WOSA Asia

 

Woodstock Old Students Association  ASIA

 

Founded in 2020, WOSA Asia is a dedicated organisation for Woodstock School’s alumni community in the Indian Subcontinent and across Asia. This community hopes to be a real asset to the school, not only because of its physical proximity to the campus but also because of its formidable network and immense goodwill towards their alma mater. WOSA Asia is an initiative led by a group of enthusiastic alumni who have volunteered their time and resources towards this endeavour. They hope to be able to establish a strong foundation for WOSA Asia in order for it to contribute to and support Woodstock in many meaningful ways.

 

We would love to hear your ideas and feedback! Write to us by clicking on the button below.

Message from the Committee Members

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WOSA Asia Internship Programme

 

WOSA ASIA has set up an internship programme for recent alumni attending college. These internships are a great way to apply classroom knowledge to gain real world experience. They range from hospitality to marketing and span across various countries in the region.

 

Read below to see the internships offered through the WOSA Asia Internship Program.

Internships Offered

 

Diva Divine Hair Extensions and Wigs

Delhi, India

Diva Divine Hair India launched in 2008. We are the first retailer of human hair extensions and wigs in India with a retail store in the heart of New Delhi. Our promise is to offer the highest quality human hair, with the widest variety of hair extensions and wig products, at the most affordable prices to stylists and consumers in India.

Marketing, Social Media Management, and Influencer Management

Number of Internships offered: 3

 

YeewongBhutan

Bhutan

YeewongBhutan is Bhutan’s leading multi-media company. Our primary endeavour is to promote and tell stories of Bhutan through artistically and professionally rendered videos, and through Bhutan’s only in-print lifestyle magazine. Our channels include Yeewong Magazine, Yee Getaway, Zhimmey, YeePodcast, and Yee Production Services.

Print Journalism, Videography, Graphic Design, and Social Media Marketing.

Number of Internships offered: 4

 

Wagman Digital Technologies

A new digital marketing and software company specialising in digital content and promoting using the latest strategies, and the best available talent for strategising and executing for their clients.

Digital Marketing

Number of Internships offered: 1

 

Wealthedge Financial Advisory

Wealthedge financial advisory enables wealth creation for our clients through quality and conflict free financial planning advice. The use of technology is our cornerstone in ensuring that we can reach across demographics and geographies, provide a convenient, low cost – high quality, process driven, goal oriented, financial planning led wealth creation platform.

Finance And Private Equity

Number of Internships offered: 2

 

Indiquehair LLC

Boston, USA

Internationally known hair extension brand with retails stores across the East Coast and distributors throughout the US, Europe, Asia, Africa and Central America

Graphic Design And Retail Operations

Number of Internships offered: 2

 

Chhundu Enterprises ECPF, Global Reach

Bhutan

Chhundu Enterprises ECPF, Global Reach, represents overseas institutions in Bhutan, we have a long-standing reputation of being the most comprehensive study-abroad consultants and the first in the Kingdom.

Administrative Support And Management

Number of Internships offered: 4

 

Chhundu Training Institute

Bhutan

Chhundu Training Institute delivers skills and knowledge that increases our participants’ on-the-job-productivity.

Interns that are ready to assist our team for day to day classes and general administrative work

Number of Internships offered: 4

 

My Two Cents

India

Created in 2020, www.mytwocentsindia.com is a sports website where the content comes from the fans. It is a platform and incubator for aspiring sports writers to build portfolios under the mentorship of experienced writers and editors in Jamie Alter, with 15-plus years’ experience in journalism across ESPNcricinfo, Cricbuzz, Cricketnext, News18, The Times of India and Zee Digital, and John Maylam, a South African entrepreneur and former sports editor and columnist at The Japan Times.

Sports, journalism, writing, media and communications, social media management and marketing

Number of Internships offered: 2

 

Pro Sport Development

India

Pro Sport Development (PSD) is an award-winning social enterprise dedicated to using sport to aid in the holistic development of children and youth. PSD’s work focuses on delivering sports-based programs to young people, training facilitators and working with grassroots sports and development projects to help effectively manage, document and evaluate their programs. Find out more at http://www.prosportdev.in/.

Communication, Documentation, Social Media and Project Delivery

Number of Internships offered: 1

 

For more information on the internships offered and to apply, please head over to Woodstock Alumni Connect – www.woodstockalumniconnect.com

 

All the listed internship opportunities have been offered by our fellow Alumni. As an alumni, you could offer internship opportunities too! Write to us at wosaasia@gmail.com 

Become a Member

 

Join the WOSA Asia network by following these simple steps below. By becoming a member, you gain access to networking opportunities within the region, contribute your  ideas in discussions to improve the school and its networks, support the schools’ community service efforts, receive newsletters and other communication material from WOSA Asia, and participate in school  and WOSA Asia events. Your association will be central in establishing our diverse community as one force, working towards supporting our alma mater! By choosing to become a member of WOSA Asia, you will receive a cool Woodstock face mask as a token of appreciation. Join us now!

