Prabha is a management consultant, facilitator, coach, mentor, assessor, presenter, panel speaker and an experienced governor. She sits on various not for profit boards in NZ across various sectors such as health, sports, arts, community, regional council and education, bringing the much-needed ethnic & cultural diversity and thinking to the boards spending several hours of her own time to ensure there is fair and equal representation on the board where key decisions are made. She is a strong advocate of equity, diversity and inclusion across all sectors. She is regularly invited as a panel speaker by local and international organisations to share her knowledge and experience in arts, education and governance.
Kokila has over 10 years of experience in the non-profit and community arts space, often wearing multiple hats. She has conceptualised, organised and led community development programmes, research projects, arts festivals, conferences/forums, community arts and education programmes that brought diverse groups together for learning, relationship building and collective action. Kokila has done arts and community programming in mainstream and independent spaces. These experiences have facilitated her growth as a writer, researcher, facilitator, community builder and arts practitioner who builds strong relationships with communities, government agencies, artists, media, educational institutions, funders and other stakeholders. Her understanding of and sensitivity to diverse groups and cultures has enabled her to bring people together in safe and stimulating spaces for dialogue, collaboration and new, intersectional ways of tackling shared issues.
Ezhilarasi Manavalan is a world renowned pattimandram (debate) speaker who has shared the stage with Suki Sivam, Mohanasundaram and many more orators! She is known for her quick wit and her sharp observational skills. She has also donned the role of a moderator in many pattimandram.
B.H.Abdul Hameed was a very popular Tamil announcer of Radio Ceylon - the oldest radio station in South Asia. Abdul Hameed also compered many events in Colombo. He joined a band of announcers who enjoyed iconic status across South Asia. Millions of listeners tuned into the radio station once known as Radio Ceylon. Abdul Hameed was also honoured to act in the 2001 Tamil film Thenali as a guest role starring Kamal Hassan. Now he is usually chosen as master of ceremony for many international Tamil functions.
Mahesh Babu Purushothaman received his Ph.D. from Auckland University of Technology with research interests in the human factors influencing lean manufacturing systems and waste reduction. He works in the School of Future Environments, Auckland University of Technology. Prior to joining AUT, Mahesh has 25 plus years of industrial experience dealing at Middle and Top management level. He has managed lean manufacturing units for 25 years. His experience includes manufacturing, procurement, warehousing, marketing, demand planning, and change management. He has implemented projects, which combined digital and Information technology integration in the process to reduce stress in the manufacturing environment. Mahesh has designed process architecture and was involved in developing IT projects for facilities, manufacturing, and SCM. Mahesh has publications in the Journal of Cleaner production and conferences. Mahesh has published an edited book titled “Lessons from lockdown”. Mahesh has research interest in Lean thinking, digital technologies, Cognitive influence, stress, and well-being of the people in the business and industrial processes to create a healthy and safe community.
Deepan Raj is an experienced Radio Jockey and social media manager at Suryan FM, Sun TV Network, Chennai. He has over 9 years’ experience in the respective field and is also a well-established YouTuber. His passion and unconditional love for Tamil language made him embark his YouTube journey in 2020. His channel named "Deep Talks Tamil", stays true to its name and focuses primarily on in-depth talks on Tamil history, culture, literature, and much more. With his hard-hitting, factually correct and effective production quality videos, he has earned over 8 lakh subscribers till date. Deepan is also a recipient of a few digital awards held by Chennai and Pondicherry based events.
S.Paandi Durai, A well-known motivational speaker from Malaysia.
Sithuraj Ponraj is Senior Visiting Fellow at the RSIS Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) where he researches and writes on digital and cyber issues. He was previously Director of the International Cyber Policy Office in Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency, where he played a key role in the development of Singapore’s international cybersecurity strategy and in its international and regional engagement and capacity building initiatives. He is ann exceptional speaker on Tamil literature and Tamil history.
Navin is a Malaysian Tamil writer. He currently runs an e-magazine by the name of Vallinam. In 2010, he received the Young Talent Award from the Malaysian state of Selangor. In 2019, he received the Tamil Literary Garden of Canada Award. To date he has written and published more than fifteen books. His novel Peichi (2019) stirred controversy within the Indian community, resulting in a ban by the Malaysian government in 2020. As a publisher, Navin has published thirty-nine Malaysian Tamil literary works, from poetry, fiction, non-fiction and anthologies. He has also produced sixteen documentaries on Malaysian Tamil literary pioneers.
Global Brand Manager | Marketing | Luxury I Retail Excellence @William Grant & Sons
He is an engineer by profession and working as IT Infrastructure Team Lead, but he is also an active participant in Tamil language talks and Pattimandrams. Also, he is the Vice President of Auckland Tamil Association and an Executive committee member of ANTS.
Sundaresan Thandavan is into IT, Devops Engineer as profession. He did Tamil medium school in India and he completed his Engineering degree in Coimbatore. He is a volunteer Tamil Teacher @ Wellington Muthamizh Sangam.
Mathusha Paraneetharan is a 20-year-old, Eelam Tamil girl. She is currently a student of Finance and Information Systems at Victoria University of Wellington and a drama teacher at Chilton Saint James School. Her passions and interests lie in Bharathanatyam, theatre and the history of Eelam Tamil.