9 women social impact speakers in India worth booking
If you are organising a CSR summit, a development-sector conference or a campus panel on gender, these nine women social impact speakers in India are a good place to start. Every woman on this list is a verified Dais speaker, picked because her Dais profile lists non-profit and social impact work and includes a bio, a photo and a LinkedIn.
In short
- The nine speakers cover child rights, menstrual health, gender justice, climate, maternal mental health and career reinvention, and are based in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Gurugram and Indore.
- Indian companies spent ₹34,908.75 crore on CSR in FY 2023-24, according to a Ministry of Tribal Affairs reply in the Rajya Sabha released in March 2026.
- Gender equality received ₹204.17 crore of that CSR spend, which is under 1% of the total.
- All nine women take speaking and panel invitations, and seven of them are also available as podcast guests.
Why organisers in India look for women social impact speakers
Companies in India spent ₹34,908.75 crore on CSR in FY 2023-24, up from ₹27,141.45 crore in FY 2021-22, according to the sector-wise table in a Ministry of Tribal Affairs reply to the Rajya Sabha in March 2026. Education took ₹12,134.57 crore of the FY 2023-24 total. Gender equality took ₹204.17 crore. When CSR heads, foundations and founders meet at your event, the women who run programmes on the ground should be on the stage with them.
Four women on this list work on menstrual health, and the national numbers explain why that work is still needed. The share of women aged 15 to 24 using hygienic methods of menstrual protection rose from 57.6% in 2015-16 to 77.6% in 2019-21, according to National Family Health Survey data analysed by Ashoka University's Centre for Economic Data and Analysis in July 2022. In the first NFHS-5 release, Bihar had the lowest share of any state or union territory at 58.8%, as Down To Earth reported in December 2020.
Our list of women D&I panelists in India and the essay on where the women are on conference panels look at the same gap from the corporate side. This list is for organisers who want people who run the programmes themselves.
Soha Sheth Moitra, Regional Director at Child Rights and You
Soha leads the work of CRY (Child Rights and You) across northern India. She joined CRY in 1997 and has worked in its Youth Division, Development Support Division and Volunteer Action Division. She holds a postgraduate degree in Social Work from M.S. University, Vadodara, and earlier worked with Nirantar, a feminist resource centre focused on education and gender. She chairs the sexual harassment committees at CRY and has written for YourStory on youth volunteerism and child labour.
She speaks on child rights in India, gender equity, volunteering and public participation in social change. Based in Delhi, she is available as a speaker, panellist and podcast guest, and for media commentary. Book Soha on the Dais.
Anushree Dash, Founder & Chairperson at ADiBha She Vision
ADiBha She Vision is a non-profit working on women's rights and on bringing women and girls into governance, policy and decision-making. Anushree also founded ADiBha, a social enterprise. She is known as the Pad Woman of Odisha for her menstrual health work, and she works on girls' education, ending child marriage and gender-based violence. She is the G100 India Country Chair for Equity & Equality, has represented India at the Women Economic Forum in London and has spoken at the G20 Summit on gender equality.
She left a corporate career in mid- to senior-management roles to work with rural and tribal communities in Odisha, and she writes columns in Hindi and English. A three-time TEDx speaker, she is available nationally for talks, panels, workshops, podcasts and media commentary. Read our interview with Anushree on gender equality, then book Anushree on the Dais.
Archana KR, Founder at Stand4She
Archana has more than 16 years of experience in community building, campaign strategy, leadership development and programme design. Through Stand4SHE she has led campaigns that mobilised over 50,000 people and contributed to securing ₹100 crore in government funding. Her issues run from education and sanitation to menstrual health, active citizenship and political engagement. She also works as an independent consultant on grassroots leadership pipelines and partnerships, and has been featured by Vogue India and Goddesses of Today.
Based in Bangalore, she takes speaking and panel invitations on leadership, diversity and inclusion, and urban living. Book Archana on the Dais.
Nidhi Pant, Co-Founder at S4S Technologies (Science For Society)
S4S Technologies works across agriculture, climate, clean energy and gender equity. Nidhi co-founded it to cut post-harvest food losses among smallholder farmers, using a patented, solar-powered food dehydration technology that lets women farmers preserve produce for up to a year without chemicals. S4S works with over 6,500 farmers and 505 micro-entrepreneurs across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, and serves more than 850 food and beverage clients.
