TEDxVIT Pune

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Arjun Sethi

  Content Creator

  Arjun Sethi is a coffee creator and educator who makes specialty coffee simple, practical, and genuinely enjoyable. He breaks down coffee concepts, brewing methods, gear, and everything you need to know to make better coffee at home, without the jargon or unnecessary snobbery. His goal is simple: help more people understand coffee and make better coffee at home.

• Chanak Doshi

  Founder

  Chanak Doshi is the founder of Simply Offbeat Holidays, a travel company focused on meaningful, community-led, and offbeat experiences across India and the world. He has a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Pune University and an MBA in Marketing. After a decade in software sales, a turning point in 2013 led him to explore communities, local culture, and lesser‑known destinations. He is an active promoter of responsible and offbeat tourism and has been invited by Maharashtra Tourism for the Gholvad Festival (Feb 2026) for his work promoting local culture. He was also invited to the Sikkim Rural Tourism Meet at Uttarey Village (March 2025) for promoting community-based tourism and showcasing offbeat destinations. Chanak was an exhibitor at Holiday World & Region World 2025 Prague, representing India’s offbeat travel segment."

• Isha Oswal

  CEO

  Isha Oswal is CEO of JISA Softech, one of India's leading cybersecurity companies, and the strategic architect behind CryptoBind, an enterprise-grade cryptographic security and privacy engineering platform. She combines deep technical expertise in applied cryptography and data protection governance with executive vision to secure digital assets in a cloud-driven economy. They have delivered solutions including Hardware Security Modules (HSMs), Cloud HSM, Key Management Systems (KMS), tokenization, and data masking, now widely adopted across fintech, government, and enterprises handling mission-critical data. Her approach emphasizes strong key ownership, data sovereignty, and high-availability architectures. Isha is also an active voice in India's cybersecurity policy landscape, contributing to discussions on the DPDP Act and secure cloud adoption, grounded in real-world implementation experience.

• Ishita Malpani

  Director

  Mrs. Ishita Malpani is a Director at the Malpani Group and plays an active role in strengthening the Group's consumer-facing businesses, particularly Amruta Tea in the FMCG sector. With academic credentials from NMIMS, University College London, and the University of Southern California, she brings a strong foundation in economics, management, consumer psychology, and analytics. Prior to joining the Group, she gained international experience as a Senior Data Analyst in Los Angeles. She combines data-driven decision-making with deep consumer understanding to drive brand development, market growth, and long-term customer engagement.

• Kabir Khanuja

  Student

  Kabir Khanuja is a Computer Science student at VIT Pune, a musician, and a curious explorer at the intersection of technology and sound. Having trained in Hindustani Classical music for over six years, while exploring Jazz, Pop, songwriting, keyboard, and music production, he sees music not merely as an art, but as a system of patterns, frequencies, and relationships. His engineering mindset led him to explore a question that sits between music and neuroscience: why do certain sounds make us feel the way they do? His work explores how the brain perceives sound, predicts musical patterns, connects music with emotion and memory, and responds to rhythm and structure.

• Khayal - e - Bandish

  Musicians

  Khayal-e-Bandish is a Pune-based contemporary Sufi and Qawwali ensemble that draws from India’s rich musical traditions while incorporating contemporary sounds and live arrangements. Founded in 2023, the ensemble brings together powerful vocals, expressive instrumentation, and an engaging stage presence to create an immersive musical experience. The six-piece ensemble has performed across cultural festivals, concerts, private events, and curated musical experiences, presenting Sufi, Qawwali, and fusion music to diverse audiences. Their performances are rooted in the atmosphere of the traditional mehfil, while embracing the energy and dynamism of a contemporary live band.

• Prasanna Desai

  Architect, Educator

  Prasanna Desai is an architect, urban designer, and educator whose work explores how the spaces we inhabit shape the way we live, connect, and participate in society. He is the founder of Prasanna Desai Architects, a Pune-based practice that works across architecture and urban design, with a particular emphasis on the public domain. Desai has spent decades examining how cities can become healthier, more inclusive, and more humane. His practice has focused on people-participatory approaches to affordable housing, neighborhoods, and the design of safe, socially shared streets.

• Siddharth Menon

  Film and Theatre Actor | Performer | Musician

  Siddharth Menon is an Indian actor and musician acclaimed for his grounded, emotionally resonant performances across cinema, stage, and digital media. Emerging from Pune’s theatre scene, he co-founded the influential collective Natak Company, cultivating the disciplined, understated presence that allows him to navigate indie films, grand spectacles, and web series with ease. Working across Marathi and Hindi industries, he is celebrated for bringing authentic vulnerability to human stories. His portrayal of trauma and healing in June earned him a National Film Award (Special Mention), followed by mainstream acclaim in the commercial blockbuster Dashavatar. Showcasing remarkable range, Siddharth starred in the Broadway-style musical Disney's Aladdin and headlined the hit Marathi series Premala Conditions Apply. Also a singer-songwriter, he has expanded his creative reach by releasing the single "Tu Baithi" and performing "Jaadumantar" for "Premala Conditions Apply."