Committee Members – Patrons

Ashoke Chatterjee (Class of 1951)

 

Ashoke Chatterjee’s distinguished career as a public servant and professional communicator has sat comfortably with his widely recognised voluntary philanthropic contributions.

 

Ashoke attended Woodstock School, following which he earned his Economics degree at St Stephens College, New Delhi. He then studied for his Master of Business Administration at Miami University in Ohio, USA. Professional career highlights include positions with the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC, where he worked as a communications specialist, the Indian Tourism Development Corporation, and the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, where he was Executive Director. Through these teaching and consultancy activities in Ahmedabad, he was able to impact the management of design in industry and development communication.

 

Ashoke’s current contributions feature the Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (Geneva), the Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage (INTACH), the Gujarat Ecology Commission, the Government of Rajasthan Department of Health, and the National Drinking Water Mission (Government of India).

 

Ashoke has used his development communications experience in consultancies and training on behalf of the Gujarat AIDS Awareness & Prevention Unit (GAP), National AIDS Control Organisation (Government of India), World Water Council (Marseilles) and UNICEF (India and New York). For many years, he served as honorary President of the Crafts Council of India. Recently he joined the Board of Directors of Aid to Artisans, a US-based non-profit organisation that offers assistance to artisans worldwide.

 

Ashoke’s expertise in water management projects and environmental issues has seen him travel widely in India and overseas. An active member of WOSA India for a number of years, he has served on the Winterline Foundation and has been a member of the Woodstock Board of Directors. Ashoke’s commitment to others, voluntary service and life-long achievements are qualities that Woodstock both nurtures and honours.

Bhuvanesh Kumari Patiala (Class of 1950)

 

Bhavenesh Kumari Patiala ’50 has been nominated for her ground-breaking career as a woman lawyer in India. A member of the royal family of Patiala, she excelled in a career that was closed to women and to those of her lineage.

 

Bhavenesh came to Woodstock in 1948, inspired by memories shared by her British governess Josephine Newman, a teacher trainee at The College (the former incarnation of Midlands). It took much persuasion before family traditions were put aside to allow Bhavenesh to attend Woodstock. Lena, as she came to be known, decided early on that the hillside had far more for her than book learning: she excelled in sports, hiking and student government.

After Woodstock, Bhavenesh attended Miranda House, Delhi University, where she decided on a career in law. She broke gender and social barriers with a law degree from Delhi, followed by another from Yale Law School.

 

On her return to India, Bhavenesh became a partner in the largest law firm in New Delhi. As one of India’s first specialists in international corporate law, her work served as a foundation for later globalisation efforts. She was the first woman to practise in several countries of West Asia.

Practising in the Supreme Court, she represented Sikkim’s ruling family with the Government of India in what became an important landmark case in her career. Another was to help sort out a multi-billion-rupee mess in Hyderabad and Australia for ‘The Last Nizam’, recorded by John Zubrzycki in his book of that title (Phaidon, 2006).

 

Bhavenesh has always made time to support good causes and those in need of legal aid. These have included villagers displaced by the Rajasthan Canal, and a range of hospitals and schools. When two states offered her judgeships, Bhavenesh declined in order to sustain her public service: ‘That way, I could do more for people. For me, law is not a profession. It’s a way of life.’ Invited to membership by four Bar associatons, recognition also came through the Indian Law Federation, and the Indian Commission of Jurists’ invitation to join its executive, making Bhavenesh the first woman lawyer elevated to this position.

 

Through all these years, Bhavenesh remained one of WOSA-India’s most active members. Her wisdom and skills have helped successive Woodstock administrations over a range of management and liaison needs, including the legal complexities of property rights vital to Woodstock’s sustainability. In 2005 Kaye Aoki, Deputy Principal at Woodstock, shared with Woodstock students: ‘What is most impressive about Bhavenesh is her enormous generosity of spirit and how she has used her status, both earned and inherited, to enhance the experiences of others.’

Committee Members – Core Team

Jamie Alter (Class of 1999)

 

Jamie Alter is a sports writer, author, actor and YouTuber who has covered multiple cricket World Cups and other major sporting events while working with ESPNcricinfo, Cricbuzz, Network 18, the Zee Group and as Digital Sports Editor of the Times of India. He has written two books on cricket – A History of the World Cup, published by Roli Books, and Field of Dreams: The Story of the DY Patil Sports Stadium. In the digital space, Jamie is the face of the popular YouTube channel Fake it India, a satirical take on the Indian television setup and current affairs, and can be seen as the lead villain in the Amazon Prime Video web series, Afsos. He also runs his own YouTube channel, where he puts out a range of entertaining, educational and cultural videos.

Kanika Bhatia (Class of 2006)

 

Kanika graduated from Woodstock and attended Bard College in New York – majoring in Economics and International Relations. She returned to India in 2010 and since has worked in organisations such as Hindustan Times, National Geographic – and currently at Dyson.

