Transgender appointed India’s first corporate house MD
GORAKHPUR: Mumbai-based transgender Amruta Soni, has earned the distinction of being country’s first third gender person to be appointed as a corporate house MD.
Soni was in Gorakhpur recently to address a gathering of LGBT community to mark the completion of one year of the SC’s landmark judgment decriminalising consensual gay sex.
She was appointed managing director of Patna-based Adya Security Services on September 18. The programme was organised under the joint aegis of Humsafar Trust and Ekta Sewa Sanstha; the NGOs work for the rights of LGBT community. Humsafar Trust programme officer Gautam Yadav also attended the event. “They contacted me and requested me to join the company under its diversification policy. As an employee, I will be dealing with management, operations, and HR-related activities including recruitment,” said Soni, who hogged the limelight in 2015, when she was appointed as the first transgender advocacy officer of National AIDS Control Programme Project Vihaan in Punjab, Haryana, Chhattisgarh to spread awareness about HIV. The project aimed at providing care and support to HIV patients. Soni, an MBA graduate, however, didn’t disclose the package.
She talked about how she overcame obstacles after being shunned by parents at 16, when she faced rejection as third gender child. Despite odds, she went on to complete her masters and motivated others in her community to pursue higher education, as it was the only way to fight oppression social discrimination and injustice.