Harpreet Bagga

Partner & Managing Director

Mandira Kalra Kalaan

Senior Director & Head of Office, India

Mandira is a Senior Campaign Director and Head of Office India at Purpose, where she is responsible for Purpose’s strategy, impact and growth in India.  She brings almost 20 years of experience working at the intersection of communication and social impact and believes in the importance of creative storytelling to drive systemic and normative change. 

She has worked in the areas of gender, public health, violence, identity and more recently in the intersectionality of work on climate/gender/health and justice.  At Purpose she has led work on building youth movements, narrative change on women’s health, women’s leadership in the renewable energy sector, just transitions, adolescent health and wellbeing amongst a host of other issues.  She is passionate about building networks, coalitions and creating an ecosystem for new power leadership in local communities and amongst those most impacted.  

Previously, Mandira led the communication programme at the Population Foundation of India and has worked with international organizations such as UNICEF and the World Bank.   Mandira is an Anthropologist from the London School of Economics, where her research focussed on gender norms during periods of crisis and change. 

She is an organic vegetable farmer and the co-founder of VANA, a social entrepreneurship working with traditional sari weavers across India to support India’s handloom workers.  When not working Mandira can be found usually with a book, trashy TV and Gen-X music with her dogs or trying valiantly to raise feminist teenage daughters who think they know more than her!

Ananya Sharma

Junior Visual Designer and Design Researcher

Ananya Sharma is a Visual Designer, specializing in brand building. Her main focus is creating solutions and purposeful experiences for brands. She is interested in collaborating on projects that assist the social sector, and her creative principle revolves around understanding how design can change the way people live, work, and play.

Ananya has previously worked with premium alcohol beverage brands - Macallan, Famous Grouse, Cutty Sark, Richton, and Bootz. She has extensive experience working on multiple startup projects, where she developed their entire brand identities from scratch. She also contributed at the grassroots level with MasterG by providing her skills to develop an online platform to teach pattern-making to women from marginal societies in India. This contributed to reducing disparity in women’s workforce participation in India specifically as patternmakers.

She enjoys reading on a lazy day, figuring out how to make a humane society for all the fur babies around her. She has continued to challenge herself to make responsible decisions. In her time off, you can find Ananya enjoying time with her dog and sketching. She loves to garden and spend time outdoors, too. She experiments with type and design - @visually_dramatic.

Ancy Susan Abraham

Executive Assistant & Talent Coordinator

Ancy Susan Abraham is an Executive Assistant and Talent Coordinator at Purpose India. The role requires her to work closely with the India Head of Office and with the People, Culture & Operations Lead on the recruitment process and coordination for the India team. 

Prior to joining Purpose, Ancy worked with WASH Institute, PRADAN, Sparrow Interactive Pvt Ltd., and Derik Group of Companies respectively. She has a mixed range of experience as an EA and Administration, and as Human Resources Officer mainly handling recruitment and General HR Administration.

Ancy has a Post Graduation Diploma in Management in HR and Finance from DCSMAT Business School and B.Com in Sales Management from The MarThoma College for Women.

Anish Varghese

Operations & Staffing Manager

As the Operations and Staffing Manager at Purpose India, Anish brings together project management experience, people skills, and a keen eye for detail. He employs his knack for finding the best fit in the focus areas of resource management and business operations.

Before joining Purpose, Anish worked as a project manager on large-scale analytics projects with global teams. He has lived and worked in the USA, China, Malaysia, and India and has experience with analytics, project management, capacity building, stakeholder management, and business development.

Anish graduated with a Master of Public Policy from the Hertie School in Berlin and a Bachelor of Technology from the Allahabad Agricultural Institute.

Outside work, Anish spends time watching a lot of TV, volunteering at a local animal shelter, making peanut butter, and perfecting his recipe for ‘chai'.

Deepti Ojha

Senior Campaigner

As a Senior Campaigner at Purpose India, Deepti brings together strategic marketing and communication expertise with a strong passion to create progressive change at the grassroots level. Her role involves building effective online and offline campaigns using strong narratives, public mobilization, and storytelling.

