About Me
My family has roots across Tanzania and India. We immigrated from India to the United States in 2011 -- an experience that changed my life's trajectory. I moved from a private Catholic school in Pune to an inner city high school in New York, where a friend I made on my first day was suspended for punching a vent at lunch! I quickly realized things were not what I was used to, and had to find ways to adapt to my new environment, metal detectors and all. I found solace in Model United Nations and Girl Up -- two ways I could channel my vested passion for changemaking through international relations and women's rights. As a child in India, the furthest my efforts in the realm of gender equality could extend were hosting makeshift classes for my doorman's daughter and her friends who were not allowed to attend school. However, my move to New York enabled me to build on this passion and expand its reach via organizations such as Girl Up, a campaign of the UN Foundation aimed at advancing girls' skills, rights and opportunities. After graduating high school as the Valedictorian of Humanities, I headed to Brandeis University as a Posse Scholar, and earned my Bachelor's degree in International & Global Studies, with minors in Economics, as well as Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies. While at Brandeis, I had the opportunity to further many a cause I was passionate about -- from Girl Up, to South Asian inclusivity, to Model United Nations and beyond.
I was also fortunate enough to move to Copenhagen for a semester, where I delved into my core course Prostitution and the Sex Trade in Europe; this opened my mind up to a whole new intersection of Economics and International Relations. I spent time in Copenhagen, Sweden and the Netherlands, studying the topic across different legal and social contexts.
My incredible time at Brandeis included two summers at Goldman Sachs, where I began my professional career full-time upon graduating. From working across the Management & Strategy team within Engineering, to ending my tenure as an Associate within the Office of the CIO, my time at Goldman Sachs was enriched with incredible people, valuable learnings and the honing of critical skills.
I spent the following six months volunteering with Saheli Sangh, the only sex workers' collective in Pune, India, where I further explored the niche of sex work at the intersection of Economics, International Relations, and Gender & Sexuality Studies -- this time, in a completely different cultural and legal context than I had during my undergraduate stint in Europe.
In order to buttress my grasp of International Relations, I moved to Leiden in the Netherlands to pursue my Master's degree in International Relations, focused on the Global Political Economy. While there, I fueled my zeal for advocating for the decriminalization of sex work by meeting with sex workers across Sweden and the Netherlands, culminating my program by writing and publishing my Master's thesis on Sex Workers' Engagement with Welfare Systems Across Sweden and the Netherlands.
