After having lived in New York for many years, Avantika Akerkar returned to India to work on civic and social issues - from running a think tank to improve the public transportation system in Mumbai, to running her own communications consultancy. However, through a serendipitous encounter in 2001, Avantika took to the stage and film.

Since then she has acted in many plays including for the Royal Court theatre festival held in Mumbai and for the BBC radio. Some of her film and theatrical credits include the critically acclaimed The Loins o Punjab, The World Unseen, which premiered at the Toronto and London Film Festivals and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; Sense 8 produced by Netflix for the Wachowskis (Matrix trilogy fame) and recently the theatrical production of Monsoon Wedding in New York directed by Mira Nair. She has worked with Oscar winning actors including Jane Fonda, Marissa Tomei, Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith and Richard Gere; and she is part of the original cast of the much-celebrated cult production - Vagina Monologues. She still manages to juggle both the artistic and corporate worlds.

Meher is a stage and film actor, singer and voice artist. Her theatre credits include Disney India's Beauty and the Beast, The NCPA and Shakespeare Edit's Lucrece, Motley's The Threepenny Opera, Ace Production's The Sound of Music and Jesus Christ Superstar, Arpana's Stories in a Song. On the international stage, she has performed at the B Street Theater in Sacramento in The Conference of the Birds and in the Junie B Jones Series. She has hosted and performed in corporate shows for Ace productions and QTP Entertainment. On television, she has been a part of the CNN-IBN sketch show, The Week That Wasn't and can be seen in a number of national commercials- Titan, Amazon.in, Havells appliances, , Bosch , to name a few. She has also been a part of the improvisational comedy troupe, Improv Comedy Mumbai and Under Construction. Film work- Silvat directed by Tanuja Chandra, produced by the Zee Network for Zeal for Unity, Goodluck directed by Sujoy Ghosh, Man of the House directed by Jall Cowasji and premiering at the Austin Film, Do Cup Chai directed by Rayit Qazi, an official selection in the short film category at the NYIFF.

7th November, 1963 in Dehradun, U.P. (now in Uttarakhand)
I was born to a family hailing from Ajmer, Rajasthan, where excelling in academics was of utmost importance. My maternal Grandfather was a lawyer practicing in Faizabad and Urdu was mostly spoken at home. My father had also studied Urdu (not Hindi) and so I luckily inherited a clear pronunciation of language with the right stresses (read nuktas).

Early years
Since my father had a transferable job, we did not have a permanent address and I studied in many places and schools. Stepped on to the Stage at age 5 in a family planning drama put up by the ladies club. It was scary, fascinating and wonderful. From then on I grabbed every opportunity to be in the school play.
I have a younger sister and we would fight a lot – today she is my best friend!

Boarding School
Finally my father got transferred to a place in Gujarat which didn't have any good schools and so when I was in Class 8th, both me and my sister had to move to Boarding school - Sophia Girls School in Ajmer - Ajmer was known for its educational Institutions (Mayo College etc) and my father's family belonged to Ajmer so there were enough relatives to keep an eye on us.

I cannot remember a time when I was not fond of reading –I had read all of the Enid Blyton series, Agatha Christie, Perry Mason, Nancy Drew, Beagle boys and all the Westerns like Sudden etc. So boarding school had a special attraction for me!! I loved everything about boarding school – the independence, the freedom, the discipline and above all, the opportunity to act! We had a lot of play competitions where we acted and directed ourselves and then there was the big play at the end of the year when we had an outside Director.

College
I moved to graduate from Sophia College which was across the road from our school. I had had science in school but in college I made the move to English literature, Sociology and Economics. College had specialized teachers for Drama and we had great fun putting up plays like 'Lady Winderemere's Fan', 'Jane Eyre', 'The Bear' by Chekov, 'Anthony & Cleopatra and many more. I had wanted to join the National School of drama - I had obtained the forms too but my father did not believe in it. If I had to act then it had to be pursued with my own money, not his. Doing MBA was the next best thing, so I moved to Podar Institute of Management, Jaipur for my MBA. The two years of MBA were the only time when I did not have a play or something to do with theatre to ponder upon.

Mumbai
It was a foregone conclusion that I would move to Mumbai for a job when I was done with my MBA. I was lucky to get a job I liked the moment I had finished my exams and so arrived in Mumbai on the 1st August, 1986 to work with ACC. Mumbai I felt Bombay embraced me with open arms - I loved the anonymity of living and working here

Lillette Dubey is a renowned Indian film and theatre actor and a theatre director.

She has been Artistic Director of her own Theatre Company. The Primetime Theatre Company, for over 26 years and her theatrical work, which has travelled the globe, has been much acclaimed nationally and internationally, both in the sphere of actor and Director.

Over a span of nearly 40 years, she has played the lead in over 60 theatre productions ranging from Shakespeare, Greek Tragedy, Brecht, Musical Comedies, Farce, Contemporary Drama, Absurd Theatre, to Contemporary Drama, including Ibsen, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Pinter, Dario Fo, Edward Albee and a gamut of famous Indian playwrights, from Vijay Tendulkar, Partap Sharma, Mahesh Dattani, Girish Karnad, Mahesh Elkunchwar to name just a few.

