Board Members

Ratna Shukla Anand has worked extensively across the Indian TV news landscape over the last two decades. She has interviewed politicians, policymakers and newsmakers across the length and breadth of the country. She did her Post Graduate Diploma in Radio and Television from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi specializing in Reporting. She has produced and anchored many shows for Zee News, STAR News and ABP News. Ratna Shukla has also headlined shows on environment, science and technology, forensic science and other intellectual issues of national and international interest. She has a keen academic understanding of science owing to her Bachelor’s degree in Science from Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya, which aided her in conversations with healthcare workers, scientists, environmentalists and researchers.

During her journalistic career, she also anchored other television shows on women and children, highlighting the social issues faced by them - this ignited a drive for social work in her. She saw a huge difference between the rights and freedom availed by upper class women as compared to women from marginalized communities. Imbued with an evidence based approach inculcated in her journalism days and over a decade of covering such issues, she saw lack of awareness and agency as the main reason for women’s oppression. It led to her creating a space that collaborates with women for their emancipation and educates them so they can fight for their rights.

“I constantly felt there is a wide gap when it comes to conversations related to women centric issues, the important stakeholders are often not a part of the mainstream conversation. Politicians and policymakers claim to be the voice of the minority communities, with zero intimacy with the issues at hand. I joined Awaz-e-Khwateen with the aim to bridge this gap. My goal through Awaz-e-Khwateen is that women should be the change-makers and I truly believe agency comes through awareness, that is why every step we take at Awaz-e-Khwateen is not only to empower women but to also be an ally so they can reach their full potential on their own terms”