ATA Washington DC Chapter’s Grand 11th International Women’s Day Celebrations

The American Telugu Association (ATA) of Washington DC Chapter successfully organized International Women’s Day (IWD)-2023 Celebrations with the #EmbraceEquity theme on Saturday, April 1, 2023 at Chinmaya Somnath, Chantilly, Virginia. The Program was kicked off by ATA President Mrs. Madhu Bommineni garu, President-Elect Jayanth Challa garu, Past President Bhuvanesh Boojala garu, and BOT Sudheer Bandaru garu lighting lamps.

The ATA DC Team expressed special thanks to President Madhu Bommineni garu for coming from Raleigh, NC to grace the Event. Madhu Bommineni garu, Jayanth Challa garu, and Bhuvanesh Boojala garu shared their memories of ATA IWD celebrations. ATA is the first national Telugu organization to celebrate IWD, and the ATA DC Team was the first within ATA to celebrate the IWD in 2013. This year ATA marked its 11th celebration.

ATA leadership gave inspiring comments on women empowerment and to include, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion across all walks of life. ATA felicitated special guests who gave inspirational speeches at the Event: Rachna Sizemore Heizer, Member at Large of Fairfax County School Board, Magdalene Johnson Obaji, President & CEO for NIS Solutions Corp, and Anupama Katikaneni, Founder & CEO – Tharu Technologies.

The discussion by panel members, Mrs. Madhu Bommineni – ATA President, Rachna Sizemore Heizer – School Board member, Anasuya Malyavantham- Dance Academy, Srilakshmi Repalli – Entertainment, Vijaya Rallabandi – Real Estate Entrepreneur and Swapna Nagireddi- IT Executive for Banking Sector shared their experiences on women empowerment, and balancing life between family and work.

Swarnadevi Gudla and Prathyusha Naraparaju coordinated the panel discussion.
ATA BOT Sudheer Bandaru moderated a discussion on critical ingredients for starting and operating a successful small business. The panel members included Jayanth Challa, Member (Governor appointee) Virginia Small Business Commission, and Anupama Katikaneni, Founder & CEO -Tharu Technologies. They shared their experience and provided resources available to Virginia small businesses.

The Event included dance performances by kids and adults of all age groups, quizzes, and games. Each activity was accompanied by prizes and an ATA Voluntary certificate to acknowledge the effort put in by the participants. Voluntary services were spearheaded by our next-generation teenage kids, who were presented with mementos. Additionally, special emphasis was given to enrolling next-generation kids and youngsters into ATA, and we made considerable progress towards this.

Thanks to our strong ATA DC women’s team Deepika Boojala (Youth Scholarships Committee Member), Nandini Reddy Yedulla (Health Committee Member), Anitha Muthoju (Matrimony Committee-Chair), Gayatri Chokkavarapu (Spiritual Committee Chair), Sheetal Bobba (Social Media Committee – Chair), Prashanthi Mutyala (Regional Co-Chair) and Special Thanks to Anusha Ganji (Youth Committee Member-Region), Ravallika Banoth, Prathyusha Naraparaju, Rohini Challa (Business Committee Member) who worked very hard to make this Event successful.

Board of Trustee Sudheer Bandaru thanked all the Supporters and Sponsors: Vyra DesignerJewels, Desi 360, Parinaya Trends, SomiReddy Law Group, Kakathiya Kitchen, Country Oven, Hello2India Grocessory, Desi Chowrasta Restaurant, ARK, SKY Solutions, Label by VEENA, Adavantage IT Inc & KiRaak Entertainments and Media Partners for all the support and the coverage.

ATA DC International Women’s Day-2023 event was successful because of great coordination between all ATA members. Special thanks to President-Elect Jayanth Challa, Past President Bhuvanesh Bhoojala, Board of Trustee Sudheer Bandaru, Regional Director Koushik Sama, Regional Advisor Sudheer Damidi, Ravi Challa(Corporate Sponsorship-Chair), Regional Co-ordinators Hanimi Vemireddy, Amar Pashya, Harsha Barenkabai, Malla Kalva & Lohith Reddy, Ramu Mundrathi(Media-Chair), Malla Reddy, Amar Bojja, Venkat Vootkuri (Sports-Regional Chair),Anil Boinapalli (Business Committee Member), Rana Chegu (Business Committee Advisor),Kiran Padera(Community Services-RChair), Pavan Govardhana(Member Benefits), Anil Kasineni(Member Resources-Chair),Naveen Ranga(Education-Member), Praveen Dasari (Publicity-Chair),Sridhar Sana (Sports-Chair),Sanjay Naidu (Web&Technology-Co-Chair).