“If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
-Lilla Watson
Meet our Board
Sini Stephan
Sini Stephan is an educator, activist, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) practitioner. A native New Yorker, Sini formerly functioned as the Program Manager of NYC GREAT! under the NYC Department of Education's Office of Equity and Access designing professional development training rooted in critical race theory.
Her work as an alumna of the Indicorps Fellowship program and former President of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Association at Seton Hall University, positioned her to serve as a board member of Adelante Student Voices for undocumented youth and become a founding member of Malayalees for Social Justice (MSJ).
During the Biden Harris presidential campaign, Sini served as a national speaker for the Malayalee diaspora under South Asians for Biden, Indians for Biden National Council. Sini is a recurring panelist on The Grapevine TV and contributes as a writer for Brown Girl Magazine and Her Agenda.
Jyothis James
Jyothis James is a PhD Student in philosophy at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. His research interests are centered on anti-colonial epistemology. In essence, he asks, how can and how should colonized or oppressed people think to prevent their further subjugation or denigration. Within this umbrella, he works in Critical Race Theory (CRT), aesthetics of dark/black skin, and Black and Global South male studies. Methodologically, he is heavily influenced by the Black Radical Tradition and Black Africana philosophical schools. Additionally, he is also interested in the Malayalee diaspora and migrations, St. Thomas Christian studies, and Syriac theology.
Cindu Thomas-George
Cindu Thomas-George is the Founder and Principal Trainer of Shakti Diversity and Equity Training, a Chicago-based boutique consultancy firm. As a DEI practitioner, she designs and facilitates professional development experiences that promote equity, inclusion, anti-racism, and intercultural competence. Cindu is also an award-winning tenured professor of Communication Studies at the College of Lake County. In her sixteen years of working as a diversity educator, she has developed a mastery of creating and facilitating impactful learning experiences that equip employees with the knowledge and skills necessary to be advocates of diversity and agents of change who are empowered to work towards cultivating an inclusive and equitable organizational culture.
Rebekah James Lovett
Rebekah James Lovett was born and raised in the city of Chicago. She is the only daughter of her Tamil father and Malayalee mother. She is the mother of two bi-racial daughters and has been in an interracial marriage for over 15 years. Existing in a Brown female body navigating the complexities of South Indian culture and Christianity alongside whiteness and dominant culture has made this work not only important but urgent. Rebekah is the co-founder of Revive Kombucha in Sonoma County, CA and when she is not disrupting white supremacy within the natural foods industry, she is starting extremely uncomfortable conversations in her white community, decolonizing her faith, healing from racial trauma, exorcising the demonic forces of her inner colonizer, challenging white-washed school curriculum, and raising fiercely anti-racist children.
Shereene Manimala
Shereene Manimala is a coach, talent manager, producer, marketer, and creative. She has grown her brand, Upside Down Smilie, through her show and content focused on showing up fully and honestly with thought-provoking and nontraditional topics like Anti-Blackness in the South Asian Community, Depression, Abuse and many others. Shereene works with creatives and entrepreneurs through her coined style of “Hype Coaching” specifically working with her husband, DJ iLLEST (Sanu John), a prominent Malayalee DJ among the community. Her experience ranges from brand management in the food industry to producing music events with brands like Nike to leading photoshoots with Converse. Shereene is passionate about supporting Black and Brown creatives and leading by example for what is possible if you follow your dreams. Family is her number one priority and will always use her voice to help educate the Malayalee community as she has seen how these issues have affected her own diverse immediate family
Richu Aby
Richu Aby is a blogger on circular design and circular fashion, She advocates for sustainable sourcing in the fashion industry as well as consults on eco friendly ways to create apparel on her IG. Richu works to shed light on POC communities being adversely affected in America due to poor sourcing and production practices as well as marginalized women that are being exploited by mass consumerism globally. Richu is a supply chain professional in the Chicago land area and enjoys rollerblading and listening to R&B.
Alex Mathai
Alex Mathai is a serial entrepreneur and management consultant who has worked in variety of industries and helped some of the largest companies in the world. He currently runs The Business Sherpas, a management consultancy that helps small to medium sized businesses solve their most challenging strategic and operational issues. He is also a managing partner at Collective Ventures, a coworking space/startup incubator that provides entrepreneurs space to work in and support services during the day, but acts as an anchor to the community during nights and weekends.
Alex is passionate about building a better world through foundational transformation of society through increased awareness of key issues, greater representation of all people in government, and stronger protection of our democratic processes.
Anit Roy
Anit is a project management and clinical operations professional with over 12 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry. She is specialized in Medical Affairs, operational effectiveness and late-phase research. During her time in the industry, she has supported initiatives focused on corporate social responsibility and access to medicine/healthcare for underserved populations.
Anit has a strong commitment to health equity and interest in the social determinants of health that she attributes to her early experience in AmeriCorps as a research assistant and health educator at Asian Human Services, working with uninsured and underinsured communities in Chicago.
In her free time, Anit enjoys learning about obscure historical facts, wandering around museums, and hiking in national parks.
Kevin Olickal
Kevin Olickal is currently a law student at Loyola University Chicago. Kevin graduated in 2015 with a degree in biology from The Ohio State University. After graduation he began working in politics where he became a field coordinator for State Rep. Michelle Mussman's reelection campaign then worked as District Director for State Rep. Deb Conroy. He also worked as field director to State Senator Karina Villa's, served as Executive Director of the Indo-American Democratic Organization and most recently worked as a Cook County Recovery Specialist with the National Partnership for New Americans. In the 2020 Democratic primary Kevin Olickal ran to represent Illinois 16th district. He is committed to protecting, advancing, and advocating for progressive policy that best serves the needs of working families.
Contact us.
If you would like to join our team, please reach out and let us know why, how, and when you can help.
info@malayaleesforsocialjustice.org