The UN Environment Programme named her a Young Champion of the Earth in 2020. She received the Earthshot Prize in 2023 and the Unilever Young Entrepreneur Award in 2019, and has spoken at the World Bank and COP28. Based in Mumbai, she is available as a speaker, panellist and podcast guest on entrepreneurship, climate action and community building. Climate organisers can also see our list of 13 women leading India's climate and sustainability conversation. Book Nidhi on the Dais.
Aditi Gupta, Co-founder at Menstrupedia
Aditi runs Menstrupedia, which teaches girls about periods through comics. She has educated more than 50,000 girls about periods and trained 10,000 educators. The Menstrupedia Comic is used by over 25,500 schools in India, is available in 20 languages and is used in 23 countries.
Forbes India named her in its 30 Under 30 list in 2014, and she has been listed in BBC 100 Women. She is a TED speaker and a UN Goalkeeper. Based in Ahmedabad, she speaks on storytelling and advocacy in health education as a speaker, panellist or podcast guest. Book Aditi on the Dais.
Priyanka Ajit, Founder & Director at Auleaves / Freedom Circle Foundation
Auleaves makes medical-grade menstrual cups and runs community-led menstrual health education in schools, colleges, workplaces and healthcare settings. Together with its sister initiative, Freedom Circle Foundation, it had reached over 2,500 women across Bihar, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh as of 2026. Priyanka designs her programmes around informed choice, so women get accurate information and pick the product that suits them.
She was selected for the TiE Women Global Program 2026 and is State President of the Madhya Pradesh Sustainability & Equality Council at the Women's Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WICCI). She has run sessions in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh with the Department of Higher Education, the National Health Mission and the Social Welfare Department of Madhya Pradesh. Based in Indore, she speaks on menstrual equity, women's leadership and social entrepreneurship as a speaker, panellist or podcast guest. Book Priyanka on the Dais.
Natasha Uppal, Founder at Matrescence India
Natasha founded Matrescence India, a consulting and research practice on matrescence. Through The Matrescence Lens, her own institutional framework, she works with hospitals, maternity units and femtech companies to build whole-mother care systems. She is also developing a perinatal mental health screening tool for urban private hospitals.
She has nearly two decades of programme design experience across the World Bank, the LEGO Foundation and CARE India. She is a Chevening Scholar with a Master's in Education, Gender and International Development from UCL, and an ICF-accredited Mama Rising Matrescence Coach. Based in Bangalore, she speaks on mental health and wellbeing, public policy and gender as a speaker, panellist or podcast guest. Book Natasha on the Dais.
Archana Dutta, Founder at SecondAct
SecondAct is Archana's coaching and facilitation practice for mid-career professionals, many of them women, who are re-entering work, changing industries or rethinking their direction. Before it, she spent 28 years at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and Lufthansa. Her podcast, Discover Your SecondAct, has featured over 130 guests.
She also founded Pedal On, a social enterprise whose eco-friendly products are made by underprivileged women and which has provided livelihoods to over 10,000 beneficiaries. She is a facilitator for Harappa Education and Jombay. Based in Gurugram, she speaks on career transitions, second innings and women's leadership as a speaker, panellist or podcast guest. Book Archana on the Dais.
Swati Singh Sambyal, Principal Expert at GRID-Arendal
Swati has over 14 years of experience in the waste and circular economy sector in the Global South. She works on policy and practice to cut plastic pollution in Latin America, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. She advocates zero waste practices and decentralised resource management, and is an author and columnist.
Based in Delhi, she takes speaking and panel invitations on public policy and pollution management. Book Swati on the Dais.
How to book women social impact speakers for your event
Every Dais profile lists the formats a speaker is available for, so you can check before you write whether she takes keynotes, panels, workshops or podcast slots. For more women in this field, browse non-profit and social impact speakers or speakers on gender and feminism. If you are building a policy panel, our list of women legal and policy voices pairs well with this one.
Send us the date, city, format and topic, and we will connect you with the right speaker. Request a speaker for your event.