US". The pair's first project, Lakshmi's Lounge, highlighted the stories of "global doers" through interviews. The firm's next project was the Aamra Grove Conference, held in Napa Valley in 2007 and at Mohonk Mountain House, New York in 2008. This conference emphasized culture and personal experience and "brought together 50 of the world’s most influential Indian leaders through conversation that explored the Indo-US corridor and re-imagined India’s international presence". Association with TED A TED attendee herself since 1993, Lakshmi co-hosted TEDIndia in Mysore in 2009 along with Chris Anderson, the curator of the TED conference. She has compared this feeling to one of bringing your best friend home, and has stated: The independence that Chris Anderson gave me to co-curate, identify the stories and interact with India opened my eyes to the stories that exist here and need to be told. It also showed the power of the stories — Pranav Mistry's talk is still very popular. Talks by people like Devdutt Pattanaik and Sunitha Krishnan catapulted them from being local intellectuals to being global personalities. Nearly 1,000 attendees from 46 nations traveled to Mysore, India, for the conference, which featured speakers from a range of fields, as well as one hundred young TEDIndia Fellows. Following the enthusiastic response to TEDIndia, Lakshmi stayed in India and founded INK. In December 2010, Lakshmi curated and hosted the first INK Conference in Lavasa, India around the theme of "Untold Stories". INK INK describes itself as "India's foremost platform for cutting-edge ideas and inspiring stories". INK is known for its events such as the annual INK Conference, INK Asia, and INK Salons. The organization has grown significantly over the years. As of February 2016, INK had conducted seven conferences (across multiple cities in India and abroad) and approximately 100 events; hosted 350 speakers and 70,000 attendees across these events; and received 20 million video views on inktalks.com and on various other social media platforms. The 2015 INK Asia conference was a notable expansion for the organization because it was the first time a major INK event took place outside of India. This conference, held at the iconic Marina Bay Sands in Singapore with the theme of "Designing the Future", was created as a forum for business leaders, entrepreneurs and technologists to connect and collaborate with their counterparts. Prominent speakers at previous INK conferences include:INK 2010: Hollywood filmmaker James Cameron who directed the blockbuster