Priscilla T. Gonsalves
Priscilla Tapley Gonsalves ( Born September 27, 1950 in Binghamton, New York) is a Historian (PHD- focus on East European & Russian history), teacher and a social entrepreneur. Born and raised in the United States, she spent her childhood and school life traveling across the United States. She then joined the Peace Corps. She spent two years in Afghanistan as a volunteer teaching English to school girls, and one year in Yugoslavia for her doctoral research. She came to India in 1989, and there she has raised two daughters, taught school and college courses, opened and run Willy’s Coffee Pub – Ooty’s first lending library & cafe. She later on shifted to Northern India and founded EWOK, an NGO helping the local women in the Kamand Valley of Himachal Pradesh attain their goals. She has been a Director of Nilgiri Networks (P) Ltd since its founding in 1999, and advised the IIT Mandi Campus School Management Committee during its first few years.
Her mother, Claire T. Hopkins, was a passionate naturalist and birder introduced her to the local wildlife in various localities in the US. She developed a strong passion for and empathy with wildlife. During her time on the IIT campus in the Kamand Valley she has spotted and identified much of the wildlife found in that area. She has written two books based on her observations: “From Leopards to Lizards: A Brief Introduction to the Permanent Residents of Kamand”, Vol. II, IIT Mandi Kamand Valley Monographs, and a special edition for children “From Leopards to Lizards: Animals of Kamand”. She is conversant with many languages including French, German, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Dari, Tamil and Hindi.
Kartiki Gonsalves
Kartiki Gonsalves is an Indian director, documentary filmmaker. She is the first Indian Film Director to have ever won an Academy Award in the history of India, A historic milestone in Indian cinema. Elizabeth Olsen and Pedro Pascal presented The Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film to ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ at THE 95TH ACADEMY AWARDS | Sunday, March 12, 2023, held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.
Alongside that she received the prestigious The Paul Harris Award from Rotary International at a ceremony in India in December, 2023. The Paul Harris Award is the highest form of recognition given by Rotary Clubs to honour significant efforts in service and humanitarian work.
Kartiki Gonsalves, the debut Oscar Winning director of the acclaimed documentary 'The Elephant Whisperers,' was presented with the prestigious Tara Award by their Majesties, King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the Lancaster House, London in June of 2023. She was honoured by the Royals for making significant contribution to human-wildlife co-existence. The Tara Award, inspired by the sacred bond between elephants and humans, recognises extraordinary achievements in storytelling and advocacy for coexistence.
She is also one of the first women chosen as a Sony Alpha Artisan of Imagery in India. Kartiki Gonsalves was honoured one of GQ India’s Most Influential Young Indians of 2023. She is also associated with brands like Peak Design, Swarovski Optik Nature Explorer 2021, and photojournalist currently based out of the Nilgiri mountains in the Western Ghats of Southern India. Gonsalves is also the founder of Earth Spectrum, an organisation founded in 2018 which uses the power of storytelling to raise awareness about biodiversity and cultural life.
Kartiki infuses her passion for adventure to bring new perspectives and a deeper public understanding to the environmental and humanitarian issues that define our times. She strives to document our natural world and to help others better understand the profound connection that we share with it. On the cultural side, she focuses on capturing the diversity of cultures and tribes across the world where she seeks to give a platform to women and indigenous tribes, especially those working to conserve nature. Kartiki focuses on solutions and highlight projects that show success stories where conservation is working to give hope.
In late 2018, she was a part of the filming crew (one of the camerawomen) for the episode “The Asiatic Black bear” of the TV series ‘On The Brink’ for Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. This show focuses on many endangered species across India together with the stories of researchers and scientists involved in protecting them. Gonsalves’s photography work has been published in The Hindu, Economic Times, Deccan Herald, Scroll.in, Jet Airways- Jet Wings, Smart Photography, and Classic Imaging for which she is a freelance photographer. Her most recent work captured women’s lives in a land torn between two hostile neighbors in the northernmost tip of India on “The Line of Control” between India and Pakistan. Kartiki is also working on a long term project documenting and learning about an elusive cat species in the Western Ghats of Southern India. Her photographic work focuses on capturing the wonders of nature and diversity of cultural groups across the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kartiki_Gonsalves