Saryat Deuja (Class of 1996)

 

Saryat Deuja is a businessman based out of Nepal who has operated businesses in both Nepal and India. He graduated from Woodstock in 1996 (VISION) and went on to complete his university education in the United States. Having returned to Nepal more than a decade ago, his businesses are currently spread across the Hospitality, IT, Security, Dairy and Agriculture sectors.

Sonam Dukpa Jhalani (Class of 1996)

 

Sonam Wangmo Dukpa Jhalani is the Director of YeewongBhutan, a multi-media company, and currently serves as one of the Directors for Drukyul’s Literature Festival: Bhutan Echoes. She is also an Advisor to GOKAB: A community center for dance and learning. Her non-fiction work has appeared in Kuensel, The Raven, and Yeewong Magazine. Sonam is currently working on her book of fiction. She has an M.F.A in Creative Writing from Boston University, M.A. in International Development from the University of Denver, and a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College.

Priya Kapoor (Class of 1997)

 

After graduating from Woodstock Priya Kapoor studied at Royal Holloway, University of London and London School of Economics. She began her professional career as a reporter for the city supplement (Delhi Newsline) of The Indian Express where she wrote a weekly column called Delhi Upclose that profiled unusual stories of the city from unsung heroes to lesser known streets, bazaars and monuments. She worked at Routledge Publishers in London for two years where she was able to gain first-hand experience in publishing. She returned to India in 2005 when the country was at experiencing the peak of the India Shining moment. For the past 15 years she has been a part of Roli Books, one of India’s leading indigenous publishers. Along with her brother Kapil Kapoor (’99) she now heads this family business and is the Editorial Director of Roli Books overseeing the publishing list as well as the day to day functioning of the company. She has commissioned and edited bestselling books such as Dongri to Dubai by Hussain Zaidi; Taj Mahal Foxtrot by Naresh Fernandes, Black Warrant by Sunil Gupta and Sunetra Choudhury and critically acclaimed books such as the RTI Story by Aruna Roy. She has been invited to speak at various forums including the Indian Revenue Services, Nagpur; Seagull School of Publishing, Kolkata; Lahore Literature Festival; Jaipur Literary Festival; Times of India Mumbai Literature Festival; Apeejay Kolkata Literature Festival, Nagpur Literature Festival amongst others. She lives in Delhi, but prefers life in Landour to anywhere else and dreams of retiring in Paris.

Manav Mehra (Class of 1996)

 

Manav comes with close to 18 years of experience in various segments of multinational companies such as General Electric, ABN AMRO and Standard Chartered Bank. Manav has handled teams and driven revenues in areas such as international trade, foreign exchange, private equity and treasury sales to name a few. Having completed his post graduate studies in management he comes with a good experience of financial and international markets and has spent considerable time helping clients with strategy, risk management and private equity. Core areas of expertise are finance, strategic management, financial consulting, private equity and transaction banking. Manav is currently active as an investment banker and angel investor in New Delhi and part of a myriad of startup platforms and chambers of commerce.

Rochita Rao (Class of 1998)

 

Rochita Plonka graduated from Woodstock School in 1998. After majoring in English and Linguistics at Miranda House, Delhi University, she stepped into the world of teaching. Mussoorie is a place she has come to call home and is a parent of two boys, who are currently second generation Woodstock students. Rochita has taught EAL for over a decade. Woodstock is also where she met her husband, while they were both teaching at the school in 2008. After teaching and living internationally in the UK, USA, South Korea and Mexico, they returned to the hillside to give their children a taste of the Woodstock experience.

Suheil Tandon (Class of 2006)

 

Suheil is the Director-Founder of Pro Sport Development, an award-winning social enterprise dedicated to utilising sport for the holistic development of children and youth. He specializes in the sport and development field, with particular expertise of working with diverse groups of young persons. He has a professional background in sports management and coaching, with more than 10 years of varied experiences in global locations including the UK, Canada and India.

Palden Tshering (Class of 1991)

 

After Woodstock he studied Political Science in Mumbai, studied law in Bhutan and was one of the first 12 lawyers trained in the country and continued with an MBA from Australia.

 

He was a journalist for several years with Bhutan’s national newspaper, Kuensel. He was deputed as a reporter with the Straits Times (Singapore), The Bangkok Post, The Nation (Thailand) and the Hindu (India). He was part of a two man team that created Bhutan’s first online daily, Kuenselonline and was the Web Editor.

 

After leaving the media he served as ADC to the second Prime Minister of Bhutan (retired) for five years. During Bhutan’s first democratic parliamentary elections Palden was the spokesman for the party that won the general elections. He resigned his post as party spokesman with the formation of the new government.

 

He presently works for his wife, as Head of Operations, for her company Chhundu Enterprises and has two daughters at university in Australia.