We held our very first pride march here at Godrej One on June 21 with our employees from all floors, joining us as we held our pride flags and marched downwards with great fervour, fueled by the dhols and dance performances that accompanied us. But that was not all. We also hosted a Queer Bazaar with shops owned by LGBTQIA+ individuals. Last but not the least, we hosted an event which included a film screening in the auditorium of Lailaa Manju, directed by Kamya N and co-written by our fellow DEI Lab member Prithvi Vatsalya, which was followed by a panel discussion with fabulous queer creators from various business units of the Godrej Industries Group.

Speakers Bios:

1. Aamna Khan - With a master's in industrial psychology from the University of Mumbai, she works in DEI, Talent, and L&D at Godrej Agrovet. As a suicide prevention first responder with Praan Foundation, she also has over 270 hours of volunteer work with the National Service Scheme. Aamna's literary and artistic works are featured in various publications, including the anthology 'Hustle' and Mumbai University's 'The Dreaming Bombay.' She aspires to express the abstract, offering empathy & purpose through our voices.
2. Christina Evers - A trailblazing transwoman with 20+ years of corporate experience, is Assistant Manager in HR & Admin at Godrej Capital. She earned the Rex Global Karamveer Award from the United Nations for her courageous contributions, emphasizing the power of diversity in corporate innovation and growth. Her empathetic leadership and inclusive approach make her a beacon of hope in the LGBTQ+ community, emphasizing the power of diversity in corporate innovation and growth.
3. Daniella Mendonca - She was featured on "RAINBOW RISHTA" on Amazon Prime. She also represented India at the UN in 2014 and is India's first intersex TEDx speaker. With a silver medal in Social Work from Mumbai University, she's the first LGBTIQ+ individual to receive the Vidyarthi Bharti Ratna Award. Daniella's advocacy spans national and international platforms, including prestigious events like the Economist Time Event in Hong Kong and Miles of Love in Australia, inspiring countless worldwide.
4. Prithvi Vatsalya - a trans-masculine individual from Mumbai, is a Research and Media Catalyst at Godrej DEi Lab, focusing on workplace diversity. He co-wrote 'LAILAA MANJU', authored 'Sarayu Bana Sayana', and created the podcast Transpeak during his Ideosync UNESCO information fellowship. He has journalism experience and a master's degree in psychology.

Parmesh Shahani, Head at Godrej DEI Lab gave the welcome note by introducing the audience to LGBTQIA+ Inclusion at Godrej One. He delved into the month-long celebration of Pride Month which included rainbow nukkak natak to encourage solidarity, pride-inclusive hiring, online campaigns to include our allies, and more. He also made the point about how at Godrej, every month is Pride month, further sharing some glimpses from some of the queer inclusion work at Godrej One. Parmesh then proceeded to invite Nisaba Godrej, Executive Chairperson of GCPL to share a few words with the audience as well.

After Nisa’s note, Christina Evers from Godrej Capital took over as the host for the evening.

Screening 1: Rainbow Rishta

During our event, we got the chance to display a snippet of Rainbow Rishta, a serial on Amazon Prime that spotlight real-life queer relationships in India, in which our colleague Daniella Mendonca from Godrej Properties talks about her relationship and her upcoming wedding and the significance of it to her as an intersex individual, while shedding light on her journey up to now.

Screening 2: Lailaa Manju

The event also included a screening of the film Lailaa Manju, a subversion of the ancient ‘Lailaa Majnu’ story and the classical lead couple. The film features new-age millennial lovers, Lailaa & Manju, navigating their relationship through familial pressures and the COVID pandemic. The film was directed by Kamya N and co-written by our fellow DEI lab member, Prithvi Vatsalya.

Lailaa Manju has been screened at venues across the country to great reception, and the same was noticed at our Godrej One screening where there was not a dry eye in the audience.

The screening was followed by a panel discussion that included our colleagues mentioned above, Prithvi and Rainbow Rishta star Daniella.

Panel Discussion

The panel discussion, hosted by our moderator Christina Evans, also included Prithvi Vatsalya, Aamna Khan and Daniella Mendonca. The panel members first were asked about how their personal experiences affect their work, through which the audience got to know of the speaker’s diverse experiences, ranging from Aamna’s planned to the last detail coming out to Daniella never having to come out, and the role it has played in the work they’ve displayed.

The panel went on to discuss how lessons from these movies and the issues represented in these stories can be conveyed and communicated to employers and organizations that can help resolve these challenges.

The speakers also touched upon the issue of representation behind and in front of the camera and its significance in facilitating progress. How it does so, or as Prithvi put it, the knowledge system that members of the community have built by navigating their lives puts them in a unique position in respect to the world and that gaze transforms material in subtle and empowering ways at every level of the creative stage.

To end the panel discussion, the very pertinent question about what advice our panel members would give to young queer creators was asked. They also discussed how those queer creators could navigate the challenges they face without losing authenticity.

Other Highlights

Rolie’s birthday

However, that was not the end of it all. After Christina handed over the microphone to Parmesh, we celebrated the birthday of our fellow DEI Lab member Rolie Breja by cutting a rainbow cake on stage.

Rainbow Nashta

Our guests for the event were provided with fun pride-themed snacks such as Paneer Party Pops, Pride-Poha, Corny Cheese Nuggets, Dhak Dhak Dhokla, Queer Cluck Deluxe, Kebab Khushi Kebab Fun and Crispy Chicken LGB-iTes accompanied by refreshments such as Bi-Chai, Slayppuccino and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Kokum.