Former Managing Editor, Tehelka

Shoma Chaudhury is an award-winning journalist, editor, and political commentator. In 2011, Newsweek in the US picked her as one of 150 power women "who shake the world”. Among a slew of other journalistic accolades, she has been awarded the prestigious Ernest Hemingway Award for Political Journalism, the Mumbai Press Club award for political journalism, the Ramnath Goenka award and the Chameli Devi Award for Best Woman Journalist for -- in the words of the citation -- "going where angels fear to tread”.

Shoma has been the managing editor and one of the founders of Tehelka, an investigative public interest newsmagazine. She was also the founder and editor-in-chief of CatchNews, a digital newsplatform. She is currently founder and director of Algebra - the Arts and Ideas Club, a unique new forum for critical conversation, constructed to spark new ideas and challenge perspectives.

Apart from her career in print journalism, Shoma is a virtuoso speaker, both on television and stage, and has been invited to address many forums both in India and abroad, including America, Britain, Edinburgh, Italy, France, Spain, Australia, Singapore and Indonesia. Additionally, she has interviewed the most cutting edge minds globally on politics, policy, business, science, civil society, cinema, literature, sports and media. Shoma also co-founded and was director of THiNK, a trend-setting conference of ideas.