

A power point presentation on Global women who achieved great heights was done by Madhavi Aruva and Mythili Reddy. On this occasion ATA women team felicitated Mrs. Madhavi Polepalli founder of H.E.L.P foundation.org for her social service towards taking care of orphanage children in Andhra Pradesh.

All winners were awarded prizes. Best dressed women award was given by Manju Bharghava TFAS president to Anjali and Nagamani.

The Amazing different performances by Lavanya Sathish, Nirmala Sistla, Kavitha Thotakura and A quiz, game show conducted by Jamuna Puskur , Kalpana Suwarna,.Bindu Madiraju, Bhanu Maganti, Anu Dasari and Varudhini Mitta, Dumb Charades on Telugu women movie by Kalpana Suwarna, Sangeetha Dhannapuneni and Jyothy Muthyala entertained the audience. This event was coordinated and supported by New Jersey/New York/Delaware ATA teams.

Media Gallery:

Photo Gallery
TV9 Coverage
TV5 Coverage

Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX: Saturday March 23, 2013

American Telugu Association (ATA) celebrated 'Americalo Adapadachulu' to mark the occasion of International Women's Day on Saturday March 23, 2013 at Mayuri India Restaurant, Irving, TX hosted by the American Telugu Association (ATA), whose mission is to assist and promote literary, cultural, educational, religious, social, economic, health and community activities of the people of Telugu origin as well as to promote exchange programs for students, scientists, and professionals of Telugu origin between North America and India.

Dr. Sandhya Gavva, ATA past president and member of the Advisory board extended a warm welcome to over 100 attendees in spite of a busy weekend with various other events in town. Dr. Gavva gave a brief overview of the objectives of ATA in general and she reiterated that not only ATA conduct bi-annual ATA Conference, but it also does various charity events in America as well as in India through its own ATA foundation. Dr. Nalini Reddy, ATA Health Committee Chair took the honor of introducing the speakers for the afternoon. All speakers gave excellent presentations on relevant topics about women. Mrs. Jyothi Jasti, who is Business Leader in Alcatel-Lucent talked about her experience as a business leader and how to overcome challenges facing women in Technology field. Dr. Usha Peri, a practicing Nephrologist talked about Stress Management Tips for daily Life from physical, spiritual aspects and educated the audience on how daily practice of yoga and pranayama help release stress. Dr. Surekha Machupalli, a practicing Obgyn physician elaborated on women's health issues and advised on how to maintain good health for women of all ages. She reiterated that women should never take their health for granted and make sure every woman spend some time to take care of her own health.
A question and answer session followed later where speakers gave clarity to audience questions.

The highlight of the evening was the fun filled Jeopardy Game, a special woman version of America's favorite television game. All the attendees divided in to 4 groups which competed against each other. Prizes were given to attendee who answered the most questions correct and also to most enthusiastic participant. Winners were selected by the judges Smt. Jyothi Jasti & Smt. Krishanaveni Seelam

The ATA team lead by Arvind Reddy Muppidi, DFW Regional Coordinator , Ananth Reddy Pajjur, Secretary & Board of Trustee, Satish Reddy, Board of Trustee, Dheeraj Akula, Standing Committee Chair- By-Laws, Raghuveer Reddy, Standing Committee Chair- Sports, Dr. Nalini Reddy Standing Committee Chair-Health, Raghuveer Bandar Standing Committee Chair- Ethics, Srikanth Konda Standing Committee Chair- Spiritual, and ATA committee members, Satish Punnam, Bharath Kancharla, Ram Kasarla &Shaker Brahmmadevara.

Media Gallery:

Photos
TV5 Coverage
TV9 Coverage

Chicago: Saturday March 23, 2013

Chicago IL: It was a day to remember for all the women who participated in the International Women's Day which was organized by enthusiastic volunteers of TACG & ATA on March 23rd, 2013 at the Holiday Inn in Mount Prospect, IL. TAGC is a non-profit organization devoted to the awareness and promotion of Telugu Heritage and Culture in the mid-west region headquartered in Chicago. The Association was originally founded in 1971 and incorporated as a non-profit organization by the year 1978. What was once a brain child of small group of individuals, TAGC has grown to be one of the oldest and largest Indo-American organizations in the United States.

