DAPAAA at 25: Desi at Dartmouth: South Asian Perspectives on the Big Green Experience
Channel: Dartmouth Asian Pacific American Alumni Assoc
Date: 2023-12-20

Join us for a discussion with South Asian alums on their experience at Dartmouth and beyond. Our panelists will share their stories on community and identity across a range of years from the ’90s to the present. 

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TOPICS COVERED:

Chapters
00:00 Welcome
01:14 Community Guidelines
02:18 Opening Remarks
06:12 Introduction Moderator and Panelists
09:42 Social Connection
21:33 Student Experience
45:17 Academic representation
60:54 Q&A
76:10 Closing Remarks and Reflection
80:56 About DAPAAA25
81:06 End

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SPEAKERS:

OPENING REMARKS: CHITRA NARASIMHAN '92
Chitra (she/hers) majored in Government at Dartmouth. After receiving her MBA from Columbia University, she worked for American Express and then at Citi Ventures as a Managing Director focused on innovation initiatives.  Her focus over the last several years has been in non-profit volunteer activities. Chitra has been an active alumni interviewer, and this year serves as the DED for the Westchester New York District. She was an Alumni Councilor for the Class of 1992 and was elected as the President of the Alumni Council for the 2022-2023 year, the first South Asian to serve in the role. This year, Chitra serves as the Chair of the Alumni Liaison Committee of the Alumni Council.


MODERATOR: MAYANK KESHAVIAH '97
Mayank (he/him/his) is a Los Angeles-based alum who has worked on Wall Street, at an Internet startup, at a healthcare technology company, and as an elementary school teacher, before becoming a playwright. In 2012, his social justice drama “Rangoon” was produced Off-Broadway by New York’s Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, and in 2015, he was commissioned by East West Players to write “The United States vs. Bhagat Singh Thind,” which was performed at schools and libraries around L.A. County. In the last few years, Mayank has been a stay-at-home dad, while continuing to teach part time.


PANELISTS:  
AMISH PARASHAR '03 TH'03
Amish (he/him) is the CEO of Explorers’ Lab, a boutique global venture lab specializing in DeepTech business opportunities. He was previously a founding partner of a public company’s global VC firm, a Director of Innovation at a R&D Lab, and also co-founded a $100M exploratory Venture Capital fund. He earned two degrees from Dartmouth College and a graduate degree from the University of London. When not collaboratively exploring the future, he enjoys exploring the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and children.

AMRITA SANKAR '12
Amrita (she/her) is a proud second-generation Indian-American. Amrita has worked at the intersection of finance and responsible investment for over a decade and now focuses on Environmental, Social, Governance factors (ESG), with a particular interest in how diversity in the workplace can enhance value. She earned a BA in Government and Minor in Public Policy at Dartmouth and also holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, with a concentration in Finance. At Dartmouth, she served as the representative of the Pan-Asian Council and was the student body vice president. She is also the alumni representative for the class of 2012.

SIRAJUM SANDHI '21
Sirajum (they/them) is an asylee from Bangladesh and currently resides in Lenape, colonially known as Harlem, NYC. They received their B.A. in Gender & Sexuality and was a Race, Migration, and Sexuality Scholar and Eric Eichler Healthcare Leaders Fellow. After graduation, they received the prestigious Lombard Public Service and collaborated with Partnership to End Gendered Islamophobia and Palestine Feminist Collective. They currently work as a Youth Advocate at Sakhi where they provide trauma-informed advocacy to youth survivors of gender-based violence. They also organize with South Asian and muslim queer collectives in NYC to cultivate intergenerational healing.

KRISHNA DESAI T'21
Krishna (she/her) is currently Director of Business Development and Strategic Investments at the NFL. She attended the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth from 2019 to 2021, where she co-founded Next50, a student-led program that shed light on representation in the curriculum. Krishna has over a decade of experience in sports media and corporate strategy at top media companies from Snapchat to NBC Sports. As an avid sports fan, she has spent a lifetime rooting for the Knicks and gravitating towards just about anything that involves a ball and a score. Today, Krishna lives in NYC.