/everyday people
Quietly shining the light.
Ali, Andres, Atman
aka the pioneering founders of the Holistic Life Foundation (HLF) in Baltimore. HLF is a public charity committed to nurturing the wellness of children and adults in underserved communities.
Through HLF, Ali, Andres, and Atman have served more than 100,000+ youth and adults via yoga, mindfulness, and environmental-based programs and trauma-informed trainings.
Their work has been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally, and featured on a number of major media outlets. www.hlfinc.org
Bhumika
A colorful, heart-centered, multi-hyphenate artist based in Gujarat, India.
Formally trained as an educator for children with special needs, Bhumika instead chose to find what truly makes her come alive and took the road less traveled by following a strong calling to serve through her passion for art.
A gifter by nature, Bhumika seeks not for herself — just the simple opportunity to create smiles, joy, and love through the creation of beautiful things, e.g., illustrations, paintings, handicrafts, songs, and more.
Christopher
Christopher Lowman is the founder of Mahtabe, a New York-based public charity that promotes global goodness through intelligent, service-driven initiatives. He has worked extensively in Rwanda, Kenya, and India, as well as in the US and UK, on a number of successful projects connected to values-based education, infrastructure development, and income generation.
Immersive field experience, combined with 25 years of study of holistic and traditional medicines, has given Christopher the uncommon ability to understand people and anticipate how his organization’s initiatives will unfold across divergent cultural lines and competing interests. Consequently, every active project he is involved in has achieved an at or near 100% rate of self-reliance.
Christopher embodies the “service before self” credo and dedicates himself to service work because people are in need and he knows what to do about it. His commitment is “all-chips-in” and palpable, and as a result, he naturally garners deep trust and respect from colleagues, donors, foundations and especially from those he serves, who he refers to as "friends.”
Christopher has presented about his work and life’s journey through interviews, speaking engagements at places like Friends in Deed NYC, Omega Institute, Sounds True, and numerous in-home gatherings, as well as in spots on live radio (BBC) and television. A sanitation project in Kenya, which in part helped reform criminal gang members, was academically researched and cited as a model of holistic development in a thesis on global health.
Chryspin
Adept at linking theory with practice, Chryspin is skilled when it comes to compassionately engaging community members from all socio-economic backgrounds, and solving grassroots development challenges.
By trade he is a public policy, governance and gender specialist in Kenya and East Africa with deep experience providing strategic assistance on projects across sectors and topics including women and youth economic empowerment, agriculture, labor markets, unpaid care, trade, and work in non-traditional sectors.
Chryspin has worked with national and local policymakers, developing evidence-based and gender integrated policies and plans. He has extensive experience on programs and projects with a focus on inclusion and diversity, project planning and management — specifically through human rights-based approaches to programming, results-based management, and outcome mapping.
Chryspin has consulted for: OXFAM, UN Women, The World Bank, Centre for Rights Education Awareness, and a number of other organizations.
Ilaha
laha “Eli” Omar is an Afghan-American grassroots mobilizer and humanitarian aid expert with over two decades of experience facilitating aid delivery to minority communities in developing countries, including orphans, the ultra-poor, and people with disabilities.
Her work has primarily focused on her country of birth, Afghanistan, as well as Haiti and Kenya. Ilaha is a champion of women’s rights, supporting various women’s self-sufficiency programs such as Project Artemis, a Goldman Sachs-funded initiative, where she worked with women entrepreneurs to build, manage and expand their businesses in the private sector of Afghanistan.
A successful businesswoman herself, Ilaha co-founded a technology consulting company, which she later sold in 2017. Ilaha serves in a voluntary capacity on the advisory councils and boards for several non-profits that champion work close to her heart, including Children of War Foundation, Enabled Children Initiative, World Orphan Foundation, and Mahtabe.
She is a member of the US-Afghan Women’s Council and earned a Global MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management. www.upliftafghanistan.org
Jared
From humble beginnings in rural Kenya, to NGO leader, to his current post as a Member of County Assembly (MCA) in Nairobi, Jared is emblematic of a new generation of Kenyans “being the change” in a country that, day-by-day, is transforming itself into a beacon of progress on the African continent.
Having rolled up his sleeves and worked on the successful implementation of numerous holistic development initiatives in low-income areas, including the infamous Kibera slum, Jared knows how to get results in adverse circumstances and manage competing interests.
RK
Coming soon.
Sonali
Sonali Fiske (she/her) is a Sri Lankan-American leadership consultant to Black, Indigenous, people of color, a TEDx Speaker, cultural curator of BIPoC events, a radio talkshow host, and founder of the award-winning creative incubator, Revolutionaries Take the Mic.
On her radio talk show, Revolutionary Voices,” Her jam is centering uneasy political, cultural, and social justice topics, to help reimagine the narrative and dismantle the systems of oppression people of color live and work in every day. Her show airs on Rukus Avenue Radio/DASH Radio, based in West Hollywood, with 9 million daily unique listeners.
Sonali is also an Executive Producer of TEDxDelthorneWomen, based in Southern California — and in 2021/2022, she successfully produced the most culturally and racially diverse TEDx event in the United States.
Sonali has led intensive leadership & storytelling masterclasses for the International Museum of Dance, the Yukon’s First Nations Women, Jusoor’s 10,000 Syrian Women’s Program, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of Australia and many more.
She also performs spoken word on the Sacred Storytellers stage in Los Angeles. You can find out more about her work at: www.sonalifiske.com.