ATA (American Telugu Association) is a nonprofit national organization and was founded in 1990, head quartertered in Chicago. The main purpose of the organization is to assist and promote literary, cultural, educational, religious, social, economic, health and community activities of the people of Telugu origin as well as to promote exchange programs for students, scientists, and professionals of Telugu origin between the United States of America, Canada and India and other countries.

For the first time TAGC together with American Telugu Association (ATA) put together this outstanding event which brought together women from various walks of life to learn, empower, unite and celebrate womanhood. Over 200 women of Telugu origin participated in this unique event which raised awareness about issues such as Women's Health, cultural identity and parenting issues, challenges facing women in corporate America, Woman as Entrepreneurs and Indian Cooking. A food drive was successfully conducted as a part of this event. Mrs.Malathi Damaraju has performed as Master of Ceremony for the event.

The program began with a team building activity where women were divided into 10 various groups and asked come up with a creative design using colored lentils, which were glued on a poster board. This activity allowed Women to get to know each other as they worked together to create the design and brought out their creative talents to the forefront. The winning poster design was judged by TAGC committee members and announcement of the results were made at the end of the program. Then came the next team building activity called " Balloon Burst" where teams members were asked to walk in a line by placing the balloon between their stomach and not dropping the balloon. Each team was timed and noted for any mistakes they made. It was a fun activity since it involved working as a team with control and precision.

It was now time to officially kick start the Women's Day program, when the First Ladies of TAGC and ATA Sirisha Garapaty, Jyothi Madhavaram together with Secretary Sujatha Appalaneni, Preethi Anandula, Malleswari Pedamallu and Rajya Chemarla performed the traditional lamp lighting , which was followed by an invocation song performed by Ms. Jyoti Tippana. This was followed by welcome address given by Mr. Ramesh Garapaty the current President of TAGC. Next came the President of ATA, Mr. Karunakar Medavaram who addressed the audience and mentioned that ATA had arranged similar events in NJ, Philadelphia and Washington DC recently. He remarked the tragic events which unfolded in Delhi and Pakistan causing widespread support to end violence against women. He said this particular event was planned to send a message to the community at large that violence against Women will not be tolerated and needs to be stopped.

The organizers presented a very significant slide show as a tribute to all the women leaders of the world, such as Indira Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Pratibha Patil, Hillary Clinton, Madam Curie, Helen Keller, Indira Nooyi, Serena Williams, Kalpana Chawla, Mamta Baneerjee and Sonia Gandhi.

The workshops followed the slide show. The first speaker was Dr. Meher Medavaram who spoke about "Health is Wealth - Nothing else matters". She is Graduate of Osmania Medical College in Hyderabad, India. She completed her Residency Training in Chicago, IL. She serves as a Faculty and Assistant Director of Residency Program at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Chicago, IL. and practices Family Medicine in the western suburbs of Chicago. She spoke about physical, emotional and intellectual stimulation which is required to keep us healthy and fit. She emphasized on physical exercise, watching our food intake and finding activities that keep us energized and stimulated. As Women we tend to neglect our health, as we are always taking care of others. Nurturing yourself as well as loved ones in your lives is the key to good health and wellness.

The next topic was " Both Sides of the Coin - Parenting Then and Now" presented by Dr. Rama Devi Gourineni, who is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine and currently the Director of Neurology, Medical Student Education.

She grew up in Chicago from 1970 to 1982 after which time she moved back to India to study medicine. Her father Ramachandara Naidu garu was the President of TAGC in 1975. Rama Devi was active in TAGC activities when she was growing up.

She returned to the US in 1991 and has been living here since that time with her husband and two sons. Dr.RamaDevi shared her experiences of growing up as a NRI daughter in the 70's and the differences, similarities & challenges which exist in raising her own 2 children here in the United States since the 90's.

