Meena brings over 10,000 hours of experience across public service and the private sector. Recognized as one of Boston’s 50 Most Influential AAPI Leaders, she has made a meaningful impact through her work at Deloitte, State Street Corporation, and as Chair of the Massachusetts AAPI Commission.

Pranim supports refugees and immigrants, drawing from his experience born in a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal. Fluent in English and Nepali, his advocacy connects deeply to displaced communities' challenges, enhancing Meher's self-reliance mission.

Tahina, a first-generation Haitian American, studied Psychology at UMass Lowell, speaks Haitian Creole and works with new American families at a local nonprofit. She mentors an Afghan student while supporting Meher's mission to create belonging across diverse communities.

Skyler graduated from Purdue in 2022 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and worked in cloud consulting at Deloitte. With a passion for data analytics, design, and entrepreneurship, he’s now building TurboLeads, a digital agency helping local businesses grow.

Moo Moo Paw is an experienced professional with over 4 years in Myanmar’s Higher Education Development sector at the British Council, where she consistently exceeded performance targets. She also brings more than 2 years of experience in customer service, sales, and tour leadership. Moo Moo specializes in project and budget management, database analysis, administrative operations, event planning, and media coordination. Her strong organizational skills and service-oriented mindset make her a valuable asset across diverse sectors.

Diya Nigam is a student at Lexington High School with a passion for entrepreneurship, public service, and creative expression. She leads youth engagement initiatives through local organizations, writes on equity and student voice for her school newspaper, and recently co-founded a startup through a teen entrepreneurship program. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and finds joy in connecting with her cultural roots through classical Indian dance. In her free time she enjoy’s cooking, reading, and traveling. 

Harsha Karukonda is a transformation leader with over 18 years of experience in financial services, cloud infrastructure, and enterprise analytics. He works with product managers, engineers, and executives to bring clarity to complex challenges, leading programs across portfolios exceeding $300M in annual budgets. Specializing in scalable product delivery systems, outcome-driven roadmaps, and executive alignment, Harsha is passionate about building adaptive, accountable organizations where leadership, teams, and delivery rhythms align to shared business goals.

Courtney is a mission-driven leader and process oriented thinker working to create economic mobility for all through legislative policy, legal advocacy, and strategic philanthropic investments. In her role as Director of the Racial Wealth Gap Partnership at the Boston Foundation, she convenes 40+ nonprofit leaders, financial institutions, community organizations, and policymakers to unlock wealth for historically excluded and underserved households in the Greater Boston region via homeownership.

After unexpectedly becoming CEO of ElectroChem Inc. in 1992, Dr. Radha Jalan transformed the company into a global pioneer by launching the world’s first tabletop fuel cell demonstration unit. She successfully navigated complex legal and industry barriers to secure multiple patents, establishing a lasting reputation for innovation in hydrogen energy. Her journey remains a powerful testament to the resilience of women entrepreneurs and serves as an inspiration for leaders in any field.

Payal Salsburg is a partner at Laredo, Smith & Kane in Boston, where she focuses her practice on business litigation, corporate advice and counsel, and white-collar criminal defense, representing corporations, small businesses, and individuals. A recognized leader in the legal community, she has served as Co-President of the South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston, Treasurer of the Women's Bar Association, and a member of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's Standing Committee on Lawyer Well-Being.

Dedicated to leveraging creativity within the "Food as Medicine" sector, Ed leads an award-winning program for food-insecure diabetics and founded Sunday Celebrations to provide gourmet, health-conscious nutrition. As an award-winning columnist for the Boston Herald and a community advisor for health equity initiatives, he bridges the gap between policy, research, and real-world impact. His extensive experience across the private, public, and non-profit sectors is driven by a singular mission to reduce chronic disease and address global healthcare disparities.

A licensed clinician and Air Force veteran, Muriel is dedicated to advancing health and criminal justice policies that improve outcomes for marginalized populations facing mental illness, substance use disorders, and homelessness. She has a proven track record of leading high-impact initiatives, from establishing financial sustainability for statewide mental health providers to designing trauma-informed engagement toolkits for LGBTQIA+ and justice-involved communities. Muriel is now focused on leveraging her strategic planning and program development expertise to build more effective, sustainable systems of care for those with complex health-related social needs.

Nikhil Nampalli is a product leader in the digital and mobile payments space, currently Head of Credit Products at Loop and formerly Head of Proprietary Products for American Express in Canada. Earlier in his career he held leadership roles at Citi across commercial payments, consumer banking, finance, and technology. A graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology's Kate Gleason College of Engineering, Nikhil was born in India and grew up in the Middle East.

Nationally recognized as a passionate thought-leader, Dr. Bernard Franklin is currently a Fellow with Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative.  Most recently he was Vice President of Student Life at Mount St. Mary’s University (MD).  Franklin has served as Special Assistant to the President, and Assistant Vice President at Kansas State University.  He was also founding Director of the Kansas State College Advising Corps, a college access program, and Director of Higher Education Programs for Shawnee Mission (KS) School District (2015-18).

Amir Reza is the dean of the Babson Academy for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurial Learning (Babson Academy), a dedicated unit within Babson College that inspires change in the way universities, specifically their faculty and students, teach and learn entrepreneurship. In this role, he is responsible for leading and collaborative advancement of Babson Academy’s strategy. He is also dean of Global Education, responsible for advancing overall internationalization efforts for Babson College through curricular and cocurricular programs.

Alyndra (Lynn) Canty, M.Ed., is a lifelong educator with more than 15 years of experience spanning classroom teaching, behavior analysis, and community advocacy. She serves as Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Coordinator at SPARK Kindness and co-leads the MetroWest Anti-Bullying Coalition, working to build strong, reciprocal webs of support that keep young people safe and connected. A Board Certified Behavior Analyst, Lynn holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's in special education.

Dr. Cheryl Perreault, Ed.D., is a poet, writer, and spoken-word artist who has spent decades fostering community through the sharing of poetry and story. For many years she hosted and produced "Wake Up and Smell the Poetry" and "Meet Your Neighbor" for HCAM-TV, creating space for voices across generations and life experiences. With a background in psychology, Cheryl has taught life-span psychology in the Boston area and led life-review writing with hospice patients, and she has co-edited community poetry anthologies celebrating the people of Hopkinton and beyond.

Mauricio Carrion is a financial services leader with over 20 years of experience in business architecture, trading operations, and compliance. As Head of North America Business Architecture and Managing Director at State Street, he drives strategic initiatives and innovation. His career includes senior roles at Charles River Development, OppenheimerFunds, Morgan Stanley, and Brown Brothers Harriman.

Ordained for over thirty years as an Episcopal priest, the Reverend Christine Visminas holds a B. A. in theology from Duquesne University and an M. A. in theology from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. For 20 years she ran C. E. Visminas Co., Ltd., which sold bulletin covers, stationery and children’s books based on traditional Christian images, including icons. For the last decade, Chris has served as a Christian adult education consultant and has created classes on a variety of subjects, including the History of Marriage and The Meaning of the Dead Christ.