Team

Our mission is to encourage healthy, open dialogue of South Asian mental health issues in an effort to remove stigma, improve awareness and promote self-care.

Leadership Team

Sri Nimmagadda | Chief Program Officer

Raised in the Pacific Northwest and currently based out of Los Angeles, Sri Nimmagadda leads MannMukti as its Chief Program Officer, setting the strategic vision for the organization’s mental health impact programs globally.

Sri’s passion for mental health advocacy stemmed from his own struggles growing up, as well as the experience of having seen several close friends undergo their own issues with mental health. Sri is proud to work with MannMukti as he fundamentally believes in empowering others to break free from the shackles placed upon them, such as societal stigmatization of mental health, and the ability for stories to change the way people think. He enjoys watching football, exercising, and convincing people that the Seahawks throwing the ball at the one-yard line was the right call.

Sri Nimmagadda

Chief Program Officer

Kirandeep Sidhu | Chief Media Officer

Kirandeep Sidhu is an MD Graduate with a keen interest in Public Health. From humble beginnings in rural Canada, she currently resides in Los Angeles. On a typical day you may find her trying to find a work/life balance as a new mom and advocating for mental health on social media.

Kirandeep Kaur

Chief Media Officer

Sid Verma | Chief Operating Officer

Sid is a self branded creator of stuff and doer of things. He graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz and works in tech in the Bay Area. He has personally grappled with anxiety and depression and is determined to raise awareness of such issues in the South Asian Community. In his free time you can find Sid, DJing, taking photos, flying drones or adventuring with friends.

Sid Verma

Chief Operating Officer

Nikkita Kumar | Head of Youth Fellowship

Born and raised in Dallas and a proud Texan at heart, Nikki currently lives in Northern Virginia where she is pursing a career in product. She became truly passionate about mental health after going through her own experiences with anxiety, depression, and ADHD. She is excited to join MannMukti because it brings together her passions for mental health and culture. If you manage to catch Nikki you might find her spending her free time rewatching Brooklyn 99 on repeat, or liking one too many dog pics on Instagram.

Nikkita Kumar

Head of Youth Fellowship

Volunteer Staff

Anand Jayanti | Podcast Producer

Anand Jayanti came from India with his family as a child, when he developed an interest in storytelling. Initially, this meant making up exotic stories about his family to the subsequent shame of his parents during PTA meetings. Now, it manifests as he imagines all the ways in which others may not like him, or the ways in which he’s failed. Slowly, he’s trying to learn how to write a story in which he’s the protagonist in his life — someone he wants the best for. When he begins work as a resident psychiatrist this fall, he hopes to help others write that story for themselves as well.

Anand Jayanti

Podcast Producer

Parth Badhiwala | Podcast Producer

He currently is working as an analyst at Bank of America. He likes MannMukti because it allows conversations to be created for people that are afraid to ask questions or share their stories surrounding mental health. For someone with no health background at all, MannMukti gives him the opportunity to learn more about mental health so that I can take care of himself and his loved ones. In his free time he likes to watch movies, play with his dogs and travel!

Parth Badhiwala

Podcast Producer

Dristhi Vidyarthi

Partnerships Chair

Audria Choudhury | Podcast Producer

Audria is a first-generation Bangladeshi-American residing in Austin, TX. She works at a nonprofit to ensure that children around the world grow up in loving families instead of orphanages. Audria’s mental health journey consists of attending affordable therapy instead of psychoanalyzing herself, trying to rein in her scattered thoughts through meditation, and being more present. She has been accused of not being able to sit still due to her acute case of cabin fever and can be found either dancing, lettering, netflixing or traveling the first chance she gets.

Audria Choudhury

Podcast Producer

Board of Advisors

Dina Patel

Dina Patel is a co-founder of Ignite Asha and an avid entrepreneur. Prior to Dina’s entrepreneurial ventures, she spent 10 years in investment banking. In 2010, Dina moved to Chicago with her family where she began to explore different endeavors. She launched Didi’s Wardrobe (Indian clothing consignment) in 2011, Wolverine Property Group (real estate investing) in 2017 and most recently Simply Free Delights (allergy friendly cookies).

Dina is originally from the suburbs of Michigan and has enjoyed moving around since college. She spent her undergraduate years at the University of Michigan, her MBA years at Northwestern University and spent a number of years working in New York City and Cleveland. She loves to travel and explore the world and helping those along the way. She is a big believer in building a strong community for her children and is also a co-founder of Hamara Parivar, a community based organization in the Western suburbs of Chicago.

Dina Patel

Purva Shah

Purva Shah is a co-founder of Ignite Asha and a lifelong Chicago area resident. Purva has been fortunate to travel back to India almost every year of her life, which has given her a unique perspective on the local culture and community, and has enabled her to foster long lasting relationships there.

Purva has a B.A. degree in Psychology from Loyola University and an MBA in Human Resources Management from DePaul University. Professionally, Purva has worked in industry and also in residential real estate. After spending time away from work to be a full-time mom for 2 kids, she wanted to follow her passion for philanthropy and has been involved with several local charities over the last several years. In parallel, she continues to look for ways to bridge her strong Chicago community ties with her desire to assist those in need in India and beyond. Through this journey, the inspiration for Ignite Asha was created.

Purva Shah

Faria Akram

Faria Akram is a tiny and tough Texas native with a passion for helping others through storytelling. Outside of her full-time job in content marketing, she’s a freelance writer and the former VP of Marketing at MannMukti. In 2018, she was the recipient of the National Muslim Women’s Summit Fellowship, put on by Malikah in conjunction with Harvard University. When she’s not exploring the nuances of social media or creating digital content, Faria can be found watching Parks and Rec and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai on repeat. You can keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter @followingfaria

Faria Akram

Kavita Pallod Sekhsaria

Kavita Pallod Sekhsaria, Psy.D., is a proud Texan who’s been transplanted to Maryland, where she works as a clinical psychologist. She earned her Clinical Psychology Psy.D. at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Kavita is the Co-Membership Chair for the Asian American Psychological Association’s Division of South Asian Psychologists, where she works with an incredible team to empower South Asian mental health providers to further serve their communities. Additionally, Kavita is a National Team Member for the Hindu American Foundation, where her efforts are focused on creating materials on Hinduism for teachers. She’s also serves as the Hindu Chaplain for American University, and is Center for Dharmic Education Leadership Council, and is passionate about using her degree in psychology to fight mental health stigma in the Hindu and broader South Asian community. When she’s not helping her clients find their inner resilience or working with the community, you can probably find her yelling at the TV as her favorite sports teams lose, trying to convince someone or the other that Harry Potter is superior to all other texts, or eating Taco Bell.

Team

Our mission is to encourage healthy, open dialogue of South Asian mental health issues in an effort to remove stigma, improve awareness and promote self-care.

Leadership Team

Sri Nimmagadda

Chief Program Officer

Kirandeep Kaur

Sid Verma

Nikkita Kumar

Volunteer Staff

Anand Jayanti

Parth Badhiwala

Dristhi Vidyarthi

Audria Choudhury

Board of Advisors

Dina Patel

Purva Shah

Faria Akram

Kavita Pallod Sekhsaria

Follow us on Instagram: @mannmukti

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