Deepti Asthana is an incurable travel addict, storyteller and a Travel and Documentary photographer. She is currently working as Canon India mentor. In last few years she has won many accolades including Youth photography award from UNESCO. She is an established name in the Travel industry, acting as a social media influencer for several Indian and International brands.  Her talent knows no bounds; she is currently working on a documentary project to address women specific issues named 'Women of India'.

Women of India is a self-initiated personal project to cover the stories of women in rural India. While documenting stories of women across India, I saw the dichotomy of these two Indias. The contrast is astonishing. While baby girls are given away, sold, or even killed in parts of rural India, urban women are gradually seizing power and asking for their rights. While things are changing in bigger cities, rural India is still far behind, where discrimination against women is largely whitewashed using the label of ‘Indian culture’. When it comes to modernization of thought and freedom of choice and speech, there is little progress. Women of India is an attempt to bring out stories from rural India and provide a platform to the unheard voices. I share these stories of struggle, stories of win, stories of breaking the norm – the stories of common women who are largely neglected.

Speaker for:
OVERCOMING EXPECTATIONS & BARRIERS ON WOMEN AND TELLING THEIR STORIES

Deepti Asthana, a documentary photographer and the founder of Women of India, shares her story as a young woman growing up in India and how travelling has helped her recognise similar stories in her journey in rural India. She emphasises on story telling through pictures, which depict stories of woman's strength to persevere in the most difficult of circumstances in India.