Less than 18 months after commencing a community-wide rebranding effort, NetIP Chicago earned top honors at NetIP’s 19th Annual National Conference in Seattle, Washington winning the coveted “Best Board” and “Best Chapter” awards. Twenty-four chapters under the NetIP umbrella vied for these awards throughout North America. Aasif Mandvi (comedian, actor, entertainer) and Vijay Amritraj (tennis legend) personally recognized and provided the awards to NetIP Chicago’s leadership.

The “Best Board” honor was based on the cohesiveness and unprecedented progress of the 36-person NetIP Chicago Board of Directors in 2010. The “Best Chapter” designation is the highest prize awarded to a NetIP chapter taking into account not only the organization’s leadership, but also chapter membership and community interest.

It is often considered a success for a volunteer organization to host one marquee event per year. Over the last 30 days, NetIP Chicago successfully hosted four major events, which received the participation and support of a broad segment of the Chicago community.

We kicked off the event spree July 15th with a sold out Professional Development Speaker Series Event featuring Ravi Baichwal, weekend co-anchor for ABC Channel 7 News and 2008 Emmy award winner. Fresh off the heels of the PD event, NetIP Chicago made history hosting the first leg of a 3-City Tour through NetIP Chicago, NetIP New York, and NetIP Los Angeles. The Chicago leg of the 3-City Tour sold out with the participation of over 200 guests from Chicago and beyond the weekend of July 16th. .

Only Chicago Ka Andaaz—NetIP Chicago’s First Annual Culture Show—could rival the 3-City Tour. The performances dazzled, the evening glittered and the 500+ audience was left mesmerized by the magical treat that was Chicago Ka Andaaz (“CKA”). Less than a week later, over 150 runners, survivors, and supporters participated in the First Annual “Race Against Cancer” 5K Run/Walk.

Taking the expression “no rest for the weary” to heart, NetIP Chicago will be following the July/August marquee event spree with a number of other major events including:

•  IACS Job Fair co-hosted by NetIP Chicago (Aug. 28)
  http://www.iacsjobfair.com

• Rock Your Match Social at Rock Bottom (Sept. 3 @ 6pm – 8pm)
  http://bit.ly/cicsocial

• "Drive For A Cause” Charity Golf Outing (Sept. 25) -
  http://bit.ly/cicgolf

•  Chicago’s First South Asian Film Festival (Oct. 1-3) -
  http://www.csaff.org

• Our much anticipated Annual Charity Gala benefitting CiC (Nov. 20)

As always, the ultimate success of NetIP Chicago is entirely dependent on our members’ active participation and feedback. Make a lasting impact today by joining the “Best Chapter” and “Best Board” in North America.

Best regards,

Ashwin Janakiram
2010 President
NetIP Chicago
(312) 834-4440
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 You can turn the pages by clicking any corner.

We're on the eve of the most ambitious 30 days that NetIP Chicago has seen in years. You don't want to miss out!

We're kicking off with a sold out Professional Development event with Ravi Baichwal this evening.  Professional Development has been our fast growing pillar and it's clear that we've made our mark with a sold out event. If you would like to be notified of our next Professional Development event, email us This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Next up, the NetIP 3 City Tour is stopping in Chicago this weekend with an assortment of events:

Friday evening - A tour of Goose Island Brewery

Friday night - Open bar at Y-Bar

Saturday afternoon - Navy Pier Experience

Saturday evening - Boat Cruise (Open Bar + Food)

Saturday night - Party at Crescendo

Sunday afternoon - Lunch at Gaylord's

The excitement continues with the Chicago Ka Andaaz Culture Show on Saturday, July 31st! Learn more about the show at http://www.netipchicago.org/cultureshow. The team organizing the event has done an amazing job vetting great acts, so buy your ticket today!

Finally, we'll be closing off the cavalacade with our Cancer is Colorblind: Race Against Cancer 5K Run/Walk on Saturday, August 7th. You can register today at http://bit.ly/cancer5k! The Cancer is Colorblind campaign is the largest concerted community outreach effort in the history of NetIP Chicago, and it's success is dependant on you! Learn more about the campaign at http://www.canceriscolorblind.org.

