I love meaningful conversations, playful gatherings and noticing the small moments of awe & wonder that make life feel a little more alive. My work sits at the intersection of learning, facilitation and play, where I design experiences that invite people to notice more, wonder more and see themselves and one another a little differently.
Learning Architect & Senior Program Manager, Education
Project FUEL
Four years of building wisdom-based learning — curricula, playdates, playbooks and one art installation that travelled to Hamburg.
✦Designed and led wisdom-based learning experiences for young people and educators, including the First Aid Kit for Innovators (MOOC) in partnership with HundrED, the Perspective Taking & Sharing curriculum, Young & Wise Youth Council, and workshops for Grade 5 and 6 learners in rural Tanzania.
✦Led the Wisdom Corridor Project, an intergenerational learning initiative across 20+ schools in India and Pittsburgh, enabling students to document and share the lived wisdom of teachers and community elders in creative formats.
✦Created and facilitated community-centred learning formats, including 10+ Wisdom Playdates and FUEL Open Studio, bringing together diverse participants through dialogue, reflection, and play.
✦Co-designed and authored the Institutional Wisdom Playbook, and facilitated immersive trainings and bootcamps to embed wisdom-based practices across the organisation.
✦Conducted participatory field research documenting the ecological wisdom of women, translating these insights into educational resources and an interactive art installation showcased at the Hamburg Sustainability Conference (2026).
✦Curated and wrote 20+ Substack posts exploring everyday wisdom, learning, and reflection through stories, ideas, and practical activities.
Oct 2018 – Jul 2022 · Mumbai
Manager, CEO’s Office
Jai Vakeel Foundation
Strategy beside the CEO, and the research muscle behind it — inclusion campaigns, evaluation systems, a pandemic-born digital library.
✦Served as executive assistant to the CEO, leading cross-functional strategic initiatives that expanded access to quality education and inclusion for 700 direct students and 13,000+ indirectly, all with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
✦Led org-wide MEL (monitoring, evaluation & learning) strategy; recruited and led a team of 4 research enumerators, applying qualitative and quantitative methods across 3 program verticals.
✦Co-led #ChoosetoInclude, a social campaign for disability inclusion that engaged 100+ influencers, 20 school partners, and 6 corporate champions, resulting in 27,000 inclusion-band sales.
✦Spearheaded a digital library launched during the pandemic (150 videos), growing to 478 new subscribers, 59,000+ views, and 1,300+ watch hours.
Jun 2014 – Nov 2015 · Mumbai
Co-Founder
The Green Batti Project
Started a mentoring programme from scratch and grew it into a second city inside a year.
✦Designed and scaled a mentoring curriculum pairing 500+ children from under-resourced communities with young professionals; 78% of children showed increased self-efficacy and reduced school absenteeism.
✦Led orientation and training for 500 mentors, with 96% reporting they would recommend the program to others.
✦Built and maintained strategic partnerships with Teach For India, Mumbai Smiles, and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
✦Managed a team of 10 and built the operational foundation that enabled expansion to a second city within the program’s first year.
Aug 2013 – Aug 2014 · Mumbai
Executive, Brand Communications
DDB Mudra Group
The advertising years — youth campaigns, student brand managers, and India’s largest first-time-voter drive.
✦Designed and led the Student Brand Manager Program for Johnson & Johnson, managing 60 student volunteers across cause-marketing campaigns targeted at Indian youth.
✦Closed the sponsorship deal for Operation Black Dot, a voter-registration campaign that became India’s largest first-time-voter drive, enrolling 40,000 new voters.
✦Advised and edited the DDB Mudra Youth Trends Report and co-authored Max Youth Pulse, a weekly insight series on urban Indian youth.
What I studied
and what I made while I was there
2016 – 2018 · Melbourne
Master of International Development Practice
Monash University
Led the MIDP Student Association; produced a research thesis that received High Distinction; selected for field research in Malaysia using qualitative and ethnographic methods.
2010 – 2013 · Mumbai
Bachelor of Mass Media
Kishinchand Chellaram College
Researched and produced two documentaries, on the ‘Dhobi’ subculture and India’s firework industry.
Passing on
stages, panels, masterclasses
Facilitator·Starter Program, The Circle India
Masterclass·Youth Ambassador Program, HundrED
Masterclass·The Schools of Tomorrow (SoT) Conference
Speaker·Women Leadership Forum of Asia (WLFA) – NGOs Driving D&I Impact
Speaker·ASB Unplugged, American School of Bombay – Impact Series
Panellist·Dialog, Global Youth Forum – People in Their 20s Achieving Their Dreams
Gathering sparks
communities of practice
Selected Participant, Role of Elders in Nurturing Civic Values — a global collaboration anchored by The Wellbeing Project, Georgetown University, exploring wisdom and intergenerational learning in civic life.
Global Member, Cogenerate’s Community of Practice on Social Isolation and Loneliness — an innovators’ community focused on relational, community-led responses to social fragmentation.
Things I upskilled in, along the way
professional development
Accelerated Leadership Program
Stillwater Consulting
identifying limiting beliefs and behaviours to build a life of meaning
Positive Intelligence Program
Shirzad Chamine
self-regulation and resilience for effective leadership
Lean Six Sigma Training
Genpact
continuous process improvement and optimization
Social Impact Measurement Training
4th Wheel
program evaluation and impact assessment
Essentials Program
BecauseYou
mental health and self-care for wellbeing
Other explorations
internships & volunteering
Internships
UNICEF Australia — Christmas Casual Fundraising
The British Council — External Relations & Programmes
National Centre for the Performing Arts — Marketing & Outreach
PR Pundit — Public Relations
Aidem Ventures — Operations
Shutters Advertising — Client Servicing
Volunteering
✦English Tutor, Solidarity For Our Struggles
✦Mentor, Inspire Someone Today Community
✦Mentor, SDG School 2023
✦Spoken English tutor for a first-generation learner
✦9th Sankalp Global Summit 2017
✦United Nations Young Changemakers Conclave
✦Extra-curricular facilitation for 150 students in Dharavi, Mumbai