Lakshmi Pratury

Lakshmi Pratury

Lakshmi Pratury

Lakshmi Pratury is the co-host of TEDIndia 2009, host and curator of The INK Conference and founder of Ixoraa Media, whose mission is to strengthen the ties between United States and India through sponsored corporate, cultural, and media events. She was featured in the list of the 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes Asia in 2010.[1] She was a leading force at the American India Foundation, an organization that raised over 30 million dollars in five years towards development activities in India. Lakshmi has published articles in San Jose Mercury, San Francisco Chronicle, and Mint. She has interviewed celebrities, contributed to radio shows, including National Public Radio, and acted in some theater productions. She has also spoken at the TED conference in the US, the Digital Life Design in Germany, and at IIM Bangalore.[2]

Background

Lakshmi was born in Visakhapatnam, India. She has since lived in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Syracuse, New York, Portland, Oregon, and currently travels between her homes in the Bay Area and in Bangalore, India.[3]

She studied at Nizam College in Hyderabad where she received a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics. She then attended IIT Mumbai, then got an MBA from the Bajaj Institute, India, and a second MBA from Portland State University, where she minored in Theater Arts.[4]

Career

Lakshmi worked at Intel for 12 years as a marketer and evangelist. After this she moved to a VC firm, Global Capitalist Partners, where she focused on connecting India's software-development community with that of the US. She then moved to SchoolsOnline and founded the Digital Equalizer program, which became part of the American India Foundation, which offered technology education to over 80,000 children and 2,000 teachers in India. She also launched the AIF Summit for social entrepreneurs from India. In 2009, she hosted TEDIndia, and then in 2010 founded The INK Conference, designed to continue the momentum created by TEDIndia.[5]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/global/2010/1108/power-women-10-zeti-akhtar-aziz-peggy-liu-women-watch_2.html
  2. ↑ http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/lakshmi_pratury_on_letter_writing.html
  3. ↑ http://www.theinternationalindian.com/pdfs/17.6.pdf
  4. ↑ http://www.dld-conference.com/events/event/dld11_speaker-detail_aid_5.html?aid2=2195
  5. ↑ http://www.ted.com/speakers/lakshmi_pratury.html

External links

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