South Asian professionals walked the ramp.
By Sirmuk Singh Manku
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD: Nearly three-dozen South Asian American women walked the ramp showcasing Indian fashion on December 6 evening to empower women in rural India.
The event, organized by the Washington area-based Kavila Entertainment and VIP Exclusive Fashion, was part of a fundraising drive for Sehgal Foundation, a Gurgaon-based nonprofit.
The women who walked the ramp included Manjula Kumar, a program director at Smithsonian Institution; Smita Siddhanti, a nationally recognized expert in public health and environmental risk assessment; and Meena Krishnan, president and CEO of Inoventures, LLC, a business analyst and management consulting firm.
“For the Indian American women, walking the ramp was an opportunity to familiarize themselves further with the fate of rural women in India’s countless poor villages, with Sehgal Foundation’s work, and with their own desire to do something meaningful about it,” said Geert van Brandt, the Washington representative of Sehgal Foundation. “In the process, they had the opportunity to do something exciting and unique. Sehgal Foundation immensely appreciates these Washington women’s generosity and very much looks forward to sustaining their stream of empowerment.”
The audience, he added, “appreciated that prominent Indian American women committed to walk the runway for the empowerment of village women in India, who despite their toil and labor, walk with grace and dignity toward a better life in the villages where Sehgal Foundation helps to strengthen women’s opportunities and self-reliance.”
The Women of Power show was not the only Indian event of the evening. Dancers from Studio Dhoom, based in Ashburn, VA, presented a Bollywood dance item.
Other highlights of the evening included a VIP Exclusive fashion show with designer Lili Forrest, Katya Avdeev and Nikkay Fashions Jewelry and performances by Michelle Kim, a violinist with Washington Opera.
There was also an exclusive display of automobiles.
Part of the money raised from the event went to keep homeless kids off the streets in Washington DC.