🎉 The Climate Party: Where Networking Felt Like Play, Not Pain

✨ Beyond Panels and PowerPoints: What Made The Climate Party in Chennai Truly Special!

Last evening, Chennai played host to something refreshingly different — The Climate Party®!

A huge shoutout and thank you to Sayesha Dogra, Muskan Goidani, and Mohanapriya Srinivasan for launching The Climate Party in Chennai!
It had a cozy, informal vibe — no boring panels, no endless lectures — just real conversations, laughter, games, and the kind of energy you hope for but rarely find.

I had a fantastic time.
I met old friends. I bumped into familiar faces. And — miracle of miracles — I made new friends and acquaintances. (Big win for an introvert!)

Special mentions:

• Safar must have made 10 new friends — he was flaunting it proudly.
• Manasa was socialising like a spinning top — pure energy!

We played climate-themed games, swapped stories, and had the kind of insightful, easy conversations that somehow feel both fun and deeply energizing.
Instead of zoning out at panels stating the obvious (we’ve all been there…), I got to truly engage with people — hear about their work, their ideas, their dreams for a better planet.
We explored possible collaborations, synergies, and partnerships — and had that classic moment where you realize you already have mutual friends, leading to re-introducing ourselves through a whole new lens. (Small world, big dreams.)

Who knew ‘climate networking’ could feel less like LinkedIn stalking and more like speed-friending for planet nerds?

Here are some wonderful people I met, reconnected with, or got introduced to:

🌱 Sayesha Dogra — Founder of The Climate Party
🌱 Muskan Goidani — Investment Analyst and a Chennai lead for The Climate Party, ESG/Impact space.
🌱 Mohanapriya Srinivasan — Chennai lead for The Climate Party, ESG/Impact space
🌱 Venkateswaran (Venkat V.) — Fellow Terra.do and OPF.degree alum, climate and digital sustainability enthusiast.
🌱 Aishwarya — Heading marketing at IITMRP, and a climate reporting and communications enthusiast! We have a mutual friend, Varsha, who worked at my company, ecoHQ.
🌱 Mayur Anand — Circular economy enthusiast
🌱 Swami S Natarajan — Handling impact investments at Crest Spring Advisory,
🌱 Chandrasekaran Sir — Championing water equity through Watsan Envirotech and has a HUGE fan base in Chennai .
🌱 Sibi Chakkaravarthy — Carbon market enthusiast
🌱 Rodick — Circular economy/sustainability consultant and studentpreneur ( an eco-socialite at this point)
🌱 Jaganivas — Climate and AI enthusiast (and that is an understatement)!
🌱 Kalpana G — Founder of Biblubox (ooh, the games we played!)
🌱 Abhirami Arunachalam — ESG and CSR enthusiast (she played with me and Kalpana)!
🌱 Sharun A — Villgro, working on climate and sustainability in Indian rural belts
🌱 Abhijay Arjunan —Manager at Proclime, we had some conversations about carbon markets and the founder, Kavin .
🌱 Sarvesh Ashok — Gradiant, Heading phenomenal work in water solutions space at Gradiant
🌱 Hiran Vedam — Running a venture studio for high-impact startups, Ashwatta – an acquaintance!
🌱 Suresh N — Running a venture studio for high-impact startups, Ashwatta – an acquaintance!
🌱 Mohan Kumar — Managing programs and partnerships at AIC RAISE, an acquaintance so potential collaboration brewing.
🌱 Raj Cherubal — CEO of Chennai Smart City Limited and Director-Projects at Chennai City Connect; discussed Smart Sustainable Townships and Futuristic Sustainable Cities LinkedIn
🌱 Safar Rahman K M — Co-founder at RecycleNXT and Dense, championing sustainability and circular design LinkedIn !
🌱 Manasa Sai Sekar — Colleague at Oli Consulting Group — across Zha VC, TN W.O.M.E.N, Chisel Factor Foundation, and EcoHQ ] as well as RecycleNXT and Dense!

Yeah, you guessed it right! Safar, Manasa and I are just non-blood siblings at this point!

Biggest takeaway:
When you design climate events like human events — when you build in warmth, humor, and real connection — you spark so much more magic than a thousand keynote speeches ever could.
I’m still reeling (in a good way!) from yesterday’s energy.

Here’s to more such playful, powerful spaces for changemakers everywhere.

Climate anxiety? Cured. Climate FOMO? Activated. Networking awkwardness? Deleted.
10/10, would climate party again. 🌎✨

Credits:

The post is written by Deepa Sai