Before joining Purpose, Deepti worked with leading advertising and marketing agencies, the Government of India, and the American India Foundation with a core focus on creating sustainable livelihoods and public health. She has won multiple awards for her work around Risk Communication, Citizenship Campaigns, and Digital Campaigns for COVID-19 to name a few. She is experienced in building powerful narratives to effectively bring behavior change and create actionable outcomes.

Deepti holds a BA Honours degree in Political Science and Mass Media from the Indraprastha College for Women, the University of Delhi along with a Master's degree in Advertising, Public Relations, and Applied Communication from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi.

When not at work, she can be found at the nearest CrossFit, running marathons or boxing!

Dhruv Arora

Associate Campaign Director

Dhruv Arora is a communications and campaigns expert from New Delhi, with a keen interest in gender, human rights, and creating a free and just world.

Prior to Purpose, he has led communications in various capacities at organisations such as UNICEF, Centre for Policy Research, Youth Ki Awaaz, CREA, and has previously founded the award winning GotStared.At, an award winning campaign against gender-based violence. At UNICEF, Dhruv led Communications and Advocacy for YuWaah (Generation Unlimited India), where he helped set up the Communications team, approach to advocacy, and designed the communications strategy for the Young Warrior movement.

Dhruv holds a Master’s in Media Practice for Development and Social Change from the University of Sussex, where he won the Best Dissertation Award for his thesis on Intersectional Representation in Popular Media.

Dhruv is an avid cinema and film buff, and on any given Sunday you can probably find him watching anything from Bollywood/Hollywood classics, indie films from across the world, to Bollywood films from the 90s/2000s.

Gayatri Bhatia

Digital Campaigner

Gayatri is Digital Campaigner at Purpose, where she brings a strong multicultural perspective, having worked in various sectors - technology, social impact, telecom, healthcare, corporate, and F&B. She has utilised thought leadership, digital strategy + storytelling, and social media marketing to effect positive change and deliver impactful campaigns.

Prior to joining Purpose, she successfully managed and led campaigns for diverse clients including at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, American Express, Rotary DSRSF, Investcorp, and NASSCOM. Gayatri holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Mass Communications. She has also formulated award-winning integrated campaigns, with a digital-first emphasis, spreading awareness on social issues like leprosy.

Outside of work, Gayatri is a crossword puzzle enthusiast who can be found doting on her dog Lucy or immersed in her insatiable appetite for both books and food!

Gurpriya Singh

Campaign Manager

Gurpriya is a campaigner at Purpose, where she designs and implements public mobilization strategies and narrative change initiatives in India. She believes in the power of participatory methods and bringing forth the voices and experiences of the community to drive sustainable and long-term social and behaviour change. 

Prior to joining Purpose, Gurpriya worked at Dasra, as part of the 10to19 Dasra Adolescents Collaborative, she worked on strategic communications and narrative change campaigns focusing on sexual and reproductive health and rights, menstrual hygiene management and most recently, with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on combating stigma and discrimination at the time of COVID19.  As part of the working group on first-ever girl-led social audit and accountability campaign (Ab Meri Baari) in India, Gurpriya managed multi-state partnerships, mobilization, capacity building, community advocacy and on-ground activations. Gurpriya is a strong advocate of youth-centered programming, and aspires to become a youth facilitator.

Gurpriya has also worked at Digital Empowerment Foundation and contributed stories to the 1947 Partition Archive.

When not working, Gurpriya likes to read personal narratives and stories, she has discovered her love for collecting and reading Granta Magazine.

Harpreet Bhullar

Associate Director, Impact Measurement & Learning

As Associate Director, Impact, Measurement & Learning, Harpreet leads the design and implementation of impact strategies for public engagement campaigns on climate change across India and global programs.

Prior to joining Purpose, Harpreet has worked with the International Labour Organization and Save the Children in India. She comes with a multidisciplinary experience on international labour migration, child protection and urban development from a participatory and policy research, advocacy and practitioner’s lens.

Harpreet holds a double Masters Degree in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and English from University of Delhi. She is also a certified Art Based Therapist with a specialisation with children at-risk.

Outside of work, she is most likely to be found making new travel plans, reading lists or collecting traditional cooking recipes.

