Top 5 Women Voices 2025
- Amrapali Magazine
- 7 hours ago
- 4 min read
Recognizing the Top 5 Women Achievers is an effort to celebrate the extraordinary contributions of women who have demonstrated excellence, courage, and leadership in their respective fields. Across societies and civilizations, women have played a vital role in shaping families, communities, knowledge systems, and cultural traditions. Yet many of their achievements often remain underrepresented or unnoticed. By identifying and honouring these remarkable women, this initiative seeks to bring their inspiring journeys into the spotlight. The purpose of selecting these achievers is not merely to acknowledge success, but to highlight the values of perseverance, creativity, vision, and service that define true leadership. Each of these women represents a story of determination, overcoming challenges, breaking barriers, and creating opportunities not only for themselves but also for others around them. Their work reflects the strength and resilience that women continue to bring to every sphere of life, whether in education, culture, entrepreneurship, social service, or intellectual pursuits.
Another important aim of this recognition is to create role models for younger generations. When young people read about the journeys of accomplished women, they see possibilities for their own futures. These stories inspire confidence, ambition, and a belief that meaningful change can begin with individual dedication and passion.
At a broader level, celebrating women achievers also reminds society that progress is most meaningful when it is inclusive. Women’s contributions have always been fundamental to the advancement of civilization, and acknowledging their achievements strengthens the narrative of equality, empowerment, and collective growth.
We celebrate the enduring spirit of Dr. Shovana Traxl Narayan, Nishi Misra, Anuja Bapat (ISS), Anima Sarma and Bala Devi Chandrashekhar on this International Women’s Day 2026, honouring their achievements that stand as powerful examples of what determination, talent and vision can accomplish.
Dr. Shovana Narayan is a celebrated Indian Kathak dancer, choreographer, teacher, and cultural figure, widely regarded as one of the foremost exponents of the classical dance form. She began her Kathak training at the age of four, later studying under the legendary maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj, and has since performed extensively on prestigious national and international platforms throughout a career spanning over five decades. She is not only an eminent Kathak exponent but also a distinguished officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
Nishi Misra, a prominent name in the field of education has nurtured many under her umbrella of knowledge, discipline and vision. Heading as the Principal at one of the most prestigious all-girls residential school, Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, she is remarkably leading her vision with academic as well as social consciousness. Ms. Misra is the Governing Body Member of CBSE and Chairperson of the Gwalior Sahodaya Samiti. She has over three decades of teaching and administrative experience, including leadership roles at reputed schools such as Sherwood College (Nainital), The Mayoor School, Bhopal, Vidya Devi Jindal School (Hisar) and Chairperson, Indian Public Schools Conference (IPSC). She emphasizes the "SHE" (Service, Heritage, and Enterprise) philosophy at Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, focusing on grooming independent, socially conscious women leaders.
Anima Sarma from Guwahati, Assam has been a prominent name in the field of successfully running and managing her printing press business, the Saraighat Graphic Arts in Bamunimaidam, Guwahati. Her husband Late Suren Sarmah, hailing from the famous Saraighat printing press family was one of those four brothers who were into the printing press business and established Simantika Printers in Chenikuthi, Guwahati. Anima Sarma who completed her Master Degree in Political Science from the Gauhati University in 1976 was a homemaker at first after her marriage. After few years of marriages due to some internal conflict within the business administration, she had to get involved into the business along with her husband. Gradually the couple also extended their second press in the name of Saraighat Graphic Arts, which later was solely handled by her.
Women are naturally enterprising. When we talk about entrepreneur, an entrepreneur is the one who takes risk. And if you look at a woman she always takes risk. In our societal context, even if she has to study, she might have to struggle and in fact struggle more than her male counterpart. When she gets married she goes into a completely different environment. She essentially reinvents herself at every point, when she does a job she has to prove more because she has to make sure that people understands that she is committed and at the same point she is not missing out on her other responsibilities. She is a natural risk taker and she is also a natural saver. In the sense we always talk about financial prudence, if you see right from the very begining our grandmothers and great grandmothers they were always saving. Even if their husband was earning a meagre they always had something saved in their purses, inner pockets, etc. for the reason that it would come into use in future, emergency, distress, etc.
Bala Devi Chandrashekar has quietly become one of the most compelling global voices in Bharatanatyam today—a dancer-scholar who treats the classical form not just as performance, but as a way of thinking about the world. A choreographer, researcher, artistic director, and Professor of Practice, she has spent decades showing how this ancient South Indian dance can carry complex ideas about philosophy, ethics, and human consciousness into modern spaces—from university classrooms to UNESCO and the Paris Olympics. With over 300 performances across 37 countries, her work has taken Indian classical dance far beyond its traditional geographies and audiences. At the heart of her work is a framework she calls “Artistic Intelligence,” where classical art is seen as a training ground for the mind: a discipline that shapes memory, focus, analytical ability, and emotional depth. In her view, Bharatanatyam is not just about beauty or devotion; it is a structured system that can generate knowledge and sharpen the way we perceive reality.
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