I spent the early years of my career honing my organizational and critical thinking skills as an executive administrator in fields ranging from civil service to legal offices. I began my career in Canada, where I was raised, and have since become a US citizen.
Early in 2011, during my transition to living in the United States, I met Ajit George, who told me all about his touching work with Shanti Bhavan. He explained how the financial downturn had affected their funding and how much he wished he could hire an administrator to assist in his work. Because the school’s mission touched my heart, I was happy to offer my administrative talents as a volunteer. Throughout the years, I assisted with website management, events, administration, newsletters, finances, and much more. As the school’s supporter base grew, I was eventually brought on as a full-time staff member. Now I am happy to focus my attention on sponsorships, administration, and communications.
A typical day for me includes a significant amount of email back and forth with our donors, especially those sponsoring students. I also spend a good part of my day managing new sponsorships and creating the updates that those donors receive each quarter. Finally, I help manage our internal team requests and financials.
My best moment working with Shanti Bhavan was the year I began taking responsibility for our sponsorship updates. It was 2020, and all our volunteers had been sent home as the campus went into quarantine. We still wanted to provide our sponsors with a year-end video, so we began recording the students over the internet. I had been working on the US side of Shanti Bhavan for many years but had not had much opportunity to work directly with the students. I spent many weeks on video calls with each child learning more about them and speaking to them directly for the first time. This project truly cemented my love of the school and the deserving young people that it supports.