NetIP 2.0 is in full gear and we want you to come enjoy the experience! Come find me at any of these events and let me know your thoughts!

Amit Varia
Co-VP of Technology
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Take eighteen South Asian acts, add seven hilarious masters of ceremony, a pinch of Chicago flavor and what do you get? Chicago Ka Andaaz!

NetIP Chicago’s culture show promises to be one magical event and with over one thousand guests expected, it’s set to be Chicago’s biggest South Asian culture show!

Obviously no large-scale show is possible without the dedication and hard work of several individuals. From coming up with the theme, holding auditions, coordinating details of the event, to marketing and finding sponsors, our cultural committee has put in a lot of hard work to make this event a reality. 

The show will feature dance performances by UIC Dangeraas, Bollyritmo, and singing acts by Susmita De and Anand Iyer. Tantalizing appetizers will be served courtesy Tiffin restaurant.  There's also an exclusive after-party at a popular Chicago's hot spots to continue the festivities.

Check out our website at http://netipchicago.org/cultureshow.

Tickets are selling fast.  Don’t miss out on the excitement!

Last month we told you about the launch of NetIP Chicago’s Professional Development Workshop Series. This month, NetIP launched the Professional Development Speaker Series. The goal of the Speaker Series is to invite Chicago’s business, political, and community leaders to talk about their practice areas and to discuss with NetIP members and guests their unique paths to professional success. The Speaker Series events are designed to provide NetIP members and guests one-on-one access to high profile Chicagoans in a relaxed and professional setting.

It was NetIP’s honor to present Raja Krishnamoorthi, former Deputy Illinois State Treasurer, as the featured speaker to kick off the Professional Development Speaker Series. During a cocktail reception before the featured event, guests engaged Raja in lively one-on-one discussions, networked with NetIP members and enjoyed cocktails and hors d’ oeuvres provided by the event sponsor Sidley Austin LLP. Raja spoke regarding his past experience as a Partner in the Commercial Litigation Department at Kirkland Ellis and his transition to public office. He also discussed the successes and challenges of his 2010 record-breaking campaign for the Illinois State Comptroller and his consideration for the position of Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. Following brief remarks, Raja invited guests to ask questions and provided candid and thoughtful answers during an informal question and answer session. After the presentation, guests continued to network and enjoy the beautiful Chicago skyline view from the 37th Floor of the Sidley Austin building. Conversations touched upon leadership styles, political awareness, presentation material, and future NetIP events.

For those interested in learning more about Raja Krishnamoorthi, you can do so through Facebook. You can access that link here:www.facebook.com/rajaforillinois or through his personal fan page.

NetIP Chicago's next Professional Development event will be held on June 17th at Bevi Amo. As part of our ProDevelopment Workshop Series, Koushik Subramanian will present strategies on identity protection as informational security becomes an increasing priority in our lives. Please join us for this exciting event.

I’m excited to get to address the NetIP community this month! To all our members and supporters, I hope you enjoyed our April events focused on outreach, philanthropy, and professional development.  From the Promote Yourself professional development workshop to working with the kids at Mount Sinai Hospital and All Stars Program to our first-of-the year Friday evening mixers, we had a blast hosting and appreciate your participation with NetIP and the community.

As Chicago gets ready to enjoy the summer months, the NetIP board gears up for another season of fun-filled events including a professional development cocktail reception with Raja Krishnamoorthi (May 12th), a boat cruise on Lake Michigan and the Chicago River (July 17th), a South Asian Cultural Show, putting the focus on the community (July 31st), and our soon to be launched Book-Club Series (June 3rd).

