Executive DirectorThousand Currents
Rajasvini Bhansali is the Executive Director of Thousand Currents (formerly IDEX) and a passionate advocate for participatory grassroots-led social change and movement building. In her wide-ranging career devoted to social, ecological, and economic justice, she has led a national social enterprise, managed a public telecommunications infrastructure fund addressing digital divide issues, and worked as a researcher, planner, policy analyst and strategy consultant. Vini also worked alongside community leaders as a capacity builder for youth polytechnics in rural Kenya for over two years, an experience she credits as motivating her to work to transform international development and philanthropy towards more people-centered practices. Born and raised in India, Vini earned a Master’s in Public Affairs with a focus on technology and telecommunications policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor′s in Astrophysics and Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities & Social Sciences from UC Berkeley. Vini has been involved in community organizing and volunteer board roles for the last two decades including serving on the boards of Greenpeace USA, Agroecology Fund, CUSO International and Voice of Witness. Currently, she serves on the advisory board for the Women’s Building in New York City and is affiliated with the Master’s of Leadership in Sustainability Program at the University of Vermont. In 2015, she was honored with a Leaders in Action award by Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), and she was a Social Entrepreneurship (SEERS) fellow at Stanford University in 2016. Vini is also a published poet, essayist, storyteller, popular educator, and a trainer with the Rockwood Leadership Institute. When not engaged with community organizations, Vini can be found nesting in her home with her family in Richmond, CA.