Our Team
Meet our dedicated and passionate team who are working tirelessly to spark the change! If you'd like to join us, please check our vacancies here.
Nisha Nair
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Nisha has been involved in the education sector for over 15 years in varied settings. Her tenure in education includes serving as facilitator, researcher, curriculum specialist, teacher educator, and administrator at nonprofit institutions, intergovernmental agencies, schools and museums, in the US and India. Prior to ArtSparks, Nisha served as Program Director at a NYC-based art education organization, where she oversaw all aspects of bringing quality visual arts programming to children within 78 NYC public schools. Her work in education explores the role of visual arts & design in developing the whole child, building more inclusive learning environments that promote the development of 21st century learning and life skills, and developing the capacity of teachers. Her research interests lie in how meaningful art experiences can propel individual and social transformation, and in how teachers can promote such experiences for diverse learners. Nisha has also worked in the field of Marketing Communications Design, and over her tenure has won numerous design awards for her work for diverse clients such as the Smithsonian Institution, Honda, NASA, and more.
BFA, Graphic Design, Savannah College of Art & Design; M.A., Art Education, Teachers College Columbia University; International Educational Development Studies, Teachers College Columbia University; In-progress: Teachers College Columbia University Doctoral Fellow in the Dept. of Art Education. |
Nagaraj Kulkarni
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Nagaraj provides the team with valuable support in terms of logistics, operations, hiring and helping women from local communities and acts as a liaison between us and the various schools we are involved with. Having studied in a public school himself, he is deeply aware of the shortcomings of our education system and is therefore strongly motivated to bring a change in the lives of our children through an arts integrated life skills program. Though he started his career with Siemens Healthcare as a Sales Engineer, his drive to bring a change in our education system pushed him to acquire a Masters in Social Development. After his masters, he worked as an Operations Manager in Dharwad, Karnataka with Enabling Leadership where he was involved in their life skills development program through sports and music. This exposed him to working with children from the rural area and he tremendously enjoyed the experience. Outside of work, Nagaraj is an occasional poet and chases behind the philosophical question ‘Who am I?’. He is also widely renowned as a good cook within his family and friends circle.
Bachelor of Science from Karnataka University, Dharwad; MA in Social Development from Azim Premji University |
Arpitha Jayaram
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Arpitha is involved in the training and development of our women facilitators while also ensuring, along with our other team members, that our programs run smoothly. She ardently believes that there is a lot to learn, and that spreading the learning sparks a much needed change. This motivates and pushes her to do what she does well while also making her feel happy and content. Although she is an engineering graduate, as is common amongst engineers of our age, she boldly decided to pursue a career outside of engineering, in a field of her interest and choice - Education. She thus started her career in education working as a Program and Outreach Associate with Avanti Learning Centres in Bengaluru where she visited and worked with private schools in the city. In addition, she has also worked with an NGO teaching English and Mathematics to children from low income families in an after class program like setup. Further, she also has experience in resource management through her role as a Business Development and Relationship Manager at Dicedots where she worked with and managed the resources for international schools in South India. In 2020, amidst the pandemic, enduring the online classes, Arpitha completed her MA in Education from Azim Premji University and joined our team. Aside from work, she is an ardent cloud lover and enjoys watching movies and series to unwind. Of late, owing to a newfound love for philosophy, she likes reading philosophical writings and discussing them with a few friends. If she had a superpower, it would be to enhance people's tolerance.
Bachelor of Technology in EEE, Christ University, Bengaluru; Master of Arts in Education, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru |
Narasimharaju L
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Narasimharaju coordinates and manages nine of our schools, provides logistical support to our team and ensures smooth functioning of our programs. After completing his Masters in Social Work, Narasimharaju started his career in the social sector as a facilitator with Makkala Jagriti. In this role, he facilitated a holistic development curriculum designed by the organization to support government school children. The curriculum focused on overall development of a child through various physical activities, games, life skill programs and intellectual development exercises. Eventually, he was promoted to the role of Program Coordinator and he moved to the rural part of North Karnataka, Gadag and Koppal. His responsibilities included managing and supporting a team of 15 facilitators, acting as a liaison between the schools and the organization, taking care of the logistical needs, making on ground observations in the classroom and the like. In all, his four year journey with Makkala Jagriti was enriching and he learnt many basic concepts in management and child engagement. In his free time, Narasimharaju enjoys farming and loves singing and performing; he has participated in many theatre events. He wishes he had the super power to cure people's problems with the fragrance of a special flower, one whiff of the unique fragrance and all our problems would vanish and we'd become happy.
Bachelor of Arts, Government First-grade College, Sira; Master of Social Work, Tumkur University, Tumkur |
Roshni Ramesh
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Roshni is involved in planning, strategising and implementing our various professional development programs including sessions, workshops, webinars and other events. She started her professional career in the corporate sector as a Software Engineer, during which she was an active member of the CSR team. After working for two years in the IT industry and volunteering with multiple organisations, she bravely decided to actively pursue her passion for social change. As a strong believer in the power of knowledge and education, she always wanted every child irrespective of their social and economic factors, to have access to quality education and in order to pursue this passion, she did her Masters in Social Work Sciences. Prior to joining us, she worked as an educational specialist in the School Transformation Program at Varthana, transforming the quality of education in affordable private schools. Outside of work, she enjoys reading books, especially short stories and fiction and also enjoys watching docuseries on Netflix. If Roshni could bring one change in our community/world, it would be to let every child be a child and if she had a superpower, it would help her reach anywhere in the world at any time within the blink of an eye.
B.Tech in Electronics & Communications Engineering, University of Calicut; Master of Arts in Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai |
N Muankimi
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Muankimi is involved in the end-to-end activities with regard to volunteer management from marketing, recruitment and placement of the volunteers to training and development and other on-going management activities. She is motivated by her belief in the power of individuals and the tremendous positive shift it can create in a child’s life or a person’s life and wants to be a part of the change in any way she can. After her masters, Kim started her career with Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), Mizoram where she worked with children in Shelter Homes and Juvenile Justice Court as Case Worker and Social Worker. She then joined a project sponsored by Tata Trusts as their Project Coordinator. Through the project, they worked with elementary government school children for improving quality education with focus on Science, Maths and English subjects. They also worked with teachers and District Education Officers in DIET, for providing training to teachers and equipping them with teaching kits. She has also worked as a Cluster Coordinator in North East Initiative Development Agency (NEIDA) where she worked in the field of improving rural livelihoods. In addition, she was also the State Head at eCentric Solutions which was the implementing agency of DDU-GKY, a skill development scheme for rural youth employment. Apart from work, she enjoys listening to all kinds of music, and gardening; she has a terrace kitchen garden. Although gardening is a new found hobby, she relishes every bit of it and can see herself developing life skills through this experience. If she could bring one change in our community, it would be to provide quality education for each and every child and ensure life skills are taught from a young age, and if she could have a super power, she would make each and everyone in our world believe in ourselves.
Bachelor of Social Work, St. Joseph's College of Arts & Science, Bangalore; Master of Social Work, St. Joseph's College of Arts & Science, Bangalore |
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