New York: From Community Service to Media, honoring our men in Uniform to the predominant women of the year and from Bollywood to Pop, the glitterati of the South Asian community attended the Inspirational Achievers Awards organized by the Roshni Media Group, at the Taj Pierre Hotel.
Festivities kicked off on Thursday May 28th at the Pre Awards dinner at Junoon with Arshad Warsi, Pooja Batra, Rohit Roy, and a bevy of corporate captains to meet and greet the honorees and awardees.
With almost 400 people gracing their presence at the exclusive ballroom at the Pierre after a star studded Red Carpet Reception presented by Star Plus, the awards were off to a great start with opening remarks and a heartfelt thank you from the owners of Roshni Media, Dr. Rashmee Sharma and Mani Kamboj. Consul General of New York – Ambassador Dnyaneshwar Mulay fondly recalled his first meeting with the ladies and applauded them for pulling off an award ceremony that highlighted the achievements of the South Asian diaspora.
Mrs. Shauna Hinduja presented the Banking & Finance award to both Ms. Nandita Bakhshi and Jyoti Chopra for both of their work in the program areas of diversity and inclusion in TD Bank and BNY Mellon, respectively.
Dr. Rewa Kumar – noted Vastu specialist gave the Cultural Ambassador award to Dr. Kamlesh Mehta, Co-Founder of The South Asian Times.
Etihad representatives also presented the Global Professional award to Dr. John Balian who is the Chief Medical Officer of Johnson and Johnson. Ali Velshi from Al Jazeera gave the Emerging Entrepreneur of the year award to the ever-inspiring Mr. Ankur Jain who is the CEO of Humin, a technology company in San Francisco. Respected Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mann presented the News Award to Mr. Vipp Jaswal who hosts the Vipp Jaswal report on Fox News Radio.
Ms. Raj Girn who is the Founder of Anokhi Magazine, Mr. Ajay Jain Bhutoria an IT Strategy and management consultant and Miss. Poonam Barua the founder of Women In leadership (WILL Forum) were all awarded for their Community Service that was presented by Mr. Asim Mishra. Mr. H.R Shah – CEO of TV Asia, picked up the award for his passionate work in the field of Media by presenter, Dinesh Khosla.
The audience lauded the aesthetically pleasing decorum, the inspiring people and the charged atmosphere all thanks to Dr. Rashmee Sharma and Mani Kamboj – the owners of Roshni Media Group. Both have worked tirelessly in their efforts to create a platform and a standard for South Asians to reach.
The awards also served as the platform for the launch of the third edition of the Roshni coffee table Book, “Global and Emerging” that details the awardees and honorees, which was unveiling by Rohit Roy and Pooja Kumar as well as Vikas Khanna’s “World of Feast” by Bollywood Actor, Arshad Warsi and his wife Maria Goretti and published by Ajay Mago.
“For the first time, we were able to recognize some of these unsung heroes, who have made the community proud and also contributed towards the evolution of our diaspora, we are very happy that they all graced the occasion.” said Dr. Rashmee Sharma, Founder of the Roshni Media Group.
“I am just delighted at the excellent turnout and the support we have received from the community to help us highlight these inspirational achievers who serve as role models for the up and coming generation, “ said Mani Kamboj, co-owner of Roshni Media Group.
Singers Jay Sean and Poonam Khubani shared the entertainment award while Paula Shugart, President of the Miss Universe Organization was named the woman of the year. Restaurateur and owner of Junoon, Rajesh Bhardwaj was named Global entrepreneur of the year, filmmaker Mira Nair, the global icon and Dr. John Balian, the global professional. Additional awards in jewelry and fashion went to designer Bibhu Mohapatra and Rayaz Takat while Ajay Banga of MasterCard was named Businessperson of the year. Other awardees included Bollywood actor, Abhay Deol for Movie personality of the year, emerging professionals Raji Kumar who is the CEO of Dallas Medical Center and Ketul Patel who is the executive VP and chief strategy and operations office for Hackensack University Health Network. Respected Colonel Ravi Choudhary won the Uniformed and Civil services. A complete list with pictures is available for viewing on www.roshnimedia.com
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