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Dr. Rita Kakati-Shah
Founder and CEO, Uma
is an award-winning, gender, diversity, inclusion and career strategist, speaker, author and advisor to Fortune 500 companies. She is the Founder and CEO of Uma, an international strategic consultancy and training platform that empowers confidence, inspires success, and builds resilience and leadership in women and minorities around the world. Rita is a Distinguished Alumna of King’s College London where she also serves on the Advisory Council of King’s Business School. She also serves as Trustee, Governor, and Board Advisor across multiple geographies and sectors. Rita has won multiple awards and recognitions from around the world, including Honoree of the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award from US President Joe Biden, and the Mahatma Gandhi Samman Award presented at the Houses of Parliament in London. She received her Doctorate of Humanities (h.c.) from Commonwealth University. Rita started her career on the trading floor of Goldman Sachs in London, where she was awarded the prestigious Excellence in Citizenship and Diversity Award. After a decade at the firm she went on to lead global business development in the pharmaceutical industry. As an advisor, international speaker, and guest lecturer at various academic institutions, multinational corporations, and global policy forums, Rita has given keynote talks, plenaries, and presentations at many distinguished forums around the world, including UNESCO in Paris, European Parliament in Brussels, Women in Finance in London, and many more spanning Assam, Delhi, Kenya, London, Madrid, Meghalaya, Moscow, New York, San Francisco, Sochi, Toronto, and Zambia. A frequent media contributor, Rita’s thought leadership has been featured in multiple international television shows, news segments, podcasts, and publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fortune, Fast Company, CBS News, Fox News, and Yahoo Finance. Rita mentors youth, schoolchildren, girls in STEM, survivors of domestic violence, incarcerated women, and C-Suite leadership, and is also the official mentor for entrepreneurs and small businesses in both New York and California states in the US. The bestselling author of “The Goddess of Go-Getting: Your Guide to Confidence, Leadership, and Workplace Success,” Rita’s book was launched by the Consul General of India in New York, Mr. Randhir Jaiswal, and cited by the First Lady of Assam, Mrs. Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, as the go-to book that all girls, women, and leaders should read. Rita has also co-authored research papers and books on women in business, the United Nation’s SDG 5, and diversity and inclusion. Rita also hosts the popular South Asian television show, The Uma Show, on Mana TV International, and is also a brand ambassador for US fashion brand Inner Be Leaf, opening shows for New York Fashion Week at the iconic Sony Hall runway. Rita is also a trained and accomplished classical Indian dancer in the forms of Bharata Natyam and Xattriya, as well as Latin dance forms of Salsa and Lambada. She enjoys post-Impressionist oil painting, is a foodie and loves trying new spots for afternoon tea around the New York metropolitan area, where she lives with her husband, two children, and puppies.
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