With International Women’s Day falling on 8 March each year, the month of March has become a powerful time to reflect on the progress of women and women’s rights all over the world.
While we still have a long, long way to go to achieve gender equality, the road is not without light. Each year, we get closer to an equal gender footing, and much of this is done by female changemakers – indomitable women who don’t take no for an answer and lead through example, driving change in their workplaces as well as communities.
Celebrating these agents of change, Table by Taru, in collaboration with Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo, presents “Cargills International Women’s Day Festival: The Changemakers”. Introduced by women for women, the festival will highlight those remarkable women who have challenged the status quo of gender bias, created forums of change, and been voices of transformation.
The vision for the festival was initiated by Taru Villas Founder and Chairman Nayantara Fonseka (aka. Taru), a pioneer in the world of hospitality who has always championed change and wanted to mark International Women’s Day by celebrating women who are making a difference and coming to the forefront of their disciplines.
Taru Villas Brand Communications Specialist Mahika Chandrasena explained that the festival is also meant to foster people in the month of March, particularly given the events that took place in March last year with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We need to be positive and show people awareness and that we need to move on with resilience and strength. The pandemic is something that is happening, but it is not something we can be negative about,” Chandrasena shared.
The festival is sponsored by title partner Cargills, beverage partner Wineworld, event partner United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), wellness partner Healing Island, exclusive radio partner Lite 87, collaborative partner Kaleidoscope by Savithri Rodrigo, and Taru Villas, with the festival being held at the Table by Taru restaurant at Taru Villas property Lake Lodge.
“Taru is known for her unusual, innovative events, and this is the start of an event we hope to launch each year in a hope to break new ground,” Chandrasena shared. “This is why we have collaborated with our sponsors who have responded very positively, coming on board because the storyline of this event is close to their objectives within their organisations.”
Taking place across four Mondays in March (1, 8, 15, and 22 March), the festival will feature curated panels of women who have been changemakers and thought leaders who have brought to light platforms of discussion through their work, impacts, and action and have championed change. Each panel session will be moderated by media personality Savithri Rodrigo.
Day 1 of the festival (1 March) – The Reconciliators will feature women activists who have been fighting to advance peace and gender equality. Panellists at The Reconciliators include peace activist Sarah Kabir, photojournalist on social issues and peace activist Amalini De Sayrah, and peace and gender activist Yamini Ravindran.
Day 2 of the festival (8 March) – The Pioneers celebrates women who have driven successful careers in the corporate world and now drive companies. Panellists at The Pioneers will include Triad Joint Managing Director Varuni Amunugama, Hemas Holdings Group CEO Kasturi Chellarajah Wilson, and more women business leaders.
Day 3 of the festival (15 March) – Creative Forces will celebrate women who flourished in the creative arts, with panellists including author and publisher Ameena Hussein, multi-medium artist and Pro Helvetia award-winner Layla Gonaduwa and Chitrasena Dance Academy Principal Dancer Thaji Dias.
The festival will conclude on 22 March with The Positive Disruptors, a finale evening with two sessions of featured panellists and a networking event with a surprise element to prompt discussion and dialogue. Panellists speaking at The Positive Disruptors finale evening include, among others, GoodLife Accelerator (GLX) Co-Founder/CEO and Hatch Works Director/former CEO Randhula De Silva, Ape and COLLAB Founder Himali De Silva, oDoc Chief Growth Officer Nare Bandaranayake, and Good Market Co-Founder Achala Samaradivakara.
All panel sessions at the festival will be live-streamed. An extract of each discussion will also be featured in the “Let’s Talk” segment by Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo, a news, current affairs, lifestyle, and dialogue/issue-based quick-cut online programme hosted by former LMD consulting writer and media personality Savithri Rodrigo. The major objective of this online platform is to highlight young people, high achievers, new ideas, positive disruptions, champion changemakers, and environmental and social issues to create a platform from where these issues can be spoken about, taken to the corporate world, and then turned into action.
Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo Host, Director, Producer Savithri Rodrigo commented that “The COVID-19 world we are experiencing has proved many things – that people are adaptable, that people can transform and that people are optimistic; but most of all, we have seen women take on the mantle of leadership and initiate change. Both Taru Villas and my programme Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo believe strongly that it is women who will be the catalysts in this changing world and the Cargills International Women’s Day Festival of Change Makers brings some of these change makers’ stories to the fore. The women we feature are multi-faceted, committed, dynamic and different. They are peace-prompters, pioneers, creative forces and disruptors but all for the sake of a holistic good and achieving an equal future for all in a COVID-19 world. Do join us and hear their stories and be inspired.”
Cargills International Women’s Day Festival: The Changemakers will take place at Table by Taru, the restaurant of Taru Villas’ newly revamped and reopened property Lake Lodge by Taru, with each event in the festival strictly following Covid-19 regulations and guidelines to create an intimate, safe, and empowering festival environment with a maximum of 20 guests able to attend the physical festival on 1, 8, and 15 March, and a maximum of 40 guests able to attend the finale evening on 22 March.
Tickets are priced at Rs. 20,000 for the Festival Pass (which gives access to all events of the festival) and Rs. 6,000 for the Day Pass to an individual event. For more information, call 0768 119 191.
