My Journey
Meera hails from a very poor family in Odisha, reflecting unparalleled strength of
character and an enigmatic personality. Meera has really come a long way-from an
illiterate and rustic 'maichia' (derogatory usage for feminine men in Oriya) to one who
took the torch of humanity down to Washington DC as a representative of Indian LGBT
community! Meera surpassed all obstacles and has evolved as an exemplar for the LGBT
Community by the dint of her hard work, determination; never say no attitude,
compassion and skills of uniting and mobilizing the LGBT community and the mainstream
society. Meera possesses what it takes to be a leader, and still to be one among them,
to work with and for everyone!
Meera is a Graduate in Arts, possesses computer training, and several important
trainings in the areas of HIV/AIDS Counselling, Community mobilization, Peer and
Community Outreach, and working with LGBT community broadly.
Meera has been a champion of human rights of the deprived and disenfranchized in
general and Transgenders and LGBQ community in particular. She has been actively
working as a professional in the field of HIV/AIDS, health and wellbeing for past 8
years. Her journey started with working at the grassroots level, spanning across more
than 150 street plays around nooks and corners of Odisha. Subsequently, she joined
Sashakt project at SAATHI Odisha in 2009 where she was primarily responsible to act as
a community mobilizer. In this role, she played a lead role in developing and uniting
the Transgenders and LGBT community. She was responsible for field level supervision,
monitoring and evaluation of field activities, collaborating and working with other
CBOs and NGOs besides working on program management, report writing, and planning and
implementation of project goals.
Lateron, Meera moved on to represent Sakha-premier LGBT CBO in Odisha at the
Sashaktproject of SAATHI for next 5 years (2010-2015) where she was primarily
responsible for community outreach, building bridges between HIV/AIDS professionals and
a diverse and deprived LGBT community. She has since then been juggling many roles at
once- was a President of All Odisha KinnarMahasangha (2009-16) and currently Chairman,
All Odisha Third Gender Welfare Trust. She displays great courage as a spokesperson in
media and press very frequently for a community struggling for their basic human rights
which are violated and infringed upon day in and day out. She has been able to inspire
thousands of Transgender in the state to fight and work for right to live with dignity,
by being a part of short films like 'The Reel and the Real'. She has been a face of
several public health related campaigns mostly focused around HIV/AIDS advocacy for
example, 'friendly five Odisha'. She has channelized the energy among LGBT youth to
work for the community, and to work for a dignified life, starting with employability
training, gender sensitivity and health and wellbeing training, etc. She has been a
master trainer in HIV/AIDS Counselling for DIVA Project, OSACS and SAATHI and thereby
trained thousands of community members and students around the country, by spearheading
the campaign of 'moadhikaara' (equal rights of Transgender in the society. Notably, she
has been recipient of several local, national and international awards, honours and
accolades including Odisha Press Academy's 'Odisha Samman 2015' and a Prestigious
Fellowship (International Visitor's Leadership Program, in September-October, 2016 by
U.S. Government and was hosted by Human Rights Campaign, USA to collaborate,
participate and engage in their cultures and contribute back to India.
She was felicitated as BEST TRANSGENDER LEADER 2016 by NACO, UNAIDS, HIV ALLIANCE on
the occasion of world aids day 2016. For her continuous work & support ton her
community made her deserve to be a eminent leader of the year. Again she got BIJU
PATTANAIK EXCELENCY AWARD by OODISHA INTERNATIONAL CENTER. Followed by many award like
eminent best social worker award 2016 by ZKALINGA media channel. Excellent Trainer
Award 2016 by NISS institutions, bbsr.