Nancy is a retired civil rights attorney who spent over three decades as the Director of the Pittsburgh office of the Education Law Center. Throughout her career, Nancy represented students to ensure all children in Pennsylvania had access to a quality public education, beginning in early childhood. Nancy’s commitment to education justice—ensuring access, equity, and inclusion—focused on the most underserved students: children of color, students living in poverty, children with disabilities, children experiencing homelessness, English learners, and children involved in the juvenile justice system, many of whom live and learn at the intersection of multiple identities. Nancy’s work is reflected in reforms to law and policy across Pennsylvania and to positive change in the individual lives of students and families.

Nancy’s passionate commitment to education justice and work with those in communities most impacted by disparate treatment is what gave rise to her interest and engagement with Friends of Aseema. She shares Aseema’s belief in the “limitless potential of every child” and supports its work as a model for public education everywhere that enables children to rise above even the direst circumstances.

Nancy is a graduate of Denison University and the Antioch School of Law. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Susan is a senior staff attorney at the Women’s Law Project, a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit women’s legal advocacy organization. Susan joined the Law Project staff in 1992, and, after 10 years in its Philadelphia office, she relocated to Pittsburgh in 2002 to open the Law Project’s Western Pennsylvania office. Her work includes litigation and legislative advocacy on women’s health care, particularly reproductive health and pregnancy care; economic and workplace justice for women; sexual and domestic violence; and LGBT equality. Susan’s commitment to Friends of Aseema arises from her life experience, as education proved to be the road to safety and independence for her, as it is for the Aseema children.

Since 2005, Susan has been on the adjunct faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law where she has taught courses entitled “Reproduction, Sexuality and the Law,” “Reproductive Law and Policy,” and “Gender and the Law.” Previously, she was an instructor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Susan is the co-author of articles such as “Women on the Court and the Court on Women,” in The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the Life and Law of the Commonwealth, 1684-2017. She is a graduate of Temple Law School and Bryn Mawr College.

Jamini has a longstanding connection to India. She was born in India, having many Indian friends over the years. Her family had a close friendship with the renowned Indian artist Jamini Roy, for whom she was named, and she has a fondness for Aseema’s stellar art program.

Jamini taught in elementary schools in Kenya and the Ivory Coast for more than seven years and has a deep appreciation for education and especially for the importance of getting an early start.

She has been actively involved in the nonprofit sector for decades, having begun at the age of 19. She is thrilled and honored to be on the board of Friends of Aseema. Before joining the board, she began assisting the organization through house parties (as shown in her photo) and spreading the word to potential supporters. She hopes that her lengthy experience in fundraising and public service will prove useful.

Brittany is the Director of Development of the Women’s Law Project, based in Pittsburgh. They coordinate fundraising efforts including developing strategy, building relationships with supporters, event planning, and grant writing.

She previously served Friends of Aseema as an advisory board member and assisted by providing guidance on fundraising. She currently serves as a member of the Glitterbox Theater, where she provides grant writing support and communications support, as well as performing in and writing theatrical productions.

Brittany joined WLP in 2017 after leaving a position with Arts Marketing Services where she led telephone fundraising efforts for non-profits across the country. She also worked as a field organizer on the 2012 presidential election in Ohio.

Brittany has a B.A. from Heidelberg University, where they double majored in communication and music.

Mukul is an Associate Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and a consulting editor of Oxford Business Review. He is the founding former editor-in-chief and executive director of Knowledge@Wharton (K@W), the web-based journal of research and business analysis published by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He edited and managed K@W for more than 22 years until his retirement in 2020. In 2020-21, Mukul was a Senior Fellow at the research centres Wharton AI for Business and Wharton Customer Analytics. Mukul has won four awards for investigative journalism and has more than 40 years of experience as a writer and editor. His articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, Time magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer and other publications. He co-authored Lasting Leadership, Knowledge@Wharton on building corporate value and has written, co-authored or edited three other books. In 2020 he edited an award-winning book, Transformation in Times of Crisis, by Nitin Rakesh and Jerry Wind. Mukul has a master’s degree in economics from the University of Bombay.

Monish Gangwani is a marketing leader at Microsoft and a mindfulness meditation teacher. He enjoys writing, yoga, and vegan food. He grew up in Mumbai where he first started volunteering with Aseema, teaching Microsoft Paint and Microsoft Word to the kids back in 2000. He is excited to continue to support Aseema. He can be found on LinkedIn.