Gul Panag – Keynote Speaker

Gul Panang is an actress, model, former beauty queen and entrepreneur. She is one of India’s most powerful opinion makers and thought leaders. She is a frontline advocate and activist, regularly engaging in debates on issues like gender equality and justice, environmental issues, fundamental rights, corruption and political accountability.

A highly regarded actor and producer she has attained critical acclaim for her roles. She began her Bollywood career in 2003 with the film Dhoop. Since then she has starred in films like Jurm and the TV series Kashmeer.

Gul Panang is Co-founder of the technology company, Mobiefit that makes fitness apps. She is also involved in running a production company that makes cutting edge content.

Gul is an adrenaline junkie who loves outdoors and adventure sport. An accomplished off-road driver, she equally enjoys bungee jumping, white water rafting, rock climbing and endurance trekking. Having travelled to over 30 countries and dozens of cities, Gul’s appetite for new places and cultures is insatiable. The Government of Finland had appointed Gul as an honorary tourism ambassador as part of the ‘Visit Finland’ program in the year 2011. She is passionate about technology, aviation and automobiles. She is on the jury of various Automobile and Technology Awards and has recently received her Private Pilot License.

An icon for women’s fitness, she has extensively written and been interviewed on her fitness regimen, and is in the process of writing a book on fitness. She posts fitness tips regularly on her social media accounts.

Gul is recognized as one of the most influential people on social media in India, she runs a foundation in her grandfather’s name, ‘The Colonel Shamsher Singh Foundation’, an NGO that works towards a variety of causes including gender equality, education and disaster management. She ran the Delhi Half Marathon in 2010, enduring sexual harassment from male runners at the event. She later remarked that the attitude of men in Delhi needed to change and that the city was unsafe for women.

In 2014, Gul was the Aam Aadmi Party candidate from Chandigarh for the Lok Sabha Elections.

Gul Panang holds a Bachelors in Mathematics and Master’s degree in Political Science from Punjab University Chandigarh.