NetIP also launches our most aggressive campaign to raise money and awareness for our Cancer is Colorblind (CiC) Campaign to benefit cancer-related care and honor cancer survivors and fighters at Children’s Memorial and Sinai Health System. Stay tuned as we roll out our pre-gala events building momentum, raising awareness, and critical funds. (Make sure to create a fundraising page at http://www.canceriscolorblind.org)

We invite you to share the NetIP Board’s energy, enthusiasm, and creativity as we help kick-start the summer month.

Warm regards,
Shafohi Alamgir
2010 Executive Vice-President, NetIP Chicago

On National Rebuilding Day, April 24th, NetIP volunteers put in a great deal of hard work and time commitment in helping one elderly woman in rebuilding her home. The purpose of the event was to renovate the homes of elderly, disabled, or low-income residents by pulling together electricians, carpenters, plumbers, painters and volunteers.

This year, NetIP volunteers woke up very early on a Saturday morning and spent 8 long, hard hours re-painting and re-flooring an elderly woman's house on the south side of Chicago. The woman had lived there for over 30 years and was recently disabled due to a hip fracture. A special thanks goes out to all the volunteers, Sujata, Bobby, Kesha and Amit for going above and beyond their duties. Together, we de-greased and painted two bathrooms, a kitchen, a hallway and a living room. Sujata was on her hands and knees helping clean and re-floor the kitchen. Bobby did the tough job of painting all the ceilings and removing a dusty carpet from the living room.

The house captain who was responsible for managing the project was so pleased with NetIP volunteers that he has asked us to collaborate with him again next year to help a new home owner transform their house. The granddaughter of the woman whose house we rebuilt also had some kind words to say on behalf of the volunteers as she was touched to see total strangers spending their free time helping her rebuild her grandmother's home.

Please join us in expressing a special thanks to all the volunteers for their hard work and dedication that day!

This year, the entire NetIP organization has pledged to raise $10,000 for the Grameen Foundation. This foundation helps the world’s poorest, especially women, improve their lives and escape poverty through access to microfinance and technology. It's an amazing organization that have help over 9.4 million people with over 1 million microloans, and there's no end in sight. It's a great organization and worthy of our focus.

Instead of visiting a local restaurant in the area, this month we decided that the NetIP Chicago board would rally in the kitchen and cook up a feast for everyone and proceeds from the event would be donated to the Grameen Foundation. With over 30 guests, one would worry that we wouldn't have enough food. Don't worry, that was never a concern for us. We started off the dinner with salads and samosas, but quickly had to remind everyone to save room for the next course. We followed up with dishes like saag paneer, coucscous, chicken and beef curry, and, of course, a taco bar!

With bellies full and everyone enjoying in the conversation, we took a moment to let Rahsaan and Chirag speak about the Grameen Foundation. We handed out flyers and pamphlets that highlighted the foundation's purpose and how to get involved. The Q&A session helped everyone learn more about what microfinancing really is and how it's dramatically changed the landscape across the world.

We'd like to thank everyone who attended the dinner circle and all the board members who prepared the delicious dishes! We'll have more details on next month's dinner circle in the coming weeks!

We couldn't let the month go by without mentioning the great times at Paris Cafe back on April 9th! This month we shook things up by moving our monthly mixer from Thursday to Friday and gauging from the feedback from the event, it was worth it. A special thanks to the folks over at Paris Cafe (810 N. Clark) for helping us throw another successful monthly mixer.

As with all our monthly mixers this year, we had another round of icebreakers for all who wanted to play. This month the ice breaker was a unique spin on the classic Bingo game, where people had to use their networking skills to find people with traits listed on their ballot. There were some easy traits like "wearing a blue shirt", but we made sure not to make it too easy. The hardest one for people to find was a single child in the group, but it was a great ice breaker question for everyone! Anyone who completed their Bingo card, entered their name into a raffle and prizes were handed out at the end of the night. Congratulations to all the winners!

We're hard at work planning our next mixer in May, so stay tuned for details!

It's a couple days late, but I wanted to recap the great effort by all the NetIP volunteers that showed up last week at Mt. Sinai Hospital.  Chicago's Sinai Health System was originally founded to serve the needs of Eastern Jewish immigrants in the community and today, it primarily serves the African-American and Latino population.