Keerti Bhandary

Project Manager

Keerti is a Project Manager at Purpose where she addresses people management, staffing, and execution of work plans for Purpose Climate Lab. With project management experience in the non-profit and government sector, she brings expertise in project implementation, financial management and budgeting, and stakeholder engagements.

In her previous role at ACCESS Development Services, she worked on the implementation of Business and Financial Literacy Training for micro-entrepreneurs in India. She also led the organisation’s flagship initiative on the Inclusive Finance India Summit, a global platform to foster dialogue and deliberation for universal and comprehensive financial inclusion. Prior to ACCESS, as a Young Professional with Kudumabashree National Resource Organisation under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, Government of India, she worked at the grassroots in providing capacity building to community based organisations.

Keerti holds a Master’s degree in Development from Azim Premji University, Bengaluru and is a graduate of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai where she majored in Economics and Sociology (Hons). Outside of work, she enjoys listening to jazz and Indian classical music. In her spare time, if she is not organising someone’s drawer, you will find her re-organising her cupboard.

Komal Chaudhry

Project Manager

As a Project Manager, Komal ensures successful delivery of social impact projects by managing team deliverables, timelines & budgets. Her role requires balancing of client expectations, internal priorities & scope of work. She also provides operational support to the India team by gathering insights for team utilization & keeping the project pipeline up to date.

Before joining Purpose, Komal has held Operations & Project Management roles in diverse sectors such as FMCG, SaaS & E-commerce. Most recently she worked at Mars Wrigley India where she managed domestic & international projects & helped develop key internal processes.

When not in front of a screen, Komal can be found trying out new vegan recipes & befriending as many dogs as she can. Much like her dog, she thoroughly enjoys long walks and getting out in the sun. An avid content consumer, she’s always on the lookout for new music & book recommendations!

Lavrez Chaudhary

Project Manager

Lavrez Chaudhary is an Associate Project Manager at Purpose who is desirous of being part of the journey of social change at micro and macro levels with a keen interest in climate change, livelihoods, and gender justice. He joined Purpose from CARE India, where as a Project Manager he headed a project pertaining to clean cooking solutions—an ambitious project to enable households to adopt more eco-friendly and clean cooking solutions. Under Lavrez's leadership, 5,500 households were able to adopt improved cookstoves as clean cooking energy solutions. 

Lavrez has also worked extensively with SHGs in Rajasthan with the State Rural Livelihood Mission, where he closely worked with government agencies to implement the livelihood project with self-help groups. There are multiple papers in the domains of livelihoods and sociology that Lavrez has published and presented at international conferences. 

He holds a Master's degree in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Lavrez is also a recipient of a DAAD scholarship as part of a student exchange program to Erfurt University of Applied Sciences, Erfurt - Germany. Lavrez enjoys cricket and non fictional reading. He is fond of Mughlai cuisines, too. 

Mallika Arya

Campaign Manager

Mallika is a Campaign Manager at Purpose. She brings together her experience from the education sector along with advocating for behaviour change through communications and Psychology. She has previously worked on self started campaigns as well as helped WWF Australia design their national campaign on single-use plastics . 

Before Joining Purpose Mallika was leading outreach for Renew Oceans in Varanasi, (UP, India), a project aimed at diverting ocean bound plastic waste from the Ganges. She worked on identifying local partners, creating the Information-education and communication modules and also played a key role in implementing these modules in the communities through which she was able to positively impact, include and educate local riverside communities. 

Mallika holds a Master of Sustainability degree from the University of Sydney, Australia where she was also awarded the Dean’s award for Citizenship and Outreach. She did her Bachelors in Psychology from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi.

Mallika loves reading, gardening, spending heaps of time with her dog Ashe, playing soccer, sipping endless cups of tea and can often be found peeping into dustbins to analyse the waste and understand how it can be reduced!

Malvika

Associate Campaigner

Malvika is an Associate Campaigner at Purpose. She brings onboard a deep understanding of social impact from her experience in media, communications and psychology. 

