Anu Gupta

Anu (Anurag) Gupta (born 1985) is an American scientist, educator, lawyer, Social entrepreneurship, mindfulness teacher, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion|DEI) expert. He is the Founder & CEO of BE MORE with Anu, an Educational technology|education technology benefit corporation as well as a certified B Corporation (certification)|B Corporation based in New York City, New York (state)|New York. Gupta provides consulting to organizations, trainings on transforming unconscious bias, and commentary on a variety of social justice and human identity issues.
== Biography ==
Gupta was born in Old Delhi, India. He is the only son and the middle child of physician parents who immigrated to Flushing, New York, US, when he was age 10. He spent the majority of his early years in New York City, New York, and graduated from Edward R. Murrow High School as valedictorian in 2002. Gupta enrolled as an undergraduate at New York University where he led recruitment efforts for Teach For America and joined the Free Burma Movement, inspired by the work of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi|Aung San Suu Kyi. In 2006, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in International Relations, Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies, Biology, and Chemistry. 
During this time, he studied Urdu, Persian language|Persian, and Islam on a Boren Scholarship from the United States Department of State. After college, he became a middle school teacher in South Korea and Myanmar (formerly Burma) with the support of a Fulbright Grant. While in Myanmar, Gupta founded Opening Possibilities Asia, a non-profit dedicated to teaching American teachers to foster ethnic reconciliation using education, teacher training, and interactive classroom activities. For his human rights work in Myanmar, he was awarded the Award for Mutual Understanding from the Institute of International Education's New Leaders Group. 
Following his time in Myanmar, Gupta attended University of Cambridge and earned his M.Phil in Developmental Studies under economist Ha-Joon Chang. In 2008, he returned to the U.S., to complete his law degree at New York University School of Law. During this time, he was both a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship|Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar and Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship and was influenced by Paul van Zyl, Derrick Bell, Sharon Salzberg|Sharon Salzberg, Bryan Stevenson, and Winona LaDuke. 
== Career ==
Gupta has spent two decades studying and speaking on human rights, transitional justice, racial bias, corporate structures, DEI, gender equity, mindfulness, international development, and entrepreneurship. After graduating from law school, he went on to practice law and serve as a legal scholar at the Vera Institute of Justice and New York University School of Law. Gupta founded BE MORE America (now BE MORE with Anu) in 2014 to train professionals in scientific tools to advance racial and gender diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in workplaces and communities. He has over 6 academic publications and has received grants from the National Science Foundation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Echoing Green Foundation, Brooklyn Community Foundation, among others, to build his breaking bias methodology. He has worked with over 200 institutions, reaching over 20,000 people impacting over 10 million lives. In 2015, Gupta along with his sister Vasudha Gupta, were honored at the 2015 Points of Light Conference by President George H. W. Bush. His TED talk, “What we can save by breaking unconscious bias”, has been widely viewed. In October 2020, he shared his personal story of caste from India to the United States with Oprah Winfrey on The Oprah Conversation and Oprah's Book Club Podcast. Gupta is also a graduate of the Mindful Yoga & Meditation Teacher Training program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and he sits on The Middle Project and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies boards.
== Personal Life ==
In 2009, after a barrage of racism and homophobia throughout his youth and enduring years of depression, Gupta contemplated suicide. It was at this time he decided to dedicate his work to ending racial and gender biases and increase awareness and understanding with mindfulness techniques.
Gupta identifies as gay and is an advocate for LGBT|LGBTQ mental wellbeing and social equality. In 2015, as a volunteer for Funding Queerly Giving Circle, he helped to raise a second grant cycle to award over $185,000 in grants to 15 innovative American LGBTQ groups enabling awardees the opportunities to pursue their visions and social change agendas.
Gupta is a member of the Self-Realization Fellowship and Middle Collegiate Church, and he practices meditation with Insight Meditation Society
Category:American scientists
Category:American educators
Category:American lawyers