This was followed by a very interesting workshop titled, "Climbing the Corporate Ladder" which was presented by Ranjani Iyengar and Indira Kousik and moderated by Kiran Mattey. Ms. Ranjani Iyengar is the Managing Director of Bridge, North America. She is recognized as a thought leader, entrepreneur and high-impact executive with multi-national experience. She has been in the field of organizational learning, leadership development and talent management for over 20 years.

Ranjani has worked in a variety of roles: internal, consulting, outsourcing and academia. Before joining Bridge she was the Senior Director Learning and Development at Kraft Foods. Prior to that she was with Hewitt Associates, and built up the Learning and Talent Management outsourcing practice, helping organizations transform and optimize their systems, processes and operations.

Ranjani also has several years of experience in leadership roles in the IT and Management Consulting industries. She spent eight years at Accenture and was a member of the senior leadership team for training. She has also run a consultancy providing services in the areas of performance consulting, executive and leadership,
development.

Ranjani has served as adjunct faculty at Northwestern's Center for Learning & Organizational Change in Chicago. She was a member of the Board of the American Society of Training & Development from 2008-2011 and has been cited in several industry publications. She is active in several professional organizations and enjoys the support of a wide network of relationships.

Ms. Indira Kousik is a Director in the IT department of CVS/Caremark in Chicago. Her role includes managing multi-million dollar IT projects that are strategically aligned with the Company's growth strategy. Indira is on her 20th year of service at CVS/Caremark. She started out as a developer in a mission critical application and enhanced her career path to become an IT leader. She has managed several roles during her tenure in the company. She leads a large development team with multiple managers and teams located in several company locations. She was the Program Manager for IT sourcing strategy. In addition, she was also the lead for Change Management, and Organization development which entailed enhancing effective engagement of IT leaders within the company through team building sessions, and other interactions. She has been recognized for her contributions and is currently part of a leadership program for Leaders of tomorrow.

When time permits, Indira volunteers with service organizations like Chicago cares, Innovations for Learning and other activities that aligns with serving the community.

Both women spoke about the innate strength each woman has and we need to leverage on that for self-development and growth. They warned women to not take on too much responsibilities and set oneself up for failure. Being realistic with your goals and expectations lead to growth in your chosen career. Passion and excellence is the key to success.

The next panel of speakers spoke about " Women as Entrepreneurs" where small business owners Ms. Rama Bhagavatula, Lakshmi Gadde and Sirisha Garapati participated in a panel discussion conducted by Dr.Bhargavi Nettem.

The last workshop was presented by Anupy Singla who is an award-winning journalist turned cookbook author. Her two books, The Indian Slow Cooker and Vegan Indian Cooking, are already the best-selling Indian cookbooks in North America. Anupy was driven to give up her job as the morning reporter for CLTV News when she noticed that her young children were losing their connection with their Indian roots and opting for quick, processed foods rather than homemade Indian dishes. Anupy was born in India and raised in the United States with an appreciation for real, wholesome home style Indian cooking. Her first cooking lesson was with her grandfather at the age of ten. Anupy spoke about the importance of not only maintaining our culture through our cooking and cuisine, but the importance in the South Asian community of making healthy food choices. She will gave useful tips on getting home cooked Indian food on the table nightly and how to reduce the reliance on processed foods for you and your family.

Mementos were presented to all the organizers of this event to recognize their hard work and effort in putting together this memorable event. Sirisha Garapaty and Jyothi Madhavaram recognized the organizers Malathi Damaraju, Kiran Mattey, Padma Madireddy, Sujatha Appaleneni, Vandana Reddy, Bhargavi Nettem, Sunitha Matta, Kiran Nuthulapati, and Nadini Kondapalli.

The organizers of the event also did a food drive for charity initiated by Padma Madireddy, collected about 20 boxes of food and donated to charity.

A scrumptious Andhra dinner was served to all the women in attendance and beautifully complimented the spirit of womanhood. The evening ended with music and dancing which was enjoyed by all.