Previously, Malvika has led and supported campaigns and communications for leading non-government organizations in India such as Goonj, Pratham, Ibtada and CRY-Child Rights and You touching issues of cloth poverty, disaster relief and rehabilitation, livelihoods, menstruation and child rights. More recently, she has worked closely with clients such as  BBC-Media Action, UNICEF and Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. Mavika was also one of the 25 storytellers chosen from India for Dalberg's Diabetes Storytelling Lab that took place in October 2021.

Malvika has a Master’s degree in Media and Cultural Studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She did her Bachelor's in Psychology from Indraprastha College for Women, Delhi. When not at work, she can be found cycling, making up stories with her 3-year-old nephew or watching reruns of The Office like her life depends on it.

Mohammad Akbar Khan

Finance and Operations Associate Manager

Akbar works at Purpose as an Administrative & Ops Associate. In this role, he has been managing all the administrative related work in the India office. Akbar also assists the project manager in India by coordinating with local vendors and providing logistical support. Having worked in both the profit and non-profit sector in India, Akbar makes use of best practices to deliver results in the most productive manner.

Before joining Purpose, Akbar worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as an Administrative Assistant. He has also worked with EXL Services and Competent Software Pvt Ltd as an Analyst. Akbar feels that working with different organizations has enhanced his technical skills and has helped him gain the ability to work with different databases and software.

Akbar has Graduated (B.Sc) from T. M Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur and has a Diploma in management from All India Management Association (AIMA), New Delhi.

In his spare time, Akbar loves to spend time with his young daughter and help her complete school assignments.  

Mrinalini Ray Mehta

Associate Director, Impact Measurement & Learning

As Associate Director of Impact, Measurement & Learning (IML) and IML Lead at Purpose India, Mrinalini brings her interdisciplinary research background to develop insights and center impact in Purpose’s work. Applying empathetic approaches to engage with communities, her observations on unboxing identities helps her design custom suited strategies to address intersectional marginalities and generate learnings.

Prior to joining Purpose, she has advised UN and philanthropic agencies on their programme strategy and conducted M&E for many of their programmes in India and Bangladesh. She has co-founded Nil, a social impact lab that uses behavioural and design thinking approaches to address development challenges. She also teaches Cultural Anthropology and Visual Culture as guest faculty at NIFT.

Mrinalini holds a Master’s degree in Community Organization and Development Practice from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Mrinalini is extremely passionate about issues of gender, displacement and identity and continues to research and write about trans-issues in India. Outside of work, you will catch her obsessing over her four-legged babies, doodling in her journal, breaking into splits or practicing mindfulness to pause her hyperactive brain!

Nitish Dorle

Senior Digital Campaigner

Nitish is a Senior Digital Campaigner from Mumbai, interested in designing and executing data driven digital campaigns.

Prior to joining Purpose, he worked on a wide range of digital first assignments across the social and edtech sectors, focussed on building thought leadership, amplifying engagement across digital channels, executing GTM strategies for special initiatives, alliances and more.

Nitish holds a Master's Degree in International Business and Marketing from K.J. Somaiya, Mumbai.

He enjoys cooking and is passionate about making ordinary everyday food healthy and free from any unwanted additives. On most weekends, you will find him either in a kitchen experimenting a new recipe or getting people to try his new recipes in a nearby farmers/flea market.

Panisthi Vora

Visual Designer

Panisthi Vora is a Visual Designer at Purpose and is very intrigued by the role design plays in the concept of sustainable living. She's extremely eager to apply her design & thinking skills to create tangible social impact: so much so that she was even thinking of ending this write-up here and getting right back to work!

Prior to Purpose, she worked as a visual designer with Bhavishyavani Future Co. with projects around branding, packaging, gig posters, etc. Her solo freelancing experience with clients like Michelle Poonawalla, Bombay Shirt Company, Quintessence Fragrances, Tandy's Creamery allowed her to play around in many different areas of design and management. Her Instagram page is the place to see sustainable living and animal welfare tips! Say hi @2.wokegirls.

She graduated in Applied Art from Sophia Polytechnic in Mumbai with a specialisation in Illustration.

