A registered public charitable trust based in Guwahati — unearthing and mentoring the talent of India's North East: from rural debaters to overseas scholars, from fragrance artisans to first-generation entrepreneurs.
We were established with the prime objective of unearthing, mentoring, handholding, and showcasing the talents of our society — and lighting paths that others may follow.— SONEI Founding Charter, September 2014
Stars of North East India began in September 2014 as a small social-media circle of fifteen friends bound by a single conviction: that the talent of India's North East deserved a stage, a mentor, and a witness. What started as conversation became a movement, and by 2020 our membership had crossed a hundred and thirty — spread across Guwahati, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Dubai, London, and the United States.
In our earliest years we ran a Rural Inter School Debate Competition that travelled to the villages of Kamrup, putting microphones into the hands of children who had never used one. Members supported meritorious students from families below the poverty line. Quietly, year after year, we expanded.
When the pandemic arrived, our SONEI Cares project distributed essential food to over two hundred families across Kamrup Metro, Bongaigaon, and Karimganj. Members from overseas wired in funds. Members on the ground walked the streets of Guwahati delivering packets. On September 15, 2020, we formally registered as a public charitable trust — taking on the responsibilities of a permanent institution.
Today SONEI runs an ongoing Star Talk series, supports BPL students, organises winter blanket drives under the Secret Santa project, and publishes the work of local authors through international houses. We remain what we set out to be: a community that finds the light in others and refuses to look away.
Each programme is led by an active member of the trust and runs on the labour, networks, and resources of our wider membership. None of this would exist without people who chose to give their time.
Our flagship programme. Each edition spotlights a person from — or shaped by — the North East: a Dubai-based mindset coach, a London School of Economics scholar, a fragrance entrepreneur, a Fulbright fellow. They share what they built and how they built it. Local youth listen, ask, and leave with a different idea of what is available to them.
The welfare arm of the trust. Food packets during the pandemic. Ration support for families that lost income. Direct relief for migrant workers stranded across states. Quiet, immediate, unflashy work.
Travels to rural Assam to put microphones into the hands of children who have never used one. The first programme we ever ran — and the one closest to our origin.
A winter project. Members wrap street dwellers in warm blankets on the coldest nights of December — without ceremony and without photographs intended for publication.
Direct financial and mentorship support for meritorious students from families below the poverty line. Every member contributes; every student supported is treated as our own.
A short selection from our ongoing series. Each talk is open to members and invited guests, with portions shared on our social channels for those who could not attend in person.
On building MJI Perfumes, agarwood, and Assam's place in the global perfume map.
Three scholars share what it took to read at LSE, London University, and East London.
On building a coaching practice in Dubai, mindset, and the long arc of a humble beginning.
Founding members reconvene to mark seven years of the trust and welcome three new inductees.
Leadership is rotational and the membership wide. Below are some of the people who hold the work together — and a partial list of members whose names recur in our records of recent years.
Founding Member
Trust Registration Lead
Director, SONEI Cares
Project Director
You do not have to be from the North East to support this work. You only have to believe that talent is everywhere — and that recognition is one of the kindest things one person can give another.
Membership of SONEI is invitational and earned. If you have built something, mentored someone, or contributed quietly to the North East — we would like to know you. New members are inducted at our anniversary events.
Begin a conversation →Direct contributions to SONEI Cares, the debate competition, and the Secret Santa winter drive go further than you would imagine. Every rupee is accounted for; every donor is acknowledged.
Contribute →If you are an organisation, school, or company that would like to host a Star Talk in your space — or sponsor one — we welcome the partnership. The talks are designed to travel.
Partner with us →Volunteer in your Community
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