MEET THE ORIGINAL DEVELOPERS
Shannon Sirur (She/Her)
FOUNDER ILTAS
Meet Shannon Sirur (She/Her)
Shannon Sirur is the Founder and Curator of LTAS! She also founded BRIDGES Consultants & Trainers. She uses her expertise in Instructional Design, Facilitation and Entrepreneurship to help her network and create the platform for this project. She had brought together multiple professionals and experts with a common vision for a healthier, happier country. She also understand the desperate need to connect all of India's citizens with accurate and reliable information and how heavily it could impact the country. Being an involved parent of two older teenagers also demands empathetic eyes and ears to the concerns and queries being a young adult carries. She founded this project for them.
Niki Ray
Her list of accomplishments cannot be summarized here. She is the curator of LTAS human resources. She helps supply LTAS with the people who are at top in their field of sexual health research and development, care and response.
To know more about Niki Ray visit her on Instagram
Shipra Parswani (She/Her)
Shipra Parswani is the former Director of ThePlaneJar (TPJ). She is currently pursuing her MA in Counseling. She strives to constantly educate herself on how to be more trauma informed and add a queer affirmative perspective into her work. Empathy has always been her key to connecting with people. She believes that finding a balance between being serious and having a creative therapeutic approach to trauma creates a good link in the healing process. She also has a love for chai, plants, kittens and sunsets!
Shreya Joshi (She/Her)
Shreya Joshi is the Head of Socio- Legal Operations at Plane Jar Welfare Foundation, Mumbai. She provides free psycho- socio-legal aid to survivors of abuse, and to members of the LGBTQIA+ community. She actively invests her time for social justice through trainings/ capacity building and advocacy, her expertise being in the areas of child and gender based abuse awareness, prevention and justice. She has worked as a Project Coordinator for Ummeed-Hinsa ke khilaaf, a grassroot level social project to empower and build capacity for Muslim women of Govandi (slum area in Mumbai) as first responders.
Divya Gidithuri (She/Her)
Divya Gidithuri is the former President of The Plane Jar. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Counseling. Mental health advocacy has always been very important for Divya especially from a trauma informed and queer affirmative lens. She aspires to be an animal assisted therapist for humans and practice therapy alongside her dogs and cats.
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Ria Sharma (They/Them)
Mx. Ria Sharma is a Tedx speaker, Human Rights youth activist & Educator who is on a journey to spread awareness about LGBTQ+ issues, raise voice against any form of injustice and inspire people to be their true self. They have also been featured at many media platforms like -Times of India, Pune Times, Mid day, Mirror Now, The Quint, Marathwada and Sakal. Ria also studies culture and religion and on a spiritual journey of understanding life and the mind more deeply. Apart from human rights they also talk about the intersection of spirituality, psychology and lifestyle in their sessions and online. They envision a better world filled with compassion, love and empathy; and they propagate the same!
Mani Salgia (She/Her)
Dr Mani Kapoor Salgia facilitates sexual and reproductive health in the LTAS series. She uses her experience of teaching clinical anatomy and physiology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey, USA to help our young participants develop a healthy understanding of their own bodies. Being a mother of two young teenagers gives her enough opportunities to practice what she preaches. She also runs an Alternative Medicine clinic in Pune where she helps patients through Homeopathy and Yoga therapy.
Ashwini Sirur (They/She)
Ashwini Sirur worked behind the scenes, made our original website and social media accounts sparkle! She is our former social media and brand management intern for LTAS. She has worked with companies such as The Nanjil Anand Foundation and has a passion for educating herself about gender and sexuality. She published her debut book, "Tales of Treats (And Manners Too!)" in 2021. She is now an editor for her school newsletter at DLRC and hope to learn more about what it takes to be an editor for various written communication genres
Priya Nagaraj
Priya Nagaraj has a PhD in Biology from the University of Virginia and worked as a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry for 5 years. She has then been working with science based startups to help them develop products that can create social impact and improve quality of life. She has always been interested and intrigued by reproductive biology. She is the mother of a curious 9 year old boy. He has inspired her to read and understand how to talk to children about sexual well being and realize the importance of it.
Shruta Rawat
Ms. Shruta Rawat holds a Master in Medicine: HIV AIDS and STI Medicine and has been working with HST since 2010 and currently manages the research unit. Her research focuses on acceptability of new HIV prevention techniques among most-at-risk communities; internet-based HIV outreach and messaging for men who have sex with men and transgender communities; and LGBTQ+ experiences in health. education, and employment. She facilitates research capacity-building trainings for LGBTQ+ initiatives/organizations. She is also co-founder of Yaariyan (Friendships) –HST’s LGBTQ+ youth initiative, which she continues to mentor. She’s co-founder and current core member of Umang (Joy) HST’s LBT initiative. She is now a Mom herself.
Niki Ray
Niki Ray is a comedian, anchor, storyteller, writer, creator, and mental health worker who will have you in splits with an array of accents, sketches and "sit-down" comedy based on unique, everyday life! Mental health is not just the absence of mental illness. It's also talking about what bothers you. Through her current ongoing theater based workshop 'Performance Stories' Niki Ray has been creating safe, non-judgmental sharing spaces, providing a platform for people and artist to explore deeper and build stronger community support
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Heritage
Heritage, a web design professional with in-depth expertise in digital marketing, graphics design, content marketing, programming, and many other areas. I have the training and experience necessary to handle any web design work, and these things have made me an expert in this cutthroat industry. In order to assist my clients in achieving their objectives as soon as feasible, I approach their job with a respectable level of professionalism and a goal-driven procedure