Vedanshi Vala is a Young Women of Distinction nominee for the 39^th annual YWCA Women of Distinction Awards, with the winners to be announced on May 26, 2022. These awards recognize an outstanding woman or business operating in the Lower Mainland. Vedanshi is nominated alongside Dr. Elizabeth Bryce and Dr. Jacqueline Saw.

Vedanshi Vala is a budding scientist, a role model to her community and a leader among her peers.

At the beginning of what is sure-to-be a storied career, Vedanshi is advancing care in her community, starting with increasing safety options for women and people of Asian descent. As the Executive Director and co-founder of BOLT Safety Society, Vedanshi continues to advance care through new and innovative approaches to community health and safety.

BOLT was started with a simple, but ambitious goal: in response to the UN Women statistic that 1 in 3 women experience some form of sexual assault in their lifetimes, they wanted to help lower that number. 

Under her leadership, BOLT Safety Society launched several new programs, including the ‘Safe Hubs’ partnership with local businesses, which indicates safe places where victims of domestic violence can seek temporary refuge. In addition, Vedanshi also launched the BOLT Safety Society Safe Buddies Program to help vulnerable groups like women, non-binary, and seniors safely return home.

As the principal lead and visionary behind the launch of a mobile platform on the WIX mobile app, Vedanshi has provided access to members with free safety and self-defense tutorials, information on locally available support services for survivors of violence and abuse, and offered guidelines on personal safety topics in an effort to reduce violence and abuse as well as victim-blaming narratives and stigma.

“Vedanshi is a source of inspiration and a role model who demonstrates dedication and commitment to excellence,” says Kitty Cheung, Associate Director of Asian Strategy at VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation. “She is focused on building stronger and safer communities and enhancing philanthropic leadership as a whole.”

Vedanshi is also a standout recipient of the 2020 Outstanding Young Ambassadors Leadership Award given by VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation. These awards celebrate the astounding accomplishments the distinguished youth of British Columbia have contributed towards the areas of academics, arts and literature, community service, sportsmanship, and leadership.

Vedanshi has also produced several documentaries on important local and global issues.

Congratulations and best of luck to Vedanshi Vala.