For those who don't know about Pravasvani, its the largest Indian Radio in North America serving the South Asian community in San Francisco bay area and beyond. You can listen to their programs on KLOK 1170 AM.
Pravasvani - a Hindi word which is a combination of 'Pravas' meaning immigrants and 'Vani' meaning voice. So Pravasvani essentially means Voice of immigrants. I was really inspired to know what started with just a fun program of one hour - Shyam ka Safar with RJ Din Mani in the first year, expanded to 10-17 hrs of programming in the next year and then by the end of second year Pravasvani took over the ownership of this radio and was broadcasting fun and informational programs 24 X 7 with 25 RJs on board. Local businesses who sponsor the radio programs and advertise on the radio have been instrumental in Pravasvani's journey of growth and success.
This networking conference was a great opportunity for the local business owners to connect with the radio company's management team and other business owners in the area, and of course, meet the very talented RJs in person whose voice we have got so used to. All local businesses - big or small, established or getting started, were invited to take part at the conference and based on the applications submitted, a personal invitation was sent to the business owners. Menka's Jewelry was one of them and I attended the conference with my husband Arun.
We got to meet the Pravasvani management - Raghu Malladi (President & CEO), Dr. Atul Tandon (COO) and Raj Kumar(CFO) (L to R in the image below) and their team of RJs.
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| From Pravasvani-Apr2011 |
Some of the RJs from my favorite programs are Din Mani and Shreeja of 'Chai Time Shaam ka Safar', Khushkhushal Khyati of 'Morning Masala', Jagruti Shah of "Khatta Meetha", Dr. Shobha Tandon of 'Health Hour', Bunty and Babli of 'Weekend Live'.
Me with Din Mani and Shreeja
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| From Pravasvani-Apr2011 |
We networked with many entrepreneurial local business owners. To name a few, Dinesh Gupta from Jewel of India Mall - first exclusive Indian mall in bay area, Srini Saripalli a Hypnosis expert, Dr. Rita Mitbavkar from UniSmile Dental, Deepak & Mudita Sharma from Fixtroniks, Jyoti Saboo a physical therapist from Pros In Rehab, Sangeeta Shukla a life coach from Polaris Life Essentials, Nathan Notary from Nathan Notary, Pushpa Pathak an expert real estate agent from Los Gatos Realty & Mtg Lenders Financial and Harjit Bhasin from Quick Alternations.
It was very encouraging and inspirational to know every body's story how they started their business, its current state and what they are doing to make it big or expand it further. I look forward to connect with more such business owners in future.
A big thanks to Pravasvani for organizing this conference and I hope to be on radio one day :)
Here's the complete photo album
