2020
Raashi Saxena
- Age: 31
- | She/her/hers
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Diversity is having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice, and belonging is having that voice be heard. Women are resilient, women are powerful, women are courageously leading change in their respective communities. I hope to strive towards advocating for a future that is inclusive, empowering, and sustainable.
- Raashi Saxena
Bio
Raashi Saxena is a renowned social impact innovator, trainer and strategy consultant with a wealth of experience in technology, social impact, and practice. She holds several advisory positions, including with The Internet Rights & Principles Dynamic Coalition, Missions Publiques’s “We, the Internet” Project and Threading Change, a sustainable fashion non-profit. Working with i4Policy, Raashi supported policymakers with practical guidance on designing inclusive policy co-creation processes for multi-stakeholder participation for AI policy. As a consultant her clients include DCN, Accessibility Lab, studio intO Gapminder Foundation, and the IO Foundation.As a highly sought-after international speaker, Raashi has spoken on panels and conferences across Africa, Asia, and Europe. Her expertise has been recognized in prominent publications such as the Mozilla 2022 Internet Health Report and Pew Research Center’s 2021 Report on Digital Spaces. The World Economic Forum has honored Raashi as one of the Six Inspirational Young Female Leaders, and she currently holds the position of Curator of the Global Shapers Bengaluru Hub. Additionally, she is among the 300 leaders of the 2020 Women Deliver Young Leaders Program, representing 96 countries. Based is based in Bangalore, India, Raashi continues to work tirelessly towards creating positive social impact through her various global endeavours.
What ignited your pursuit for gender equality?
I still recall interviewing the top management during my first job and finding a massive gender gap. There were no women present in top leadership roles. The wages and hikes given to women were abysmal and gave no encouragement to stay on. Today, fewer than 5 percent of all VC-funded firms have women on their executive teams, and less than 3 percent have a female CEO.
Please share your biggest wins as an advocate for gender equality.
As one of the project grantees of Women Deliver's Small Grants Program, my advocacy project in Sri Lanka seeks to encourage women and young girls to adopt a more critical-thinking mindset. By acquiring skills and tools that train them to understand and respond to the digital security challenges, they face in their daily life, that keeps women from being able to live and be online safely. The pandemic has caused an economic downturn and affected the livelihoods of millions - the poorest sections of societies are most affected, particularly women from the garment industry. To mitigate the economic pressures, I executed a project that provided meaningful employment to garment workers by creating reusable cotton masks. To date, close to 10,000 masks have been manufactured, helping to secure jobs for close to 100 female makers locally. I have been championing the TEDxWomen conference in my local community for the last six years. I empower local people by providing them with a platform to share their ideas with a global network. I also coach speakers on their structure and delivery and enable them to communicate their message in the most powerful manner possible.
Outside of your gender equality advocacy work, what do you enjoy doing?
I enjoy traveling internationally, baking, reading philosophy, and exploring museums worldwide.
Languages Spoken:
- English (Advanced/Native)
- Hindi (Advanced/Native)
- Bengali (Intermediate)
- Kannada (Intermediate)
- German (Elementary)
- Hindi (Advanced/Native)
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