Most of the plays she has produced and directed, platform outstanding Indian playwrights, and many have won Best Play of the Year awards, and many have received Best Director and Actor awards at National Festivals.

Ms Dubey herself has won several BEST ACTRESS awards for her plays and films, including for ADHE ADHURE (META 2013), PANKH (Jagran Film Festival 2010),DRIVING MISS PALMEN, (Dutch TV 2007), BOW BARRACKS FOREVE (Madrid international Film Festival) and others.

Several of the Company's productions, directed by Ms. Dubey, have traveled widely across India and abroad, with a few having played for long runs at the Bloomsbury Theatre & Watermans in London, at the Tribecca in New York, at the Portland International Performance Festival in the U.S, as well as in Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, Washington DC, Stamford, Raleigh (North Carolina), Los Angeles, Boston and New York in the U.S.

Also, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, and have also performed several times in Dubai,London, Muscat, Colombo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Auckland, Sydney, Wellington (New Zealand), Melbourne, Brussels, Antwerp, Johannesburg, Durban, and Lahore.

They have also participated in several Festivals all over India and performed in nearly every city in the country.

Ms Dubey has played the lead in over a dozen television series and has more than 50 feature films to her credit. She has also hosted 26 episodes of her own TV SHOW titled ''BY INVITATION ONLY'' where she interviewed eminent personalities from all walks of life for the well known channel TIMES NOW

Her feature film credits include some award winning Indian and international English language films THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, MONSOON WEDDING, DR CABBIE, BOLLYWOO BEATS, DELHI IN A DAY, BOW BARRACKS FOREVER, MORNING RAGA, and the television series MUMBAI CALLING (BBC), the telefilm DRIVING MISS PALMEN (Dutch television) and 2 seasons of the epic TV series INDIAN SUMMERS for Channel 4 in the UK.

Some of her Hindi film hits include the very popular KAL HO NAA HO, which starred Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, and Saif Ali Khan BAGHBAN alongside Amitabh Bacchan and Salman Khan, ZUBEIDA with Karishma Kapoor and Rekha, GADDAR with Sunny Deol, HOUSEFULL with Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone, CHASHME BADHOOR with Rishi Kapoor, MY BROTHER NIKHIL with Juhi Chawla, SONATA with Aparna Sen and Shabana Azmi and many others.

She is on the Expert Committee for theatre for the Culture Ministry, curates the theatre section of the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa, and is a trustee of Ms Protima Bedi' s dance village Nrityagram, outside Bangalore.

She is a half-eaten Cookie & an Amoeba. She is a half-eaten cookie as she believes she is a Work In Progress, just about explored less than half her potential, is a hungry learner & still has a long way to go. An Amoeba cause her best skill is her LQ (Learning Quotient); she is agile, sharp, 'gets' people, she can adapt to contexts, cultures, organizations & people very swiftly. She moves like an Amoeba - effortlessly & yet retains her very level headed humble self. Vishwapriya is a Transformation Coach, an Organization Development Strategist, a Culture Change Specialist, a Human Resources Board level Advisor, an Aficionado of Human Behavior & a crazy mommy to her 8 year old hyper little geek. She is the CoFounder & Managing Director of www.blewminds.com, an eclectic Leadership Consulting practice which operates across geographies in the space of unconventional Learning in different areas of People Consulting, Coaching & Leadership.

She is a half-eaten Cookie & an Amoeba. She is a half-eaten cookie as she believes she is a Work In Progress, just about explored less than half her potential, is a hungry learner & still has a long way to go. An Amoeba cause her best skill is her LQ (Learning Quotient); she is agile, sharp, 'gets' people, she can adapt to contexts, cultures, organizations & people very swiftly. She moves like an Amoeba - effortlessly & yet retains her very level headed humble self. Vishwapriya is a Transformation Coach, an Organization Development Strategist, a Culture Change Specialist, a Human Resources Board level Advisor, an Aficionado of Human Behavior & a crazy mommy to her 8 year old hyper little geek. She is the CoFounder & Managing Director of www.blewminds.com, an eclectic Leadership Consulting practice which operates across geographies in the space of unconventional Learning in different areas of People Consulting, Coaching & Leadership.

Topic: "Power of subconscious mind"

Sandeep is an llM-8 alumnus who has more than 18 years of corporate consulting experience. He is an insightful, innovative & powerful Inspirational speaker & Storyteller

Sandeep also has 30+ years of experience in poetry,storytelli ng & creative writing, & his authentic & very real 'Wabi Sabistories' leadership series have helped people make that bigswitch in their lives & radically improve their life & career.

He has 5 million+ views per month on the stories he shares on Linkedin. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeep-koch har-671a853/)

He is also a John Mattone (Steve Jobs's coach) certified intelligent leadership coach His areas of interest include entrepreneurship & digital marketing.

