The Goa School holds monthly talks. Each talk is an ‘Open Talk’ because it’s an open space where everyone is invited to listen, because we speak openly, even on difficult subjects, and because we are open about sharing our knowledge and networks.
The Goa School’s talks are free for everyone. All live talks and events may be attended via this link. | (Note: Click here for Board Meetings only.)
See below for this year’s talks (2025). Previous years’ talks are available here: 2022 | 2023 | 2024.
OPEN TALK 2025
Kishore Singh Kishore Kumar Singh recently retired as the Senior Regional Skills Adviser at the ILO’s Regional Office for Arab States in Beirut, where he was responsible for 12 countries in the region. Over the past 15 years, he has held various international roles with the ILO and UNDP, serving as a technical adviser and team leader in South Asia and the Arab States. With a career spanning 32 years, Mr. Singh has worked in 16 countries across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. His expertise lies in skills development and lifelong learning, strengthening labour market institutions, and poverty reduction — with a strong focus on gender equality, green and digital transitions, and disability inclusion. In this talk, he outlines the most important aspects of how to stay current in the job market — finding out where the jobs are, and upskilling yourself to meet job requirements. He is in conversation with Madhuri Dass Woudenberg, Founder-Director of The Goa School.
Wenceslaus Mendes is a filmmaker, artist and researcher who creates immersive projects that highlight sustainability, culture and social justice. Through his work with indigenous and tribal communities, he focuses on issues of land, water and environment. Most recently, he curated the Goa Water Stories. Jyotsna Kaur Habibullah is CEO of the Lucknow Farmers Market, an online sustainable platform that allows users to live sustainably by connecting farmers, rural, grassroot and start-up entrepreneurs and allied services to citizens who want to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Both speakers interact regularly with The Goa School. In this talk, they combine forces to discuss key issues surrounding sustainability for the awareness initiative Sustainable September. The speakers are in conversation with Madhuri Dass Woudenberg, Founder-Director of The Goa School.
Madhuri Dass Woudenberg is Founder-Director of The Goa School, and while many of us know her in this Avatar, we wanted the chance to get to know about her life before she set up The Goa School. This talk features stories from Madhuri’s previous working life: her first job taught her how to type, and her second invited her to think about the power of change, while working in a small organisation. Eventually, she went on to work for better resourced and managed international NGOs which allowed for urgent social problems to be solved quickly, and at scale. Like everyone, she faced her share of bad bosses and has advice on how to deal with office politics. This talk is a must watch, and is ably conducted by Stephanie Mani, Fellow of The Goa School, who brings her own insightful commentary to the talk.
July’s much awaited talk features Russell Dsouza, talking about the fundamentals of money management. Russell has spent sixteen years in the field of finance. He holds an MBA in Finance and Human Resources and has worked in stock broking and financial services with large Indian companies. He now runs Smart Investments, his own company, handling a portfolio of 2000 clients, with close to INR 200 Crores in assets under management (AUM). Russell’s mission is to spread financial awareness to everyone, to help them invest smartly without getting cheated in Ponzi (fraudulent) schemes in the market, as well as starting investments at an early age. Russell is in conversation with Paloma Quadros, Operations Head at The Goa School. Note that The Goa School does not endorse any investments of any kind and has curated this talk for learning purposes only.
Shubhangi Singh is a queer-feminist social justice advocate, with over a decade of experience advancing gender justice. She works with the legal system to make the law more accessible and fair for all, especially the weakest sections of society. She has clear views on dismantling patriarchy. Imran Kokiloo is a Dad, a photographer, a consultant and a mentor at The Goa School. He has had a career in the hospitality industry, and the FMCG sector before he began taking photographs documenting the conflict in Kashmir. He brings up his daughters on instinct. In this talk, each speaker brings a unique perspective to the debate on whether girls feel seen, heard and safe in India’s ever evolving society.
