Inkululeko John Ben Snow Grantee Profile (Varsha)
Meet Varsha, a Spring 2022 Grant Writing Intern with Inkululeko and a recipient of the John Ben Snow Foundation Memorial Fellowship!
Varsha’s experiences as a South Asian woman, a former teacher of color at a low-income school in North Las Vegas, and a former Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Colombia have inspired her to advocate for transformational change in education initiatives at Inkululeko. Her previous work has strengthened her commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, specifically as they relate to fostering cross-cultural competency, interpersonal skills, and collaboration. These unique opportunities have allowed Varsha to navigate complex situations through empathy-based communication skills and inclusivity to better understand how to effectively lead and manage educational equity projects that emphasize social, cultural, and economic issues.
Varsha’s passion for education comes from her own experience as a second-generation South Asian diasporic youth in the US. Having grown up in the rural South, she noticed how different she was from her peers early on, but she still struggled to understand her identity and belonging in the midst of differing cultural norms and expectations of her Indian and American upbringing. Going to college, Varsha became more aware of the role cultural identity plays in promoting an environment of mutual respect and understanding, but access to proper educational resources became a key aspect of this cross-cultural competency. This inspired Varsha to get involved with Volunteer Emory—her university’s service organization—and ignited her passion for social justice issues. As a Resident Assistant and Alternative Spring Break Lead, she coordinated activities with peers and community partners through multifaceted communication, programming, and operations strategies while facilitating critical conversations on the intersections of gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.
As an educator in culturally and linguistically diverse secondary and higher education settings, Varsha has developed a deeper understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion as they pertain to cultural competency from a systemic context. Serving students with learning accommodations taught her how to modify lessons, provide innovative learning experiences, and communicate thoughtfully with her learning community. Varsha credits her classroom management practices in developing her approach to problem solving through learner-centered perspectives and fostering a safe space for fostering and nurturing relationships.
Varsha is currently pursuing her dual Masters degree in Public Administration and International Relations at Syracuse University. Prior to this, she studied Anthropology and Spanish at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she graduated from in Spring 2017. She is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as they relate to multicultural education and cultural sensitivity, specifically in relation to immigrant diasporas in the United States.
