008: Charu Sharma

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Jochen (Joe) Krebs speaks with Charu Sharma, an Indian explorer, writer, performer and entrepreneur. With 5 National Awards, expeditions to all 7 continents, over 600 stage shows and a book in progress, this prodigy was enlisted as a “Power Woman” alongside such notables as Oprah Winfrey, Sonia Gandhi, Melinda Gates and Devita Saraf by Youth Incorporated magazine in March 2012.

In 2003, Charu and brother Chinmay were awarded the National Bravery Award by the Prime Minister of India for fighting with two goons in a train robbery and saving lives of women, making them ‘national heroes’ overnight. Charu went on to achieve black-belts in Karate and Taekwondo, represented India in Taekwondo in South Korea, and has been an advocate for self-defense training for women. At 21, she is currently studying Physics and Economics on a scholarship in Massachusetts at Mount Holyoke College, the first institution in the US where women could get college education.