On April 3^rd, 17 NetIP volunteers woke up eager and excited to spend the day at Mt. Sinai's Kids Club Easter event. At 10am, the kids poured in and we got to work handing out Easter baskets and other crafts for the children to decorate their homes with. We helped these young artists put together Easter door handles and decorate their baskets with pipe cleaners! Pipe cleaners!

But we couldn't end the day until we got to the games! Starting off with a couple rounds of Simon Says, the kids showed off their skills and beat our volunteers pretty easily. So we moved on to a game of musical chairs and the kids loved it. With all of the voices shouting in different languages and bodies moving in different directions, it was clear that regardless of age, everyone was having a great time.

As the event came to a close, the volunteers gathered around the pipe cleaners (yes, the pipe cleaners again!) and made parting presents for the children. We made flowers, planes, and balloons, but the most requested was the butterfly (although Spiderman came in a close second).

The children and Mt. Sinai enjoyed having everyone and send along their appreciation! My personal thanks, as well, to everyone who showed up!

Is everyone ready for our next dinner circle? It's next Saturday (April 17th) at Grand Plaza Apartments. If you haven't noticed already, we're making some changes this month that I'm excited about.

First, our proceeds will be benefiting the Grameen Foundation. This foundation helps the world’s poorest, especially women, improve their lives and escape poverty through access to microfinance and technology. It's an amazing organization that have help over 9.4 million people with over 1 million microloans, and there's no end in sight.

Second, this month the NetIP board will be preparing dishes from around the world for everyone to enjoy. We've got some great cooks that are ready and excited to show off their skills! So far we're working on cuisines from countries like Thailand, China, Italy, Japan, and India. Make sure to bring an empty stomach, so you don't miss out any of the great dishes.

Finally, we want to get you involved in the 'Around the World' theme! So make sure to dress in your country's favorite attire, and bring along a bottle of wine from there too. We can't wait to taste your selections!

Make sure to register online so we know how much food to make for Saturday and remember all our proceeds are going to the Grameen Foundation!

Members can register here for $30

Non-member can register here for $35

NetIP Chicago is making an impact. You should too.

We promised “upgrades” to reflect and further the ideals and pillars on which NetIP was founded two decades ago (community outreach, professional development, and cultural and political awareness). A quick browse of our April newsletter confirms we are delivering in a major way.

With respect to community outreach initiatives, last month we formed two major partnerships with Mount Sinai Hospital and the All Stars Project of Chicago (ASP). Many of the patients from Mount Sinai come from struggling socio-economic situations. Our proposed involvement with Sinai includes bridging opportunities for short term marketing projects, financial consulting, pro bono legal services, research support and volunteer commitments with patient-facing opportunities. We already have a number of volunteer opportunities setup for our members (see highlights inside this newsletter).

We are equally proud of our partnership with the All Stars Project of Chicago. ASP is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting human development through the use of an innovative performance-based model. ASP creates outside of school, educational and performing arts activities for thousands of poor and minority young people. As part of NetIP’s partnership with ASP, NetIP recently worked to identify ASP’s volunteer needs for a youth talent show. Various NetIP members attended a volunteer orientation at ASP’s downtown headquarters and spent a full day volunteering in connection with the talent show. We are now contemplating ways to expand our involvement with ASP in 2010 and beyond.

We have also teamed with a number of community organizations (outside of formal partnerships) to provide outreach opportunities to members. These opportunities include a 30-Hour Famine, National Rebuilding Day, and English-Speaking language lessons to help individuals in our local community and beyond. Additional details involving these opportunities and others can be found inside this newsletter.

Another key component of our “upgrade” is a renewed focus on Professional Development programming. We are excited to launch two dynamic professional development program series in 2010. Our Workshop Series kicks off this month and will include hands-on and interactive presentations from innovative practitioners on topics ranging from developing an “executive presence” to securing your business and identity. Our Speaker Series kicks off next month, and will provide NetIP members an opportunity to engage with high profile and inspirational business, political and thought leaders in a professional and relaxed setting. Upcoming contributors include Michael Popowits and Raja Krishnamoorthi.

