Sachi Maniar (Co-Founder, Director) : 

Sachi entered the children’s home in 2012 as a volunteer to paint the white walls of the home. She was so moved by the condition of the children in the home that she couldn’t help wondering what to do about it. A filmmaker by profession, she thought the best thing would be to create a film to raise funds to better the situation of the home. However, life had other plans. Two years down the road, she left her high-paying career in films to create safe transformative spaces for children and youth at risk. She wears many feathers in her cap. She advocates for services for the children both within the home, coordinating with staff and other ngos, as well as outside to enable repatriation. She fundraises for Ashiyana, draws in volunteers and in general communicates to the world outside the homes (including policy makers). She is happiest sitting in circles with the children to empower them to dream and be positive.

Neesha Noronha: (Communication, facilitator)

Neesha calls herself: cross-pollinator. artist-activist. hugger. recovering perfectionist.. She loves to share movement (yoga, dance, capoeira and interplay) and sustainable living, mostly through food and farming, but also through crafts. Sharing practices that cherish body and earth is how she participates in growing healthy, happy individuals and communities. Post a degree in educational psychology much of her learning has been among indigenous and land based communities. Currently “grounded” in Mumbai, she is rediscovering the roots of wildness at home and integrating the two. She used to volunteer at DSIS as a college student and 20 years on is happy to be back and farming with the boys, co-facilitating circles and sessions and occasionally writing about what we do.

Arnold D’Souza:  (Facilitator)

At 18 Arnold took his grandfathers words “learn a skill and you’ll never go hungry” to heart after he failed his college exams. He started cutting and styling hair and eight years later he is sure that this is his calling. He’s been doing this for the boys at Dongri for the last three years and also training a small group to cut hair. Like all hairstylists he is well practiced in the art of listening and he has added depth to this skill by learning restorative justice and circle work. So now he is not just the cool big brother who has “been there and done that” to the boys, but also a respected elder who teaches them how to be gentlemen and independent, confident souls.

Shrirang Joshi: (Psychiatrist)

Dr. Shrirang Joshi is a Psychiatrist with more than 20 yrs experience, Technical Analyst and Investment Psychologist. Dr. Joshi has Received International charter in technical analysis CMT and is a Co-Author of the book “Time your trades with Technical Analysis” And “The Magic and Logic of Elliott Waves ” As a trainer he has conducted Training for Dun & Bradstreet, Trained students at various Business schools and Trained analysts at investment and banking companies. HE was also Hon. Member of the Juvenile Justice Board of Thane district for 3 yrs. Currently Dr. Joshi is a psychiatrist at MGM hospital,  Navi Mumbai and Counsellor at Somaiya engineering college & Somaiya management college.

Sonali Ojha
Sonali Ojha has been developing psychosocial programs for vulnerable and disenfranchised children and youth for the last 20 years. She is the founder and visionary of Dreamcatchers Foundation. Sonali didi constantly pushes us to find depth and meaning in the work we do. Without her, we would not have been able to come this far. She has helped us understand institutions and the needs of children in institutions. When we feel disappointed, helpless, lost or confused (which is quite often) we trouble her and with a big smile, lots of patience and compassion she re-wires us and helps us find our path again.

John Malloy
John is an intervention-specialist with the Santa Clara County Unified School District. He began his life of service at the young age of 21 years, when he led group therapy sessions for the county probation department. For over half a century, John has been serving some of the most vulnerable populations in the San Francisco Bay Area. In one of his many life-roles, John established the “The Foundry School” for justice-involved youth. For the last 40 years, he has led free intergenerational community support groups focusing on grief and trauma. Since 1980, John is the Director of the 500 Mile American Indian Spiritual Marathon. For us, John is the elder, the wisdom keeper who helped us see our potential, our strength and the real work we need to do in the world. From time to time, with his wisdom, he guides us so that we can go deep, stay grounded and work in the most aligned and natural way.

Molly Baldwin
Molly is the founder and CEO of ROCA. For three decades, Molly has been a tireless advocate, mentor, and community convener, reaching out to the highest-risk young people and bringing together the major institutions, corporations, and agencies that affect their lives. She is a graduate of U-Mass, Amherst, holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Lesley University and an honorary Ph.D. from Salem State University and Lesley University. Molly showed us what’s possible. She helped us form our beliefs and perspectives. Through her life of service and ROCA she constantly teaches us how to show up for children and youth, believe in them and help them transform.

Priti Turakhia:
In 2009 Priti retired from the agri-product business that she started with her husband in 1989. While on a journey to self discovery after her retirement, she created a community through the Kabir Festival, Mumbai which brought folk artists, musicians and people together to celebrate the words and poetry of saints. In December 2016, she found her way to David Sassoon Industrial School where she merged her passion for farming and her love for kids to start the Green Friends farming project at DSIS, Matunga. She is the didi who spends 5 days a week nurturing and growing the garden and the boys through her patience, warmth and wisdom. She also helps in co-creating a vision and acts as our sounding board to help us make the right decisions. She loves traveling, being in nature and all kinds of creative crafts and generously shares these and other skills and knowledge with a commitment and passion that inspires us at Ashiyana.

Dev Tayde:
Dev introduces himself as a volunteer but honestly, he is a man who has inspired and transformed many young lives. He currently mentors many social enterprises and also runs an intensive fellowship called Anant-Zameer. He is the co-founder of Down To Earth and has worked at organisations like Akanksha and Indicorps. Dev is the first person to get a call when we run into trouble. Being on this journey with us from the very beginning, we trust him to ask the tough questions when we have strayed and are not being true to ourselves and our vision. From designing the operations, filling in the gaps, to helping us sail through rough times he is our rock of support.”

Deepa Mirchandani:
Deepa’s mission is to help those that want to create lasting social change. As an independent consultant she works with companies, social enterprises and charities to help them build credible strategies, demonstrate their impact and tell great stories. Deepa lives in London but has worked in India, helping to set up a social investment fund in Gujarat and working with organisations – from large corporates to start-ups across the country. She got her hands dirty at our farming project in 2017 and has been with us ever since.

Pramod Kulkarni:
Pramod sir is the visionary of Saathi (Society for Assistance to Children in Difficult Situation). He won the National Child Welfare Award for the year 2014. For more than 30 years, he has been working for vulnerable children and has helped more than 50,000 children reunite with their parents. Be it a child’s difficult situation or our own conflicts of dealing with the system, Pramod Sir has been just a call away, always extending his unconditional support and helping us re-establish our faith in the good. He was the first person to believe in us, our passion and our dreams. And as we keep being focussed on ground he pushes us to work towards policy changes and model building that can impact the lives of many more.

A big part of what Ashiyana does remains volunteer driven and volunteer run. Our volunteers are our pillars who have not only supported us with their time and energy but have also held us while we work in a space that is so challenging emotionally. Our volunteers are artists, social workers, corporate employees, engineers, students, bankers, marketing and management officials, students, singers, dancers, teachers, filmmakers, etc. They are people who care and who want to come together with others to make a difference in the lives of the children. From material needs to emotional support we are grateful to our volunteers for it all.