Kalki Subramaniam
Kalki Subramaniam is an Indian transgender activist, artist, writer and actor. She is also a renowned international speaker. Kalki is the founder of Sahodari Foundation, an organization which works for the social and economic empowerment and upliftment of the Transgender people in India.
Kalki has done tremendous work towards inclusion of transgender people in India. She has sensitized about transgender rights and issues to more than a million students across India and is known for her relentless and fierce activism for establishing social justice and equality for transgender people in India and around the world.
She was one of the prominent Indian activists who advocated and lobbied behind the recognition of legal rights for transgender people by the Supreme court of India in 2014 which is considered a landmark victory for the transgender community in India.
Through Sahodari Foundation, she offers free workshops for transgender people and promotes their artworks and supports their livelihood. More than 500 transgender people have attended her workshops and benefitted. She has made many artists from the Transgender community and changed their lives.
She has been transforming the Corporate world for more than ten years with her deep and exceptional knowledge on Diversity and Inclusion of LGBTQIA+ community. She has been a DEIB Speaker who is a transgender rights champion. She has spoken at global corporations like Facebook, Adobe, Facebook, Walmart, Goldman Sachs, Google, Cognizant, Accenture, Saks Fifth Avenue, AstraZeneca, GEP, Moodys, ThoughtWorks, SAP Labs, Allianz Technologies, PhonePe, AGS health, Avantor, Zebpay, Guardian, IHG Hotels, Myntra, Micron, Mahindra Logistics, Deloitte, UKG, Synchrony and more.
She received numerous awards for social work, film performances and her literary contributions. On March 8th 2015, on women’s day, Facebook chose Kalki as one of the 12 inspiring women of the world who use Facebook as a community development platform for empowerment. In 2016, Kalki was nominated by L’Oreal Paris India as the ‘Woman of Worth’ under the arts category.
Her collection of poetry in Tamil titled ‘Kuri Aruthean’ (குறி அறுத்தேன்) was published in 2014. Kalki’s debut in Indian film world happened with ‘Narthaki’. She became the first transgender actor in India to do a lead role in a major motion picture.
Kalki has received various awards from many Indian states for her contributions to the transgender community. She has mentored hundreds of transgender persons and made many of them role models for other transgender youngsters. Today Kalki’s mentees from transgender community are doctors, artists, entrepreneurs, teachers and corporate managers.
As an artist and entrepreneur, Kalki has exhibited her artworks in India, Europe and USA. Through Sahodari Foundation, she offers free workshops for transgender people and promotes their artworks and supports their livelihood. More than 500 transgender people have attended her workshops and benefitted. She has made many artists from the Transgender community and changed their lives.
In February 2017, Kalki Subramaniam was invited by the Harvard University to speak at the India Conference. She received a standing ovation for her speech. In November 2018, she was invited by Schwules Museum in Berlin Germany to present her poetry, art and activism to special audience. In June 2019, she was invited by TransAmsterdam organisation, Netherlands and was conferred as the International Ambassador for life of the organization.
In June 2021, Kalki released her first English book ‘We Are Not The Others’ a collection of her poems, essays, art and monologue. In January 2022, the paintings of Kalki Subramaniam and five of her transgender students were selected to be displayed at University of South Florida, a true honour for the Indian Queer Community. In 2022, she received the prestigious Radhika Sen Memorial award from Plan India for the Red Wall Project she found in 2017.
In October 2022, she was invited to again to Harvard and to Yale, Cornell, Rutgers and University of Pennsylvania for speaking on activism, art and her literature. The same year she also won the Plan India Impact Award for her tireless work for the transgender community.
In August 2023, she launched her line of designer artistic wear Kals Apparel at the Bangalore Fashion Week. In November the same year, she was invited by California State University Northridge and Google Venice for speaking engagements in USA. In December 2023, she was appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt of India as the Southern Region Representative of the National Council For Trans Persons (NCTP).
In January 2024, she released her third book (in Tamil) named ‘Oru Thirunangaiyin Dairy Kurippu’ (A transgender women’s diary) In February the same year, she was invited by University of British Columbia in Vancouver Canada to speak on Sexual Orientation and Gender Inclusion at their event Dean’s Distinguished Lecture.
Kalki continues to untiringly work for the rights of LGBTQI community and transgender persons inclusion at all levels of the society.