“Make It Happen” is the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day. Everyday millions of women make it happen for themselves, their family and the society around the world.

Over the years I have interviewed many women from different walks of life and have been lucky to talk to them about their lives and how they made it happen. Here is a playlist of YouTube video of women who I have interviewed from technology, business and arts. They share their stories on how they made it happen.

Starting a business is hard, and starting a food business as a new immigrant in the US is doubly hard. But that did not deter Sukhi Singh, who founded Sukhis, a multi-million dollar gourmet food company in San Francisco bay area. She started her business from her kitchen with just a kitchen blender. Then there is Shweta Rao Director of Bakery Innovation at Hampton Creek Foods. This San Francisco-based startup wants to disrupt the world of eggs by creating eggs from plant proteins.

 

 

Making films is filled with challenges right from raising money to finding the right cast and crew, distributors and finally making money at the box office. Filmmaker Haifaa al-Mansour talks about how she made her feature film in Saudi Arabia, where women cannot drive or go out and film with a camera. She sat huddled inside a van and directed the film from the confines of the vehicle. The film is about a young girl’s dream to own and ride a bicycle and it became the first Saudi film to enter the Academy Awards.  Pakistani filmmaker Sabiha Sumar shares on the challenges of making a film in her country.

 

 

 

 

Meet Academy Award winner Lisa Fruchtman, whose film “Sweet Dreams” brilliantly captures how a group of Rwandan women found a way to heal themselves through drumming and setting up the first ice-cream shop in Rwanda. “Gulabi Gang,” is about a group of women in India, who are fighting for themselves and other women and filmmaker Nishtha Jain takes us behind the scenes to talk about this women’s group.

And then there is a young, successful Hollywood actor, who gave it all up and joined a monastery and has written a book about her journey. Meet the delightful Mother Dolores Hart, who is perhaps the only nun who is voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

From technology and arts, we shift gears to diplomacy. Meet Ambassador Nirupama Rao, who served as  India’s Ambassador to the US, China, Peru and other countries. She served as India’s Foreign Secretary and retired from the Indian foreign services in 201. In this 2-part interview Ambassador Rao shares her love for music, poetry and working as a diplomat.

You can watch all these interviews, and more via this playlist.