“Success is the fruit of tireless efforts and the art of making the most of changing circumstances.” – Vimla Patil

Late Smt. Vimla Patil was one of India's most senior journalists, author and media person. She had a long and illustrious career spanning 25 years as the Assistant Editor and Editor of Femina, a top women’s magazine (Times of India group), and that too, at a time when the concept of a working woman was anathema to our society. She built this first English women’s magazine into an international brand. She used the medium of Femina to strive continuously for the rights of the girl child and women's emancipation and was successful in changing the status and mindset regarding Indian women, to create the persona of the modern, educated Indian woman. She unified the women of India through Femina, using common topics of relevance to them.

She had travelled worldwide and met and worked with personalities as varied as foreign dignitaries, politicians, Indian Prime Ministers like Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, top classical singers and film stars. She had conceptualized the ‘Miss India’ contest for Femina and made it the popular event it is today.

She authored numerous features on a wide range of topics like lifestyle, travel, wildlife, archaeology, women’s concerns, celebrity interviews, and art and culture pieces about India. She contributed to many leading papers in India and Asia. She wrote scripts and did the artistic direction and music design for Son-et-Lumiere (Sound and Light) shows for the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. She also wrote for various websites.