When Rupa Dash got started in the fast-growing Indian film industry 10 years ago, she did not see a lot of women in leadership roles. 

A decade later, Dash, an MBA student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, is receiving accolades for being an entrepreneur and advocate for women in entertainment.

“When I broke into Bollywood, I had no one,” she said. “It’s always nice, as a woman, to get recognized. You have to break many glass ceilings to be seen and heard.”

Dash received the Outstanding Entertainment Entrepreneur of Los Angeles award Oct. 1 during the second annual Beauty In/Beauty Out Awards at the Los Angeles Theater Center. The goal of the awards ceremony is to recognize and celebrate inner and outer beauty and selfless works of true women leaders.

Dash is one of the business accelerators and executive managers of the Women Entrepreneurs Network, one of the largest women’s entrepreneur groups in North America. She is a script reader at Brillstein Entertainment and a producer at Dash Global Media.

She also co-founded and is CEO of World Woman Foundation. This foundation creates a platform to put a spotlight on young women in business, entertainment, social entrepreneurship, and technology. Established in 2013, the foundation seeks to empower women by facilitating mentoring programs for 1 million women and girls worldwide by 2020.

Dash received her bachelor’s degree in India and an entrepreneurship program certification from the University of California-Los Angeles Anderson School of Management.

Dash moved to Arkansas from Los Angeles with her husband when he accepted a position at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She started the MBA program at UALR in January.

In September, Dash was one of 14 talented speakers selected to participate in the annual TEDxMarkhamSt event. Since then, she has given many high-profile talks, including speaking at the United Nations, Indian International Film Market, Hollywood Women Leadership Panel, and HollyShort Film Festival.

She credits her speaking success to her professors in the UALR Department of Applied Communication. When Dash realized she needed to become the public face for her company, she spent thousands of dollars on speech classes in Los Angeles. However, she said none of them taught her what she learned at UALR.

“I am very grateful for the Department of Applied Communications,” she said. “I have been getting more speaking engagements than ever before because of them. That is the biggest skill set that I have taken from this school. Everyone gets the same education, but not everyone communicates the same way.”

In the upper right photo, Rupa Dash (right) receives the Outstanding Entertainment Entrepreneur award from actress Danielle Mone` Truitt (left) and actor Antwon Tanner (center).