Women in AR | Lensathon | Snap’s efforts

Earlier this year, Snap collaborated with Lean in India, Navjyoti India Foundation and Digital Empowerment Foundation to reach out to women across the country to host a special Lens Studio workshop in India. The workshop successfully introduced young women in India to the concept of Augmented Reality and some of the skills necessary to navigate the digital economy of the future. Participants of the workshop used Lens Studio to create and design their own AR experiences.

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Juhi Bhatnagar who leads Strategy and Business Development for Snap inc, India commented,“Snapchat believes that AR is a powerful tool for self-expression, as they see millions of Snapchatters play with it every single day. The brand built Lens Studio – a free desktop app – to put this technology in the hands of the community. With it, they can unleash the creative potential that technology has to make lives better with ease, especially for women in India.”  

The workshop was followed by a Lensathon that had registrations from young women across India including Bangalore, Jaipur, Poonthura and Thrissur and over 90% women said they had no prior AR skills. While each participant learnt new skills and showed keen interest in learning more about Augmented Reality and creative tools, three women from Chennai. Delhi and Surat respectively submitted exceptionally creative lenses winning the lensathon.

In the first place was Pradeepa Anandhi from Chennai, who created a Lens where users can shift from playing with paper planes to being an astronaut in space. Kinjal Waghela from Surat whose Lens encouraged young women to scream their fears and not let the opinion of others hold them back, bagged the second place. Kriti Mathur from Delhi, who created a Lens that allows Snapchatters to make their dreams into reality – imagining themselves in different careers such as astronauts, scuba divers, scientists or football players, came in third.

Speaking about the impact that such tech advancing initiatives have on the lives of women, gold winner Pradeepa Anandhi (Chennai) said, “I was thrilled when I heard of Snapchat’s initiative to upskill women across India, by providing them with a relevant platform like Lensathon and easy-to-use tools, as well as professional guidance. I have been in the AR industry for close to three years now, and before the workshop, I knew of very few women who had the opportunity to learn and understand augmented reality. Along with participating in the workshop, it was also a pleasure to interact with women who shared similar interests from across the country. I believe that communities and platforms like these will go a long way in encouraging women to pursue tech full time.”

Adding to this, 2nd runner up Kinjal Waghela (Surat) said, “I was always fascinated with the AR technology and  decided to dive into the lens studio to challenge myself. Through my lens, I want to convey a message to all the women out there, let go of your fears and don’t let anyone’s opinion affect you. Lensathon was the perfect opportunity for me to showcase my creativity in AR and encourage all the women through my lens”

Speaking about the importance of AR, 19 year old Kriti Mathur (Delhi) said, “Snapchat is the fastest and the most unique way to communicate with friends and family by using creative tools available on the platform. Being a woman, I understand the challenges faced by women in tech and in general. Hence, this was a great opportunity for me to motivate women to come forward and showcase their creativity”