Shashi Sudhanshu is a storyteller that has mastered the knack of taking simple ideas and futuristic technologies and turning it into tangible solutions. After MBA from Symbiosis Shashi started his career as a techie-investment banker, worked in UK and USA but soon learnt he had an ingenious skill to make good things perfect through the power of storytelling. Having founded his technology marketing consulting startup in 2009, he accelerated his organisation, Talkd, to being one of the top Global Digital Agencies around. This was predominantly an effect of his underlying Human-To-Human ideologythat believes in a power higher than serving just as a B2B or B2C. Instead working towards creating premium experiences for humans, and he does this through his storytelling.

But the legacy of this entrepreneur is more than just his rising numbers. Shashi, today is pioneering the Design Thinking industry in India. Whether it's corporates, friends, or even his employees, most people recognise him for his gift to solve the most daunting problems with a unique optimised solution, that defies the boundaries of lateral thinking and adds the twist of a relatable story. THIS gift of Shashi is what has TOP technology companies in India vying for his expert consultancy in transforming their organisation through digital and strategy design. It is also this gift that has driven Shashi Sudhanshu's organisation to lead in providing exceptional user experiences and futuristic technological expertise.

When Shashi is not riding his Harley Davidson, or exploring the curves of untravelled roads, he is using these unique yet REAL experiences to connect the practical dots of modern business - with elevated stories.

Manish Advani known as The Coconut Man of India is a TEDx Speaker and an award winning story teller and a song writer, known for unconventional ways of positioning individual and corporate brands in the industry through CSR and Green initiatives.

Manish currently heads Marketing & Public Relations for MSSG – A Mahindra Group Company, Manish has over 2 decades of industry experience working on client engagements from small scale companies to large B2B & B2C organizations like Microsoft, CibaVision, Kraft Foods, Jaguar & Land Rover, Hindustan Unilever, Arvind, IFFCO UAE in varied roles ranging from Business Development, Sales, Marketing, Public Relations and Brand Risk Management. Out of 2 decades, Manish has spent almost a decade working for clients in United States of America, Canada and the Middle East.

Manish's most recent initiative "The Coconut Project" has won the International Green Apple Award for India at The House of Commons in the British Parliament and also been selected for the Limca Book of Record. Manish has been featured in The Hindu, Better India, NDTV, Sustainability Next, Radio Mirchi and many other publications and channels. Manish's work in the corporate world has led him to being recipient of Microsoft President Award, NITIEs on the job achievers Award, the Skoch Blue Economy Award and The Silver award from The Public Relations Council of India. Manish's stories and Songs have won awards as The Leadership Review, The Mega corporate Film Festival and India CSR Film Festival.

Manish's sessions and workshops have been well received in some of the leading B schools and organizations like Confederation of Indian Industry, NHRDN, Johnson & Johnson, Larsen & Toubro, Barclays and many others.

Manish graduated with Management Degree from New Jersey Institute of Technology with Summa Cum Laude. Manish was felicitated was gold medallion for achieving GPA of 4.0 on 4.0 scale in the University. Manish has completed brand building program from Stanford and One year program from Harvard (global program offered by HBS in collaboration with Mahindra & Mahindra).

Fernando Palacios was the first to adventure into the fields of Storytelling in Latin America. Back in 2006, he did his research and came up with a local approach to tell stories for companies in order to inspire employees and consumers. Since then, he has become a Story Teller coach for over 100 C-level executives.

Nowadays Fernando Palacios is the founding partner of Storytellers Strategic Entertainment, with a complete portfolio of business solutions. Also, Fernando is a keynote speaker presenting over one hundred lectures and courses in ten different countries.

In order to contribute to people's development in Brazil, Fernando works as a volunteer coach. The job constitutes in helping start-up-companies to pitch their dreams and ideas to international investors. Being himself an investor, Fernando Palacios is aware of which stories could be most appealing for a tough and demanding audience of people with big budgets and small patience.

Over the last decade, Storytellers Strategic Entertainment has shaped the Brazilian market by developing projects that turned into cases studies in universities around the globe. Those cases include online and mobile games, theater plays, literary novels, comics, short movies, ARGs, transmedia projects and even the creation of entertainment franchises.

Fernando Palacios wrote 'The Complete Guide to Storytelling', a reliable and versatile overview on the theme, specially because it is the most complete source about Storytelling ever written in Portuguese. The copies were sold out only few weeks after the release.

Palacio's Storytelling skills are not exclusive to the corporative areas of business and brands. He is also an independent author. Fernando travels the world every year, collecting stories for his book: "The New wonder" - an ongoing work, which has already granted Fernando TheWidbook 'Top Author' award. He was also awarded the World's Best Story Teller Award in India.

Fernando Palacios has always been in love with stories. He loves listening to them, watching them, deconstructing them, understanding them, composing them, articulating them and teaching them. His main belief is "Just because something is serious, doesn't mean it has to be boring."