About Ashoka India

Shruti leads Ashoka in South Asia. She started at Ashoka building impact strategy and went on to lead the Youth Years program in South Asia. In her current role as the leader of the region, she leads the overall team and strategy responsible to search, select and build a community of Ashoka fellows (Social Entrepreneurs), Ashoka Young Changemakers (Teen Changemakers) & institutional partners to help society re-imagine a framework where everyone is a changemaker. Prior to this, Shruti has helped various social enterprises and impact organisations in measuring and communicating their impact. In her previous role, Shruti has worked with one of India's largest Impact Investment Fund and later with Social Venture Partners, an international venture philanthropy organization.

Shruti is an invited speaker on women leadership, social entrepreneurship, systems change at various national and international forums. She was recognised by the Femina Magazine in the campaign #FAB50 as one of the 50 influential women leaders from across India in the year 2020.

Shruti has a Ph.D. in Media Studies from Florida State University, and also holds a Master’s degree in Mass Communication from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Shruti can be reached at [email protected]

Venkata has over 10-years of experience in Accounting, Finance analysis and Reporting. Venkata works with Ashoka Finance Team on Ashoka consolidated audit, Finalizing GL, Grant analysis, Forex analysis and Data Screening. He did his bachelor’s in Finance & Accounting and pursuing CA & MBA. Venkata Speaks Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and English with varied degrees of fluency.

Jaya joined Ashoka in April 2015 as a part of the Integrated Technology Initiative team. She is a mother of two, multilinguist, Drupal evangelist who started her career as an Analytical Chemist and then a Russian Technical translator and Interpreter and now enjoys development of websites since 2007.

Yashveer leads the “Ashoka Young Changemakers” program at Ashoka. Yashveer launched Ashoka Young Changemakers program in the year 2018 to identify, select and build a global community of Teen Changemakers. Prior to this, he founded a youth non-profit to address talent inequity in the development sector and influence youth culture in India by inspiring and educating university students to pursue social innovation and entrepreneurship. Yashveer has co-authored a book #ChangeStartsYoung featuring inspiring stories of young changemakers from across India.

For his work, Yashveer has been recognized in "Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia" list in the year 2016. He was also awarded Youth Action Net 2012 Fellowship – as 1 of the 20 young social entrepreneurs representing 16 different countries by International Youth Foundation.
 
Yashveer earned his MBA at University of Oxford, where he was the only MBA student to receive Vice-Chancellor Social Impact Award 2014 for his initiatives as Co-Chair Social Impact, Oxford Business Network (OBN). As the President of Student’s Union BITS Pilani 2006-07, Yashveer co-founded the University VISION 2020 Plan.

Nikitha Varsha joined Ashoka as Assistant Manager for Finance & Accounts. She comes with 12 years of experience in the field. Prior  to joining Ashoka, Nikitha was specialized in the preparation of receipts & payment, income & expenditure accounts, profit & loss account, cash flow statement & balance sheet, payroll, budget & MIS reports, coordinating with the auditors for the finalization of accounts and also interacting with statutory work like ESIC, PF, PT, TDS and Service Tax. She is well-versed in accounting softwares like Tally ERP 9 & Netsuite.

David Menezes currently leads the Venture & Fellowship initiative for Ashoka South Asia. Prior to Ashoka, he specialized in monitoring and evaluation prior to joining Ashoka, managing impact studies and change strategy for sectors like Livelihoods, Youth Development, Employment Skilling, and Environmental Sustainability. He holds a Bachelor's in Economics from Mumbai University, a Master's in Economics from Symbiosis International University, and a degree in Development Leadership from the Indian School of Development Management. He also founded a content development agency called TZED Collective.

Gopal Garg is ASPI-Re´s Ecosystem and Partnerships Director. Last 20yrs he has led many social impact initiatives with a focus on Youth. Innovation, big thinking, and systems change has been his strength. He co-founded Youth4Jobs Foundation, an organization mainstreaming persons with disabilities in the job market. His innovative programs on ecosystem building for inclusion of people with disabilities in corporate has changed mindsets and influenced many policies in corporate which was recognized as a global best practice. He scaled the program across India, Mauritius and Kenya through knowledge sharing and partnerships. During his work with the Government as part of the World Bank programs, he was instrumental in designing and implementing the one million jobs mission for the unemployed youth and changing policies for systems change in this field. He is a Vipassana meditator and a trekker. Gopal holds a Master's Degree in Management and is an Acumen and UnLtd India Fellow.

Rajesh leads the admin and talent efforts for Ashoka in India. Rajesh has been with Ashoka from November 2014. Before joining Ashoka, he has worked for international not-for-profit organizations and various corporate sector organizations in Administration and Finance Departments.

Deepali works as a Change Manager with the Globaliser team under their ASPIRe program. She comes with six years of experience in the development sector working with youth & women in rural India and a master’s in development studies. Through ASPIRe Deepali is keen on understanding how technology especially digital platforms can support social entrepreneurs reach scale and higher impact. She is also an avid reader and a traveler!

Avantika’s role includes fellow research and evaluation under the Venture arm at Ashoka India. In her role, she digs deeper into different social ecosystems and keeps up with upcoming changes and innovations in the social sector.

With a diverse background, she brings an understanding of local cultures and cross-sectoral experience with non-profits, politicians, government officers, marketing, and PR.

Avantika is passionate about animal welfare and has been working on stray animal rescue in India since 2012. She is a keen climate activist and is also passionate about working towards livelihoods and criminal justice.

She holds an MSc degree in Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare, along with a BA degree in Psychology, English Literature, and Economics. Apart from this, she holds 2 certificates in Equine Behaviour and has been selected as a participant for the ClimateForce Leadership Expedition to Antarctica in March 2022.

Aravind uses data, UX, and digital communications to unlock value for Ashoka globally. He started his career in 2016, working with an Ashoka Fellow, and believes that empathy can positively impact our world. With this mindset, Aravind has delivered social impact in education, clean energy, and waste management.

Dishika is working with teams globally to assist them in taking data-driven decisions in their respective digital strategies. With a natural instinct for numbers, her approach is to keep communication clear and unbiased - both within and beyond the Ashoka world.