Jyotsna Brar is a renowned educationist, who has served as the Principal of Welham Girls’ School Dehradun, founded a girls’ school in Jodhpur and has been an advisor to the CBSE and CISCE Boards in India. She is also connected to establishments for persons with disabilities and a school for girls from weaker sections of society. In this fascinating talk, as both a lover and a teacher of literature, Jyotsna asks young people to imagine their lives as a novel, and to objectively analyse the way their lives are unfolding. In addition, she provides insights on how to get past things that do seem to be working out. She is in conversation with Kavita Dass, director of ICS Education Ltd and a member of the Board of Directors of The Goa School Trust. ICS Education Ltd promotes Human Resource development through career counselling and guidance programmes. Kavita is also an animal rights activist.
Rohina Dass studied international relations and worked on climate action as well as in the public health domain, before she realised that this ‘important’ work just was not for her. She pivoted early, and charted her own path by setting up a design firm at the age of 27. She is now in the throes of growing this work to serve a slew of clients, including supporting the work of other changemakers around her. Her message to young people wanting to make a change is that not everyone needs to bring about or cause ‘disruptive’ change: someone who has a clear vision and brings about incremental changes, counts just as much. She notes that those with a disruptive idea will still need people around them to make it work. Rohina is in conversation with Paloma Quadros, Operations Head at The Goa School.
Changemakers often wonder: ‘Where do we begin?’ in reference to organizing themselves and formalising their efforts. Three experts unpick this central question: Aastha Dua is a consultant who helps non-profits with assessing their social impact, and is an expert at program quality and design, as well as donor stewardship and communications. Jyotsna Kaur Habibullah is an entrepreneur who uses a hybrid profit/not-for-profit model to help small farmers get their produce to market, with a particular interest in women becoming independent entrepreneurs. Both, in conversation with Madhupriya, a Fellow of The Goa School, who started her own enterprise focused on college sponsorships, ‘Heads Held High,’ provide insights on various models and their benefits. Jyotsna, whose platform ‘Lucknow Farmers Market’ is an association of over 5,000 brands in 14 years, says we should start small, and keep your eye on our central purpose. Aastha says we should introspect on how we would like to solve for social problems, before we can decide where in the arena to fit in: the not-for-profit sector, hybrid social impact enterprises, corporates with a social conscience, or even working for local government.
Nitya Jacob & Sunetra Lala wrote a book called ‘A Memoir of Two Toilet Inspectors,’ and, in their own words, “Shit stinks!” In this important talk about water, sanitation and hygiene, or WASH, they cover a range of issues, including what constitutes clean water, the fact that not a single Indian has access to it, and that the health and economic prosperity of our nation is in fact tied to the the link between ‘dirty’ water supply on the one hand, and our consumption of it, on the other. Each speaker brings nearly 20 years of experience from the WASH sector, having worked with the UN and development agencies: Sunetra advocates for better ownership of services in rural and urban settings, and Nitya focusses on strategy and development planning. In conversation with Madhuri Dass Woudenberg, Founder-Director of The Goa School, Nitya makes a plea for understanding where our water comes from (rivers, lakes and other water reservoirs), and where it goes (from the toilet), and Sunetra says that WASH services need to be made more equitable and inclusive.
Vicky Roy is a photographer who grew up on the streets of New Delhi. Originally from West Bengal, he ran away from home to make a new life as an eleven-year-old boy. He lived on the railway platform and soon came into contact with the Salaam Baalak Trust, an NGO that supports street children in India, where he was first encouraged to take up photography. Vicky never looked back. His publication ‘Home Street Home’ is a visual telling of his own life in a shelter home. His images have been exhibited at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, he was selected by the Maybach Foundation to document the reconstruction of the World Trade Center in New York, was awarded the MIT Media Fellowship in 2014 and was listed in Forbes Asia’s 30 under 30 in 2016 — to name just a few of his achievements as a photographer. Vicky tells his story at The Goa School, unpacking not only how he develops his gaze, how he benefitted from mentoring but also why he gives back to society despite having very few resources himself. Vicky is in conversation with Rohit Kumar, a Fellow of The Goa School and a keen photographer in his spare time, as well as Madhuri Dass Woudenberg, Founder-Director of The Goa School.