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About Sakhi

Board of Directors

Sakhi's Board of Directors helps to drive the organization's strategic programming, growth, and mission fulfillment. Our board actively assists in Sakhi's development through regular meetings, project-based support, brainstorming, and sharing resources. The current board members enhance Sakhi's work by bringing forward a diversity of professional and life experiences. Each of Sakhi’s board members serves 1-year terms which are renewable up to 6 years. Following is a list and description of Sakhi’s current board members.

Tamseela Tayyabkhan, Board Chair, brings a passion for women's rights and individual investment in Sakhi's work to change communities and prevent violence. She has been a volunteer at Sakhi since 1993 when, as a volunteer advocate, she helped to develop the literacy program by providing basic skills of learning English as a Second Language to prepare survivors for employment. The Literacy Program at Sakhi grew into the current Economic Empowerment program through which access to computer training and other skills is provided. She has also been active from the earliest stages of fundraising at Sakhi through initiating and executing individual donor events such as film screenings and annual benefits. In the last five years, her work at Sakhi has focused on strategically growing the individual donor base through the gala event process. In 2002 and 2005, she co-chaired Sakhi's annual benefit galas. She has done her undergraduate work in Comparative Literature at Fordham University. You can reach Tamseela at boardchair@sakhi.org

Shabnam Hayder Mirza, Board Secretary, brings a passion for women’s rights and a vision to extend the reach of Sakhi supporters further into the Bangladeshi community. She joined Sakhi as a volunteer in 2003. Completing the training as a volunteer advocate helped provide the tools to reach out to different communities and express the need for support in making Sakhi’s programs successful in re-building the lives of women and making our community stronger.

Shabnam served as the co-chair of Sakhi’s 2005 Annual Benefit Gala, What Creates Change? She helped the organization bring in a record number of guests to the gala and raised a substantial amount through corporate and individual first-time sponsers. She helped obtain auction items and entertainment for the gala. In particular, Shabnam reached out to the younger generation and expressed the need for their involvement and interest in the work that Sakhi does. Furthermore, Shabnam has made it a priority to reach out to Bangladeshi and Muslim communities to further expand the circle of friends who support Sakhi. Her goal and hope for Sakhi is to reach out to more members in these communities and have them become life-time supporters and advocates for Sakhi and Sakhi's mission to end violence.

Shabnam has served as a Project Manager at Morgan Stanley and her expertise in project management has helped her to be detailed and organized in managing large, dynamic projects to their completion. She is originally from Chicago, IL and has volunteered with Apna Ghar, a Chicago-based organization that assists survivors of domestic violence. She has a degree in Finance from University of Illinois and has worked in Technology most of her career.

Monica Arora brings a strong commitment to human rights and equity for women through advocacy and philanthropy. Monica is a partner at the international law firm White & Case LLP and focuses her practice on advising financial institutions, investment banks and private equity firms as sponsors of private investment funds.

Monica completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Chicago in Anthropology and is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. While at Georgetown, Monica participated in the Center for Applied Legal Studies Clinic and successfully attained asylum for an Ethiopian woman who had been persecuted based on her ethnicity. During law school, Monica was also active with the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, an organization dedicated to improving access to the legal system and was a member of the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal.

Pallavi Ravi Atluri brings a commitment to community involvement and strong governance to Sakhi. Pallavi was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate & Finance groups. Since leaving S&C, she has pursued various entrepreneurial and philanthropic interests. She has been involved with different South Asian organizations including working with the DNC's South Asian American Leadership Council (SAALC) during the 2008 Presidential campaign. In addition, Pallavi is a team leader with New York Cares and has helped start a volunteer program at Animal Haven Soho. 

Pallavi graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in English, History and Philosophy in 2000. She received her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 2003. In law school, Pallavi was involved in a number of community aid programs. She served on the Executive Board of Streetlaw, an inner city educational program taught by law students and also participated in the Police Accountability Legal Aid Clinic. In addition, she was the Vice-President of the South Asian Law Students Association.

Alpa Tolia brings a strong commitment to women's rights and a goal to extend Sakhi's supporters from various communities. She joined Sakhi as a volunteer in 2004. During the past years she was a member of the Sakhi benefit and host committees and helped to enable Sakhi's successful annual galas.

Alpa has ten years of experience in healthcare with an expertise in project management. She has worked in the academic, pharmaceutical, consulting, and financial sectors. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan in Nursing and graduate studies at Columbia University in Public Health. Alpa has also been involved in supporting other New York City South Asian nonprofits through event involvement and is a strong advocate for increased representation for the South Asian community.