Celebrating Greater Accessibility to Education and Mental Healthcare for Young Women Across India: WEP’s Annual Red Bangle Award

About the Presenters

Zoë Timms, Founding Executive Director of Women’s Education Project, first went to Hyderabad, India in 1996 as a student of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Year-in-India Program. There, she was introduced to educational, grassroots NGOs, helping former girl child laborers study for the first time. Later, in 2001-2004, directing the Wisconsin program in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, Zoë worked with a young woman whose dream to obtain an MBA and enter a career in finance was blocked by serious family illness and debt. Zoë realized there were countless ambitious young women in similar circumstances. The idea of creating a center where young women could meet, develop skills, focus their ambitions, and expand their awareness of life’s possibilities was born. WEP’s first Leadership Academy opened in Madurai in 2002, followed by Hyderabad in 2007 and Kadapa in 2012. In 2016, WEP-India was established in Bangalore with its own board and in-country director.

For more than two decades, Paige Johnson has led initiatives to transform and personalize education through the effective use of technology, both in the U.S. and abroad. As VP of Education Marketing for Microsoft, she leads the worldwide marketing teams, with a strong focus on increasing equity in education and access to quality learning resources for all students. Before joining MSFT, she was the CEO of EdCatalyst Group, the Education Strategist for Amazon Web Services, and the Education Strategist for Intel Corporation. Across her entire career, she engaged with partners and influencers to ensure scalability and sustainability of educational offerings. Among her accomplishments, Paige created and scaled the Intel Teach Program, a professional development initiative serving more than 13 million teachers in 80+ countries. Paige is an advocate for policies necessary for systemic reform efforts to gain real traction from educational investments.

Neha Kirpal has worked at the intersection of the creative and social sectors for nearly two decades. Having founded India’s first international art fair, she ran it successfully for ten years before moving her focus entirely to the marginalized sector of mental health. In 2019, Neha joined Dr. Amit Malik as a co-founder of Amaha Health, one of India’s largest mental health organizations, delivering accessible and high-quality treatment, care, and support in 15+ languages, with an in-house team of over 150 psychologists and psychiatrists. Amaha’s digital platform has touched over five million lives in over 600 Indian cities. Neha is also part of the founding cohort of India Mental Health Alliance (IMHA). An Aspen Fellow and an Eisenhower Fellow, Neha has been part of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders community and received the prestigious Nari Shakti Puraskar given by the President of India, as well as other notable honors.

Dr. Anjlee Prakash is the Founder and Chairperson of Learning Links Foundation, an award-winning non-profit organization working to foster purpose and progress by providing opportunities for lifelong learning to all age groups. Since its founding, the organization has empowered more than 1.8 million students, 2.2 million educators, and 6.8 million community youth and adults. A lifelong Fellow of the Aspire Circle, Dr. Prakash has been recognized with several awards that honor her professional journey. More recent among these are the Mahatma Award for Leadership in Social Good (2022), Education 2.0 − Outstanding Leadership Award (2022), Humanitarian Excellence Awards (2021), 50 Innovative Leaders − World Innovation Congress (2020), Red Bangle Award − WEP (2019), and Woman Leadership Award for Excellence in Education and CMO (2017).