Interview With Solicitor Maneesha Prakash

Meet our featured beauty with brains Maneesha Prakash, a solicitor based in Sydney, Australia. Here is an interview with her.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself, what you do, your hobbies etc.

I’m Maneesha Prakash, owner and Principal Solicitor at Lexology Lawyers. I am also the founder and Director of Aashray, a non-profit organisation that provides an information hub for women of Indian origin affected by domestic violence. I am a Nationally Accredited Mediator. Outside of law, I am the founder and Creative Director of Wordology Inc, a content creation firm for businesses, and I mentor female law students through Griffith University and externally.

My hobbies include photography, and art, and I am represented by RAW Artists Australia. I am deeply passionate about issues affecting women of colour, and identify as an intersectional feminist.

2. Who or what inspires you?

Definitely my parents. To come to a new country and restart a whole life, with a family and no support network seems like the hardest thing to do. And to do all this just to move to a place where they will never truly be seen as belonging would have been extremely challenging. I am externally grateful for the sacrifices they made for our futures, and the courage it takes to make that sort of a move inspires me to be fearless in all my life choices.

3. Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

In ten years, I will ideally still be doing work to empower women. Professionally, I would like to expand my firm.

4. What does women empowerment mean to you?

Female empowerment to me means women have the ability to choose, free from discrimination, free from judgement, and free from adverse consequences based on their gender. It means enforcing the right of every girl to an education. It means empowering women to live a life free from obligations imposed on them by society simply because they are female. It means reminding women that they are powerful, and free to live as they choose in every situation, regardless of their religion, country or culture.