About Us
Kalika Kekkar
Author
Author
Kalika Kekkar, is a seasoned technology executive with over two decades of experience in corporate America. She grew up in Mumbai, India and currently lives in Silicon Valley Bay Area, California, USA with her family and a dog.
She loves to interact with people and draws inspiration from listening to their life stories. She is passionate about giving back, and contributes by mentoring others, sharing her own journey into technology companies and actively championing programs to increase the diversity in the Tech community.
Past several years, she has been writing about Sarees, a six yard fabric. Through storytelling and extensive research, she now has over 85 distinct sarees shared in her published blogs. Her work has also been published in magazines such as Marathi Mandal New York organization etc. Recently, she shared her journey behind the "joy of writing" on Doordarshan Sahyadri TV channel.
This coffee table book is her maiden attempt to share a few of those saree stories along with uniquely created photos from her perspective.
Follow her on Instagram @sareerocks
Vaishali Bhat
Editor
Editor
Ms. Vaishali Bhat is a successful senior finance executive by profession, with experience in several top multinational companies. She is well-known in professional circles not just for her business and finance acumen, but also for her passion for people and organisation development – as a prolific trainer, champion of diversity and inclusion, and a valued mentor.
Vaishali is a multi-faceted personality. She has been a role model to many in the way she has deftly balanced an illustrious career while playing her family roles well and following her interests with zest. Music, dance, travel, photography are some of the hobbies she actively pursues. Her interest in language and literature goes back to her early years.
A writer herself, she writes in three languages on her blog site. “Sarees – Stories in Six Yards” is Vaishali’s first editing project, a great meeting point of her two passions – writing and sarees.
Shilpa Deshpande
Designer
Designer
Ms. Shilpa Deshpande is an established user experience designer, and multimedia artist working in San Francisco. Shilpa was born and raised in Mumbai, and her journey in design explores a wide range of design disciplines like graphic design, print work and digital experiences. Along with being a Sketchnote artist, she also loves to work on various mediums such as watercolors and ink and enjoys studying more about the different folk arts of India.
Besides her work with the pen and the brush, Shilpa is an accomplished Indian classical Bharat Natyam dancer. Under the guidance of her guru, Shilpa and her daughter have been an integral part of several dance productions for many years.
She loves addressing the fundamental everyday needs that people have with creative (and sometimes even magical) solutions. Her mantra is to “always find something interesting and motivating to express yourself”. She truly believes that one's ownership of a project can itself be a great motivation to accomplish outstanding work. This “Sarees – Stories in Six Yards” book design project is a fine testimony of her deep beliefs and creative expertise.
Haritha Haridas
Main Photographer
Main Photographer
Haritha Haridas is a software engineering leader passionate about technology, mentorship and being a voice for diversity, equity and inclusion.
She is a mom to a toddler and a 13 year old puppy. Haritha has been married to her college sweetheart, a fellow wanderlust and shutterbug. Her adventurous expeditions with her partner, and his love for photography is what first spiked her interest in it, and that eventually grew into a serious (and expensive :)) hobby that they both find every excuse to splurge on. A few of her photography projects are posted on https://www.kaleidoshots.com/
Haritha finds extreme joy in being able to freeze a moment into an ever lasting memory through photographs. She believes that every photograph tells a story. Alongside photography Haritha also loves to channel her creativity through doodling and cooking.
She is fortunate to have teamed up with Kalika on this book project to create a visual representation to some of the incredible stories Kalika has carefully weaved in the book, “Sarees – Stories in Six Yards”.