We were lucky to catch up with Dipti Kulkarni recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tell us about your inspiration to create an art series “Women’s Rights and Empowerment”.

Well, it was Dec 2012 when I had gone to India for my vacation. My inspiration to be an advocate for women’s rights sparked because of a 2012 Delhi gang rape case involving the rape and fatal assault of a 23-year-old woman in India. Deeply disturbed by the horror of the case, I wished to express her emotions creatively. With my one year old twins at that time, I wanted to do something powerful but something within my reach.

The poor woman! She gives birth, goes through tough time in her pregnancy, she tries to fight on all fronts, she works hard towards well-being of her family, she has to be best in all her roles, she has to earn money and support her family too. She tries to keep quite if she is a victim herself of any of the social issues because she is concerned about her family and she is a weaker entity in this society.

I decided to portray agonies of women and I decided to use bright and bold colors with heavy contrast. I didn’t want these works to be dark even though the topics are sad. I wanted Art to convey the message. My art series “Women’s Rights and Empowerment” was born! It had initially 8 artworks and then evolved to 10, then 15 and now 18. This art series highlights the social issues that a woman undergoes right from when she is in the womb throughout her life. I believe that an art has a great power of expression and can influence and hence I’ve used my art to bring social awareness. I want women to stand up, raise their voice and live with pride and respect. Laws are different everywhere, and everywhere women are experiencing these issues, just in different forms. However, the root cause is the same. These issues are globally present but present in different forms. So, I choose to focus on the general issue because it has greater impact.

I started getting exhibit opportunities through word of mouth and my first two exhibition opportunities came in India which were very well-received. Then I started taking my artworks from India to USA back and forth several times. My husband really plays an important role supporting my (ad)venture and helping in all logistics.

Then I decided to make the works powerful by adding 20-liner poetry on each subject. I started reciting these poems in various forums. Every year, I work on one subject and produce one powerful poem that can be easily understood globally. By grace of God, my poems won several awards and the series “Women’s Rights and Empowerment” started becoming more powerful and impacting.

“Women’s Rights and Empowerment” ends in HOPE. I always believe in Hope and I think the world has positivity because of hope. So, I always wanted to portray that the woman is getting help from others and she starts feeling that this life is beautiful. So, my signature artwork in this series is “Life is Beautiful”.

My art has been on cover page for several magazines.

Since few years, university students in India and USA have started writing their research papers on my works. I do guide and mentor the students.

It is a great satisfaction to see students getting an inspiration from my work. It gives immense satisfaction when someone tells that these works inspired them to speak-up. This is the most satisfying and best award for me!

Who is your hero and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey? Any relevant stories or anecdotes you can share to help us understand what they were like and why and how they’ve influenced you?

My parents are certainly my heroes for variety of reasons. For that, let me share my background and give you examples of how they influenced me positively at various stages of life.

Born in an Indian family, I am raised across various states of India as my dad was an Indian Army Officer. I am currently settled in New Jersey, USA. Have learnt basics of painting from my mom who served as a Vice Principal in High School. Ever since my childhood, I was always interested in Art and won several art competitions. My mom used to teach me the basics of art. Intermediate Drawing exams were popular in my state (Maharashtra) and I had got “A” grade in it which was difficult to secure. My life has always been surrounded by art. I believe that everything can be perceived as an art.

But usually in India, if you are good in academics, you normally tend to follow the trend. And, not to blow my own trumpets, but I had topped my school and was a merit rank holder. So, I also decided to choose Computer Engineering following the trend. However, I never gave up on paintings. I used to pursue it in my leisure time. It was my mom who supported my passions and also making me realize my priorities while studying computer engineering. She being a teacher herself, was able to help me get organized and taught me to not give up and take things to completion properly. As a result, I was fortunate to top my engineering college as well.

I must attribute the success of my artistic and women empowerment journey to my upbringing, positive mindset, the conducive environment my parents provided and people support. I always had that additional confidence and exposure with my Army background. My dad played a role model when it comes to accept the challenges and overcome them with courage. I learnt from him to stand by my principles, ethics and values. My mom has certainly passed me her qualities of organization, dedication and taking things to completion.

Tell us about your background, your values

I am an IT Professional in Finance Industry by profession and an artist/poet by passion. I want this world to be a better and inclusive place to live.
I strongly believe that, “Art has a great power of love and expression,” and so I use my artistic skills for women empowerment. I focus on using acrylics/oils primarily. Bold brush strokes, powerful expressions, vibrant colors with high contrasts and depth of the subject makes my art stand out. I have exhibited my works at various solo exhibits internationally and in USA.

Aside from raising consciences about the social ills facing women, I strive to inform others about folk arts throughout the world, the Indian culture, and to encourage expression through the “language of colors.”

