Shakti Society is a non profit society committed to empowering women, families and children through community forums, Shakti Awards, annual wellness days and other activities. Our mandate is to sup- port all members of society, especially women, in finding their power and voice to become strong leaders and advocates for themselves and the community. We have introduced various initiatives that help ‘awaken the power within’ and create dialogue around feminism and gender equality.

Due to the current pandemic we will not be presenting awards to women this year. However, we will be hosting our 21st Shakti Awards Celebration in honour of International Women’s Day online by invit- ing everyone to celebrate the accomplishments of women over the years and to look at the chal- lenges that lie ahead.

Past Shakti Award Recipients Shelina Mawani, Shahnaz Rahman and Karen Dosanjh who are very successful in their respective fields will join us on a panel to share their experiences and passions. These women are active in the community, they are role models and have consistently demonstrated the spirit of Shakti.

NEVR - Network To Eliminate Violence in Relationships is a supporting partner of our event. Founding member, Balbir Gurm, also a past Shakti Award recipient, will speak about the network and how we can take steps to address violence faced by women.

We will be joined by dignitaries from all levels of government. We will have entertainment with Comedy Queen Simi and Shakti Award Recipient Sitarist Anju Bedi.

Similar to past years, we will also be giving scholarships to young women from inner city schools of Surrey at this year’s Shakti Award celebration.

Tickets are on a sliding scale from $1-$25 and can be bought at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/shakti- awards-2021-tickets-142446550467?aff=ebdssbeac

For more information, call Sonia Andhi at 604-307-8796 or Niti Nielsen at 604-506-0953 or email shaktisociety2000@gmail.com