When she’s not crushing massive 2 kg dumbbells or smashing shuttles, you can find her painting her hands more than the canvas or playing her guitar/trying to play with 2 hands on the keyboard. She calls herself the “Plastic Police” and can be seen with multiple tote bags at all times. Fun fact(s) about Panisthi is she remembers the name of every single dog/cat she pets and is definitely a foodie with a mild ice-cream addiction.

Rhea Karan

Associate Project Manager

As a Project Manager, Rhea is responsible for setting project goals and guiding teams toward achieving them. Her role includes creating timelines and budgets, mobilizing resources, fostering collaboration, and optimizing workflows to maximize productivity. Her projects resonate with issues she feels strongly about, including climate, public health, and gender justice.

Rhea’s background lies in the intersection of development strategy, stakeholder engagement, and technology. In her previous role at Socion, she worked with WHO Africa in capacitating the health workforce to respond to emergencies more effectively; and assisted WHO Global Staff in administering a program for the prevention of sexual harassment across the organisation. With the Foundation of Ecological Security, she worked with women in Orissa to empower them with tools and knowledge of sustainable agricultural methods.

Rhea received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). During her time there, she also pursued a Social Entrepreneurship minor, which initially spurred her interest in developmental issues. When Rhea gets a week away from her desk, you can catch her at the beach - either failing at surfing, or at playing the ukulele.

Samya Ghosh

Creative Lead

Samya (Sam) is the Creative Lead at Purpose. In his work, Sam guides teams to design movements and sustainable solutions that are tailored to address the needs of the people and advance the fight for a just and habitable world. With 7.5 years of experience, Sam is passionate about applying creativity to the climate and social impact sector. He believes in the power of observation, research and storytelling, and treats each challenge as an opportunity for growth.

Previously, he has worked in advertising, designing for clients including Apple, Facebook, Budweiser, Adidas, Netflix, UNICEF. He’s a member of Type Director’s Club and AIGA (The Professional Association for Design), a mentor at UAL (University of the Arts London) and has been featured in London Design Festival 2017 and Jerusalem Design Week 2019. Sam holds a degree in Communication Design from St. Xavier’s College and a Design for Sustainability certificate from UAL.

When not working, he likes to read Gothic Horror, sketch, and enjoy late-night snacks
with his wife.

Saudamini Zutshi

Associate Manager: Business Development & Partnerships

Saudamini Zutshi manages Partnerships at Purpose India where she supports our efforts on projects and campaigns to build partnerships with, and manage stakeholders across programmes and movements. She believes that narratives and stories we tell are critical to collectivising people and catalysing change.

Saudamini has over 10 years of experience in the development sector, and has been involved with several people’s movements at the grassroot level as well as at International NGOs working on issues of WASH, child rights and media literacy. 

Saudamini has a Phd in Ancient Indian History and a Master’s Diploma in Conflict Transformation and Peace Building from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her area of research includes social practices and institutions, ancient knowledge and medical systems. Saudamini enjoys collecting micro-histories of people, places and food.

Shashvat Shukla

Senior Strategist

Shashvat is a Strategist with Purpose India, where he combines an in-depth understanding of culture with various research tools to identify opportunities for change and arrive at campaign platforms. He brings with him unbridled curiosity and a deep sense of empathy that drives him to put the vulnerable and underserved at the center of his thinking.

Shashvat is a graduate from MICA, Ahmedabad, and has spent eight years in marketing communications. Before joining Purpose, he spent time as a brand manager, a brand consultant and an advertising strategist, working in organizations like Hero MotoCorp and DDB Mudra, among others. His grounding in both the theoretical and applied aspects of communication have shone through in work for some of the country’s leading brands - experience that is contributed immensely to his work at Purpose as well.

Beyond work, Shashvat is a fierce foodie, a dormant writer, and an avid motorcyclist.

Sonali Bhasin

Strategy Manager

Sonali Bhasin is a Strategist at Purpose where she uses her passion for communication and a technical background in sustainability to create strategic campaigns in India. She believes that a combination of empathy and science can change the world, and uses her experience working across the policy, research and private sectors to communicate best practices for air pollution, renewable energy and better public transport for Purpose.