MyTag Line says it all “…where Creativity meets Colors!”

Following are the ABCs of my life that I would like to share with you.

A is for Attitude – I believe challenges are there everywhere. It is more important how we overcome them. Our attitude matters the most. We can always see things with better perspective if we have a positive attitude. If we are determined to do something, the doors automatically open for us and we find out the way to navigate. It is aptly said “where there is a will, there is a way!”

B is for “Be the change you want to see” – I decided to pursue my career in Engineering/IT but always had in mind to use my artistic skills. I was fortunate enough to use these skills for women empowerment.

I never had dreamt that I would ever be doing anything in Diversity and Inclusion space or for women empowerment. Things just unfolded themselves one after the other and kept evolving. Every success or recognition was just another realization that the work is not done but there is a long way to go. So, this keeps me going. I spend lot of time creating awareness about various subjects in society via various forums. The topics are human trafficking, domestic violence, saving a girl child, creating an inclusive workplace and variety of abuse against women. I try to inspire women to speak up and raise their voice and also create male allies.

I was Global Diversity and Inclusion award, awarded the most distinguished award at my workplace, in 2019 and 2021. It just feels amazing when the work is recognized. But the recognition is a pat on the back for me or an encouragement to take next step and effort.

Was fortunate to be named in Heroes Role Model List by Involve and Yahoo Finance since 2020. Also, got the place in Empower Role Model list by Involve and Yahoo Finance since 2021. Got Spot in Women in Fintech Powerlist by Ernst and Young in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, I was named in their “StandOut 45” list as well.

So, all this recognition, to me, is the byproduct of this journey. My greatest award is when someone tells me how my art or poetry inspired them to speak up. This gives me immense satisfaction.

C is for “Community giveback” – I believe in community giveback and I certainly owe to my community and people who have been so instrumental in my journey. A journey is always interesting and easy if done together or with people rather than traveling alone. People are an important part of my journey.

I never had imagined I would blend an artist and engineer within me for society’s betterment!

Tell us about your hobbies and how do you balance work-life.

Apart from art and poems, I love traveling. Recently been to Switzerland and what a beautiful country! Prior to that, in Dec 2022, we had been to Grand Cayman Island and it is beautiful tropical island with great food. Every year we try to visit India to see our loved ones and show beautiful Indian culture and various historical places to kids as they like exploring new places too.

I recently created a YouTube channel for “Empowerment and Travel”. I started learning video making with that which is fun. My channel is #diptikulkarni (@dipti.kulkarni)

I also enjoy cooking variety of cuisines. I bake pizza and got better at it over the years that my kids love the pizza I bake.

I like karaoke singing. Bollywood has great influence on me and so I sing primarily the Bollywood songs and some times create my own rendition and fusion of Bollywood and Western songs.

Spending time with my family is something I just enjoy. Hearing from kids about their school happenings, new learnings, their projects – everything is so good, they teach me a lot. I like reading with them, solving puzzles, playing board games, planning trips, baking etc.

All these hobbies keep life going positively.

Prioritization is always needed. I always have my Daily TODO list and many times we have to push low priority items to latter date to pick up something that is more important. So, this helps keeping the balance without burning out.

I make it a point to do 30 mins yoga or 30 mins walk every day. This is very refreshing.

I am sure you  would want to Thank so many people during this journey. Tell us about that.

Btw, there really are so many people that have contributed along the way. But I first have to thank my dad, Lt. Col. Dilip Kulkarni (Retd.) for instilling in me a strong set of values, confidence and boost independent thinking. I always got so much exposure due to his Army service. Of course, I have to thank my mom, Mrs. Vasanti Kulkarni who is a retired vice-principal of school. My mom taught me basics of painting and always encouraged me to pursue my passion. I learnt balancing work-life from her seeing her do that all the time. My parents always provided conducive environment to flourish which I think is very important in the development. In addition, I owe so much to my husband, Amit Deshmukh, who has been a big support in this journey and helps manage all logistics.

I am so much thankful to my 12 year old twins who had always enjoyed my art events, exhibits, and behave like good kids. Now, they keep me active and motivated.

I have to thank my sister, Anuja Kulkarni, who is a big support in this journey. I usually share my ideas with her to get her perspective as well. Thankful to my in-laws, and extended family in India for being there for me. I must thank my friends, teachers, colleagues, mentors, folks/organizations believing in me, providing me opportunities, and recognizing this effort. This journey is for the people and not possible without them.

Contact information:

• Website: https://www.diptiarts.net/
• Instagram: @diptikulkarni.official
• YouTube: @dipti.kulkarni
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diptikulkarni

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