Shalini Saraswathi had just returned from vacation in Cambodia when she suddenly fell ill. What started off as a fever quickly developed into something far more serious and Shalini, who was also pregnant at the time, was suddenly the on the brink of death and dealing with multiple organ failures.
Months later she would lose both her arms and legs to a rare form of bacterial infection.
What began as just another means to maintain fitness and general health soon turned into a passion. Shalini, supported and trained by Coach BP Aiyyappa, soon started participating in marathons. In 2016, she completed the TCS 10K marathon with a 2 hours and 3 seconds and then again in 2017 with a timing of 1 hour and 35 minutes. She continues to train, always committed to the goals of betterment and growth. She’s now a professional athlete, a 100 meter sprinter and came third in the National’s last year.
Besides running and her full-time corporate job, Shalini is an avid blogger. In the last few years, she has addressed audiences at a host of corporates including Walmart, Biocon, TESCO, Metlife, Xiomi, Firmenich, BASF, Delliote, HPCL, Ranstad, Wipro Technologies, TATA Communications, VMWare, Amdocs, Fidelity, Salesforce, L&T, Dell and RR Donnelly. She is also a speaker for the CEO, CFO & CHRO talks conducted by IMA(International Market Assessment). She wasrecently awarded the “Iconic Woman Award” by the Ladies’ Wing of the IMC Chamber of Commerce, “Rashtriya Swayam Siddha Samman” by the JSPL Group and the “Kittur Rani Chennamma Award” by the Women & Child Development Department, Government of Karnataka.
On top of it all, she also advocates for the inclusion of Persons with Disability (PwDs) on various platforms. She is an Ambassador for Adventures beyond Barriers Foundation, a non-profit promoting inclusion of PwDs through the platform of adventure sports, and is involved with Saviour of Soul, an NGO that works with rehabilitation of sex workers and their children as well as Gender-Based Violence. On days off, she likes to dance, sing, and laugh up a riot in the company of family and friends.