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About Us
Mission & Vision
At The Mindful Initiative, our vision is to collaborate with individuals and organisations to realise their true potential by adopting a holistic approach towards personal well being and professional growth.
Nitesh, founder of The Mindful Initiative and India’s first certified Compassion Cultivation Training Instructor from Stanford’s CCARE, blends his expertise in yoga, mindfulness, and compassion with a passion for storytelling and nature. With a background in film production and significant roles in corporate America, he has also produced award-winning films in India. Educated in engineering and business, Nitesh’s teachings are enriched by his diverse experiences. Through his podcast and various mindfulness courses, he aims to guide individuals towards authenticity and compassion. A dedicated family man, Nitesh also organizes impactful initiatives like the 24-Hour Meditate for India Fundraiser.
Nitesh graduated from University of Maryland with a BS in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, and a Masters in Computer Engineering. He also holds an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. He is a graduate of the Compassion Cultivation Teacher Training program from Stanford Medical School’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE). He is an avid photographer.
Deepti is the Facilitator of The Mindful Initiative. She is a seasoned professional in the mental and emotional wellness industry, having founded Healclinic, an online platform for wellness therapists. With a finance management degree from Mumbai University and a fellowship in Life Insurance from LOMA, USA, she is also an ICF certified coach, an NLP coach, and a mind-body therapist. Over the past eight years, Deepti has positively influenced over 10,000 people worldwide through her wellness company, specializing in personalized sessions and workshops focused on mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Additionally, she serves as the Director of Programs at Zemyna Foundation, contributing to sustainability and women’s empowerment initiatives.
Naureen Bhullar, Ph.d. is an experimental psychologist who has conducted research for more than 10 years on varied topics, including emotions, emotional contagion, mindfulness, meaning of life, biases and well-being in the workplace, Generation Z, impact of gender on commuting, and autism in adults.
She has a PhD in Psychology from Virginia Tech and has done postdoctoral research in social psychology at Indian institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) on similarity and attraction, and leadership. She is the Research Advisor for The Mindful Initiative, where she has examined the impact of Ashtanga Yoga on perceived stress and state of mind in longitudinal research with the founder, Nitesh Batra. Their upcoming research projects include the impact of mindfulness on daily habits and holistic well-being (physical and psychological).
She is an ardent traveler and reader of history and historical fiction, biographies, and travelogues.
THE ADVISORS
Dr. Saamdu Chetri was born in a cowshed in Dagana district of Bhutan on 15 October 1957. He is married with four children. He holds a PhD in Commerce, a Master’s in Commerce and a Post-Graduation Certificate in HRM. He has served private sector and was the first graduate to do so. During his six-year tenure in the private sector, he worked closely with many renowned firms in India such as TATA, Tractors India Ltd., Durgapur Steel Plant, MacLean & Magor, Price Waterhouse and others. He also carries 18 years of experiences in the socio-economic development sector, where he worked as the Bhutanese Head for bilateral development agencies at Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Helvetas. During this period, he was a member of several development programs in and outside Bhutan. He has drafted over 60 reports, 3 annual programs, and has carried out many consulting assignments for organizations like UNDP, UNCDF, and Helvetas. His experiences and expertise range from rural development, micro finance, teaching, research, management of projects and administration.
After a short retirement break in 2005-06, he formed the Bhutan People’s United Party (a political party), with a few like-minded people which later took the shape of Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT), the first Ruling Party. Dr Chetri was not only actively involved in designing party machinery but was also instrumental in registering the party and selecting candidates. Later, he worked as the Campaigning Manager of the Party. After the Party formed the government, the Prime Minister of Bhutan appointed him to his office as the Head of Good Governance where he was instrumental in instituting the G2C system in the country. In 2012, he was given the heroic task to develop, build and institute a Centre in Central Bhutan, Bumthang, for Gross National Happiness.
Dr. Chetri has several publications to his credit and many interviews on radio, TV and magazines around the world. He has travelled to several countries in Asia, Europe, US, Australia, and Africa sharing the seeds of Gross National Happiness, the development paradigm of Bhutan since 1970s.
Sanjay Pandey is an industry leader in the field of Retail. Over the years, he has worn almost all hats in the retail Industry. He has a proven expertise managing functional teams driving organizational value and performance. In his previous roles, he headed Clarks Footwear, India and spearheaded Buying and Merchandising for The Future Group. He is a graduate of Bangalore University where he studied Textile Engineering and holds an MBA from Annamalai University. He enjoys traveling and currently lives in Delhi with his wife, Kavita.
RAMYA NEELAMEGHAM
ADJUNCT FACULTY AT IIM BANGALORE
Ramya Neelamegham did her undergraduate studies in Economics (Hons) at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University followed by an MBA at IIM, Ahmedabad, India. She worked as an Account Executive at J. Walter Thompson handling accounts of MNCs such as Nestle (Maggie Noodles) and Pepsi.
After this stint in industry, she did her Ph.D. at Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Chicago, IL, USA. Dr. Neelamegham’s doctoral work focussed on econometric modeling of consumer behavior for experiential products such as movies and music. Her thesis won the Howard Sheth Dissertation Award (Honorable Mention) and was published in the Journal of Marketing Research. Her research in applying statistical and econometric modeling to solve a variety of marketing problems has been published in top international journals such as Marketing Science, Marketing Letters, Journal of Marketing Research and Quantitative Marketing and Economics.
Dr. Neelamegham held academic positions at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, Paris, University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Colorado, Boulder conducting leading-edge research and teaching at the undergraduate, MBA and Ph.D. levels. In 2006, she took a break to pursue her spiritual interests and moved to a monastery (Hindu Temple) for several years, learning traditional methods of worship, meditation and offering service to the community.
For the past eight years, she has been offering courses at IIM, Bangalore on International Marketing and guest lectures on Spirituality and Management both to MBA students and executives. She has published two papers in this area and authored three books. These are as follows. The first is a Hindi verse translation of a Sanskrit scripture on Divine Mother (Durga Saptashati, Saral Hindi Kavita) and the other two are spiritual fiction novels entitled My Life, Your Temple, and Magic of Surrender.