Indian American Forum, N.Y., holds 8th gala to recognize ‘Outstanding Women’

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The Indian American Forum hosted the 8^th Outstanding Women’s Achievements Gala, part of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day Celebrations, March 1, at Akbar’s Ballroom in Garden City, N.Y..

Five distinguished women who had excelled in their profession and community services were presented with Outstanding Women’s achievements Awards. They were —

Sonia k Bain a commercial real estate lawyer who represents developers, retail companies, hotel groups and several other types of real estate properties in New York City. Bain is named to 2019 Notable woman in Law by Crain’s New York Business, the press release said.

Sylinthia Burges, the first woman Veteran Counselor in the Nassau County Veterans Service Agency. Burges served in the U.S. Army in the Lebanon war, at Camp Casey, in Korea, at present she is working with Veterans and several agencies to assist veterans and clients. She is named to The New York State Veterans hall of Fame by Senator Kemp Hanon.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant was elected to New York State Supreme Court, becoming the first woman of Indian decent in New York State to become a Supreme Court judge. She now presides over criminal cases in Queens County.

Dr Subhadra Nori is currently the regional director for the combined Departments of Rehabilitation Medicine at Elmhurst and Queens Hospital Centers. She is an associate professor at the Icahn School of medicine, Mount Sinai New York. She has held leadership positions at several national societies in her specialty Along with her Husband Dr. Dattatreyudu Nori, she helped to establish two Shirdi Sai temple centers, one in Baldwin, New York, and one in Iselin, New Jersey. Dr Nori is considered by her peers as an outstanding physician, excellent educator and researcher and a superb administrator, the press release said.

Manu Saluja a well-known Artist and painter in New York with a Master of Fine Arts in Painting  degree from The New York Academy of Art. Her work includes stunning historical portraits as well as recent paintings inspired by her life as a New Yorker. Saluja is on the faculty of both New York University Academy of Art in Tribeca and the Long Island Academy of Fine Art.

Stephanie Benedictus, a Young Achiever, is currently a senior at Syosset High School. She has been a part of the Young Indian Culture Group, YICG, since childhood and attended Vedic, Shloka and Bollywood dance classes. She values the YICG message and and has become a co- teacher of Bollywood Dance, the press release said, adding that Benedictus has a deep appreciation for her culture and works very hard to instill this appreciation. She wants to be a physician and wants to continue to help the community.

Among the many prominent persons at the event were Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth, praised the Indian American Forum and Indian0American community, congratulating the honorees. The 5 women were presented the citations on behalf of Nassau County Executive Laura Curran the town of Hempstead Supervisor Laura Gillen, Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladin, Congressional recognition from Congress man Thomas Suozzi, and from Nassau County Legislature’s Rosemarie Walker.

Among the many prominent persons present were  Town of Hempstead Supervisor Laura Gillen, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth ,Nassau County Legislator Rose Walker, New York State Assemblywoman Judy Griffin. Others included Bobby Kalotee, founder of IAF, Nassau County Human Rights Commissioner Sharanjit Singh Thind, Zahid Syed, Sant Singh Chatwal and Daman Chatwal,  Dr Rajinder Uppal, president of International Punjabi Society, Shashi Malik, vice president of  India Association of  Long Island, Sher Madra ,  Peter Bheddah from the board of directors of the Nargis Dutt Foundation,  Haseena Mooppan of the Domestic Harmony Foundation, Dr Anila Midha, president of SAWA, Rizwan Qureshi from HAB Bank, Roopam Maini from Indus American Bank, Jasbir Jay Singh, president IPD USA, Kamal Dandona,  Smiti Khanna , Dr Urvashi and Anoop Kapoor, Sudhir and Swati Vaishnav.

Dances were performed by students of well-known choreographers Swati Vaishnav and from New York Kathak Festival, and Stephanie Benedictus.

Mohinder Taneja gave special thanks to all sponsors and media partners. Sabina Himani donated her painting Child Bride and Manu Saluja donated Maharaja Ranjit Singh painting for the silent auction, according to the press release.

The main organizer of the event was Indu Jaiswal, and the chairperson of the gala was Shammi Singh. The American national anthem was sung by Gurbani Kaur Sethi and Indian national anthem was sung by Roopam Maini. The emcees Anuj Rihal and Chanbir Kaur Sethi made the evening enjoyable, the press release said. Chanbir Kaur, Roopam Maini , Rohini Singh, Isha Rihal and Inesha Singh coordinated a brief Q&A session with the honorees discussing and emphasizing their accomplishments. The Chatwals congratulated all honorees and acknowledged the efforts of the IAF team, the press release said.

Board of Trustees members Dr Azad Anand, Surinder Rametra, Dr Ved Kawatra, Animesh Goenka, Dr Urmilesh Arya, Dr Bhupendra Patel, Bobby Kalotee, Board members Beena Kothari, Bina Sabapathy, Nirmala Rametra, Anu Gulati, Dr Meena Jaiswal, Vijay Goswamy, Tejal Kamath, Rohini Singh, Anuj Rihal, Inesha Singh, Gala Chairperson Shammi Singh and many others helped in making the event a grand success, the press release said.