Vedica
It's ME...
Changemaker | Social Entrepreneur | Educationist | Photographer | Speaker
About
Vedica is a changemaker and social entrepreneur who is strongly driven by a desire to make a difference and to empower, motivate and cultivate a generation of young leaders.
Vedica sees herself as a passionate Advocate and Ambassador for Mental Health and Wellbeing. She strongly believes and strives to help diminish the stigma which sadly still prevails around Mental Health so as to encourage help-seeking and support for those in distress. Besides being the Founder of Kangaroo Minds and Sport Beats Stigma, Vedica has also trained in various roles, worked tirelessly over the years and aligned herself with various Mental Health initiatives to further this endeavour. Vedica is a qualified Adult & Youth Mental Health First Aider, Active Listener, Suicide Gatekeeper and soft-skills trainer. To further her research into this space, she has written a thesis on exploring the need, importance and ways in which schools can better promote student Mental Health and Wellbeing. Her tireless efforts in this space of promoting Mental Health have been recognised with the prestigious Diana Award, the Mental Health Leadership Award and the BW 40 Under 40 (Wellbeing). As part of her commitment to the cause of Mental Health and to foster meaningful collaborations, Vedica acts as the Mental Health Ambassador from Richmond University in UK and is also a columnist for RAYS, a digital, monthly magazine on Mental Health.
As a certified Happiness, Executive and Life Coach, Vedica works extensively with Millennials and Gen-Z to help them better understand themselves and their goals. Over the years, Vedica has conducted several coaching sessions and workshops with over 6300+ students in schools and colleges on a host of topics ranging from Cultivating Self-Confidence, Girl Power, Digital Boundaries, Self-Management, Leadership, Workplace Wellbeing to name a few.
As an Educationist, Vedica has been involved in not only the running of the institutions under the aegis of the Anandilal Podar Trust but also in developing initiatives for community engagement to better the lives of those in rural Rajasthan. These community initiatives have focussed on several core issues such as girl child education, literacy promotion, environment conservation and wellbeing to name a few. Vedica has also been involved in conceptualising and designing the 'Run of Hope', Nawalgarh's flagship marathon as well as the 'Destination Nawalgarh' program which looks to provide students from around the world an immersive learning opportunity which brings together academic research and on-ground engagement.
Vedica also holds an MSc in Mental Health, an MBA in HR Management (with Distinction) along with a BA in International Business & Psychology with Latin Honours (Summa Cum Laude) from the UK.
Mental Health Ambassador & Advocate
Certified Executive & Life Coach
Adult & Youth
Mental Health First Aider
Educationist
Diana Award Recipient
MENTAL HEALTH & WELLBEING
Encouraging conversations to remove the stigma, promote help seeking and improve the quality of services.
INCLUSION
Striving towards providing a voice to all humans, irrespective of age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity or ability.
GIRL CHILD EDUCATION
Bringing in more equality in our classrooms to ensure that no girl is left behind, because when a Girl reads, the World leads.
LITERACY
Developing the future leaders of tomorrow by imparting quality education & life skills to students in our classrooms today.
ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Protecting our environment & resources like water to ensure the needs of future generations are met as well.
EMPOWERMENT
Striving to engage and empower the next generation of changemakers by providing opportunities & giving back.
Advocacy
Initiatives
2023: Sport Beats Stigma
Sport has tremendous power to encourage conversations and build a sense of community. Sport Beats Stigma is an initiative which focuses on harnessing the power of Sport to encourage conversations and change the narratives around social issues like Mental Health. For more, please visit the Sport Beats Stigma website.
2020: Kangaroo Minds
There is a pressing need to make Mental Health services more accessible, available and affordable to anyone who needs it and when they do and to end the stigma around Mental Health which sadly still prevails. This led to the birth of Kangaroo Minds, a Mental Health platform and movement which strives to spread the Awareness, encourage Support and increase the Knowledge around Mental Health and wellbeing. For more, please visit the Kangaroo Minds website.
2019: Hopping Around Town
Hopping Around Town was a photo blog to capture my travels during my time in London. Instead of a series which focused on people, this captured travels through the eyes of a little bunny rabbit - a little constant in the changing landscape of living in the big city.
2019: Jal Hai, Toh Kal Hai
This awareness campaign was initiated to make rural communities more aware of India’s glaring Water crisis through the medium of school assemblies and seminars. While this is not a crisis which is often spoken of when we talk about ecological conservation, the looming threat is very real and by building awareness, we aim to spark action.
2018: Swacch Bharat, Swasth Bharat
This initiative aimed to not just spread awareness on cleanliness, health and hygiene but also engaged local communities to take care of their surroundings. Students, faculties and locals all participate in cleanliness drives, awareness seminars and streetplays to spread this very message forward. This initiative also received acclaims from the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi.
2017: Swasth Tan, Swasth Mann
As an avid advocate for wellbeing, this initiative focussed on spreading awareness around holistic wellbeing with the aim of promoting both physical and mental wellbeing while also educating people on the deep interconnections between both these aspects of our being.
2017: Beti Padhao, Desh Badhao - Change for Change
The ‘Change for Change’ program focusses on the idea that big change starts small and that we can all play a role in being changemakers. With an aim of increasing access to education for girls in rural India, the program focussed on individuals contributing their small change to help provide opportunities to bring more girls into the classrooms.
2017: Humare Jawaan, Humari Shaan
There is immense power in gratitude and this initiative encouraged students in schools and colleges in rural India to write cards or letters to the brave soldiers in the Indian army on various occasions through the year.
2017: Vriksh Lagao, Bhavishya Bachao
They say the best time to plant a tree was yesterday, and the second-best time is now - taking that idea forward, this drive focused on planting trees and helping to protect the environment through community engagement lead by students right from kindergarten.
2017: Destination Nawalgarh
A first of its kind, immersive, residential learning program, Destination Nawalgarh looks at bringing students and young scholars from around the world to Nawalgarh and providing them with an opportunity for experiential learning through engagement with local communites while also working on 'live' research projects from a host of topic areas.
2016: Padhe Bharat, Badhe Bharat
As part of the continued efforts to spread education and knowledge this drive was started to help garner resources while striving to make the accessible and available to as many people as possible. The initiative not only focused on promoting education through scholarships, but also focused on encouraging lifelong learning through book collection drives, seminars and guest lectures to spread awareness and knowledge on topical issues and trends.
2014-2017: Podar Eduspace
Podar Eduspace was set up to be the education & training arm of the Podar Group that focused on offering a range of innovative programs and services to both students and institutions around the world which included the Job Able Program (JAP), the Books2Biz Research program, Destination Nawalgarh (a residential immersive program), virtual internships, Study abroad opportunities as well as advisory services for institutions looking for academic collaborations or assistance in entering the Indian Higher Education space.
2013-2013: One Frame at a Time
‘One Frame at a Time’ was a publication of my photographs which captured the beauty of various seasons. While this focused on capturing nature in its raw form and as it changed colours, it also aimed to instill hope in us that even when winter comes, there are always better days ahead.
2012-2015: Young Entrepreneurs Society (YES) at Richmond University
Founded and Chaired the YES at Richmond with the aim of building a community for budding entrepreneurs and business leaders where they could network with industry leaders, attend seminars and participate in various skill building initiatives.
2011-2016: Young Scholars Inc (YSI)
Young Scholars Inc was my first tryst with entrepreneurship and this venture focused on changing the way students at university engaged with corporates and did internships. With a patent undergraduate research program and opportunities for virtual internships YSI aimed to change the future of student research and internships while giving students opportunities which weren’t limited due to geographies.
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