In addition to these high-impact events, we are proud to announce that a critical mass of NetIP members and community volunteers are hard at work planning our signature year-end charity gala. The theme and title for this year’s gala is Cancer is Colorblind (CIC). Our vision entails mobilizing the Greater Chicago community and hosting over 400 attendees for an evening featuring cultures from across the globe and a formal dinner.

The purpose of the event is to raise funds for cancer-related programming and research, while honoring cancer survivors who have made an impact in the local community. Leading up to the CIC gala, we plan to host a number of events to further the cause and fundraising effort, including a 5K Run/Walk and a Community Pub Crawl. Proceeds will benefit Children’s Memorial Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital. If you’d like to volunteer, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

With our expanded and refocused community outreach and professional development programming, initiatives and events, there truly is something for everyone with NetIP Chicago. Sign-up for membership and make an impact today. 

Based on feedback we received from the Chicago Community, NetIP Chicago will be hosting a culture show to highlight the diversity and talent of the Chicagoland Area. The show will take place the evening of Saturday, July 31st. While we develop the program, we are ready to move forward with auditions for the event.

We are looking for a variety of performances and performers, including (but not limited to) dancers, singers, instrumentals, comedy routines, fashion show participants, dramatic readings and any other performance tending to highlighting talent or culture within the South Asian community. We are also looking for multiple emcees. As with any large-scale event, individual acts along with group performances are welcome.

Everyone is welcome to audition, without restriction to age or national origin; however, performances must reflect South Asian themes.

Subject to demand, auditions will be held on April 13 (Tuesday) and April 21 (Wednesday). To ensure everyone is given an opportunity to showcase their talent, we may add an additional (Sunday) audition date in April for those who cannot make the preceding audition dates.

Everyone expecting to perform or volunteer, should click the link below and sign-up.

Sign up as a volunteer

Sign up for auditions

Please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any questions.

Greetings,

Allow me to introduce “NetIP 2.0”: the new and improved NetIP-Chicago. The “upgrades” we are unfolding this year are part of our mission to become the premier networking organization in Chicago. The mission “specs” form the bases for our “rebranding effort” — a series of initiatives, programs and structural changes conducive to reflecting and furthering the ideals and pillars on which NetIP was founded two decades ago.

Our rebranding effort is geared towards energizing and mobilizing our membership and the local community. Starting with our 2009 partnership with Apna Ghar—to benefit victims of domestic violence—we observed an outpouring of support and personal commitments directed towards the success of our programming. The culmination of our efforts led to a charity gala with over 400 attendees and revenue exceeding $50,000 to support a worthy cause.

Leveraging our success from 2009, to kick-off 2010, we hosted a recruitment event to help assemble the 2010 NetIP-Chicago Board of Directors (“Board”). Over sixty individuals looking to make a difference attended the event. Given the overwhelming interest from the community, we conducted a two-week interview process, which resulted in 36 individual leaders of varying professional backgrounds joining our Board. (We continue to accept applications for Board positions in certain functional areas.)

In the midst of assembling our Board, we were also able to host a number of successful high-impact events this year, including our Haiti Relief Effort fundraiser (January) and Valentine Mixer to raise awareness for the American Heart Association and American Heart Month (February). Now with the benefit of a talented and dedicated Board, along with a formal operational structure and reporting protocols, 2010 promises to be a busy and exciting time to be part of NetIP-Chicago.

But the ultimate success of our rebranding effort is entirely dependent on our members’ active participation and feedback. Whether helping coordinate our culture show (June), professional development workshops (quarterly), or community outreach events related to our year-end banquet to benefit pediatric cancer patients at Children’s Memorial Hospital, it is time to get involved. With your help, the best is yet to come. Please join our efforts today.

Sincerely,
Ashwin Janakiram 2010
President, NetIP-Chicago