Sonali has worked in the urban sustainability space for the last 8 years, jumping into the deep end of many different subjects: creating policy recommendations for vehicular emissions in New Delhi, advising clients on biophilic design in New York, and designing certification systems for green and healthy buildings in Washington, DC. Prior to Purpose, Sonali worked at the U.S. Green Building Council to grow and establish the WELL Building Standard for indoor environmental quality. 

Sonali has a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Science. When not working out of Purpose’s New Delhi office, Sonali is drawing cartoons @sonalidoodles, singing showtunes in her kitchen, and pretending to enjoy yoga.

Swati Batra

Associate Manager, Impact Measurement and Learning

Swati is the Associate Manager of Impact Measurement & Learning at Purpose. She comes with more than 10 years of experience revolving around monitoring, evaluation, capacity building, data management & impact measurement.

Before Purpose, Swati has worked on various projects like family planning, condom social marketing, adolescent health, mapping biomedical inventory for govt facilities with NHRR, and most recently worked on the project Joint Efforts in Elimination of Tuberculosis aligned with WHO end TB strategy, where she led monitoring and evaluation for the program, supported in operations and led various stakeholder engagements & dissemination of learnings with them, also supported grass root team members with training and capacity strengthening sessions.

She is also passionate about environmental causes and volunteers with an organisation ‘Healing Himalayas’, working in Himachal Pradesh.

Swati is an avid reader and when not working, she likes to spend time with her kid reading stories together. In her free time, she can be found scribbling on her journal, listening to music and doing art.

Tanisha Arora

Creative Strategy Manager

As a Creative Strategy Manager at Purpose, Tanisha applies her multi-disciplinary skills in design, creative strategy, storytelling and experiential marketing to create and support climate action campaigns and movements in India. She believes in the power of collaboration, community, art and technology to shift perceptions and accelerate meaningful change.

Before joining Purpose, Tanisha worked as a creative strategist and spatial designer for event and retail design agencies. She led projects for fashion, automobile and technology clients such as Nissan, BMW, Facebook, Amex, Farah Khan Fine Jewellery and several mid-market fashion brands in India. Globally, she has worked on recycled art installation and design projects in London and New York. In her 8+ years of experience working as a designer, she has constantly encouraged and supported her clients to adopt sustainable methods, materials and design choices in their approach. 

Tanisha was awarded the Tara Nirula Scholarship to complete her Masters in Fashion Entrepreneurship from London College of Fashion. When not working, she is busy baking, playing board games and experimenting with mixology. She loves collecting illustration and children’s books from across the world. 

Tanisha Sansoya

Junior Visual Designer

Tanisha Sansoya is a Visual Designer from Mumbai, India. She is passionate about finding creative results through impactful storytelling towards social impact. She is focused on creating work that speaks to people and implementing innovative solutions.

She holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of Mumbai, where she graduated in 2020. During this time, she interned as a designer in various organisations, working in diverse fields. Before Purpose, she interned with Ugaoo, an agritech company, where she worked on designing packaging solutions and building their brand identity.

When she is not designing, she loves browsing bookstores and reading sci-fi novels. She also adores baking and is always trying new recipes. One might also find her tending to her small herb garden with her family. Occasionally, experimenting with visuals @tanishasansoya.

Tanmay Mishra

Senior Campaigner

Taurn Tandon

Finance Director, Global and India

Tarun works at Purpose as Finance Director for the global and India office. Tarun has a Masters in Finance and Marketing from IMT Business School.

 

Tarun’s got an illustrious career in the for-profit and the non-profit sector spanning over two decades. She has led functions of grants, finance, operations, legal, governance, HR and partnerships management across organisations such as Aga Khan Foundation, PATH, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII),  India HIV/AIDS Alliance and Climate Group.  

Her strength lies in networking with national and international stakeholders and setting up systems in her areas of expertise. She has worked with a large donor base such as the Global Fund, the Bill Melinda and Gates Foundation, European Commission, USAID, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Canada International Development Agency (CIDA), CDC and the private sector industries.  She set up systems for large-scale project operations with  NGO partners working for HIV with sexual & reproductive health (SRH) programmes in coordination with National Aids Control Organisation (NACO). At Purpose, she will be taking the role of Finance Director, Global & India

Fun Fact: She enjoys baking and listening to music in her free time.