GSPA: Meet the Newest Class
We’re welcoming an amazing new class of Global Shapers to the Palo Alto Hub. Learn more about them below!
- Himanshu Ragtah
What brought you to the Bay Area?
Tesla Motors in 2016 and now my startup
What are you working on?
I’m a mechatronics and intelligent systems engineer by trade. My prior work has been on Tesla Powerwall, Powerpack, Supercharger and even the Hyperloop.
What’s your passion/what matters to you?
I want to build better tools that help accelerate the pace of scientific innovation which will in turn help top scientific minds find better solutions to tackle climate change, invent robust vaccines, etc.
I also want to give back to society when I can, especially during hard times. I help many engineers from fields such as robotics, intelligent systems, CS, and software engineering around the Bay Area. I mentor them during calls, give them critical career guidance, resume reviews, to help them to get back on their feet. My experience in intelligent Systems, hardware, and software allows me to help a wide range of people.
What are you hoping to get out of your Global Shapers experience?
I want do more social-impact driven projects and give back to the community.
What is something you want readers to know about you?
I often volunteer at Mother Teresa HQ whenever I visit India.
2. Leah Davidson
What brought you to the Bay Area?
I came to the Bay Area from Quebec, Canada for work, to be part of the tech/social impact scene, and to find community (church and friends). I was traveling to over 20 countries last year (pre-pandemic) while building my startup, so wanted to settle down.
What are you working on?
I am the co-founder of Canduit (www.canduit.co), an ed-tech platform for project-based learning in higher education. We currently work across 30 universities in North and Latin America, helping minority and first-generation college students with mentorship and skill development. I was also a Y20 Delegate for the G20 in Saudi Arabia on Future Fit (Future Skills, Entrepreneurship, and Future of Work) and sit on the Canadian Council for Youth Prosperity’s Youth Advisory Council.
What’s your passion/what matters to you?
I am passionate about education and the future of work, climate change and environmental hope, and economic development through entrepreneurship for marginalized groups. I was adopted from China as a baby, so also trying to get involved in Foster the Bay (https://www.fosterthebay.org/) and other serving opportunities to reach vulnerable children.
What are you hoping to get out of your Global Shapers experience?
I am looking forward to building meaningful relationships and helping to make a difference in our communities. I’ve enjoyed hosting resume workshops for students who are trying to navigate recruiting during COVID with other Shapers and look forward to meeting in person (hopefully soon!).
What is something you want readers to know about you?
I’m an expert at traveling for free — have traveled to almost 50 countries across all 7 continents through various sponsored conferences and other projects! Traveling was never something that was viable financially growing up, but there are many opportunities if you know where to look.
3. Utsav Shah
What brought you to the Bay Area?
Experiencing the awesome technological innovations, exposure to so many different cultures and working along some of the great minds of the world are some of the things which fascinated me about the Bay Area. I moved here for work.
What are you working on?
During the day, I work as a Data Scientist at Uber. By night, I am a Co-Founder working on building a professional growth platform (Sefith.com) aiming to connect individuals who are looking to gain professional experience with organizations and mentors across the globe.
What’s your passion/what matters to you?
The top decile now controls a far greater share of both, the income growth and the global wealth than it did 50 years ago. A repercussion of monetary inequality is systemic exclusion from the development of marginalized communities. I strongly feel that an extensive focus on Education & Empowerment, and Equity & Inclusion, will alleviate millions of people, giving them a level playing field and creating widespread opportunities for all.
What are you hoping to get out of your Global Shapers experience?
I believe a sense of belonging to social groups and diverse communities is a desideratum to human motivation. Being part of the Palo Alto hub provides an unparalleled opportunity to collaborate with great minds from varied backgrounds. I am most excited to socialize and collaborate with such an amazing bunch of people. I would love to draw learnings through engaging discussions and sharing knowledge via other community member experiences. This will provide impetus to my personal growth trajectory and act as a major stepping stone to my broader goal of empowering people.
What is something you want readers to know about you?
I love to dance, an Arsenal fan, and a movie buff.
4. Nadia Cochinwala
What brought you to the Bay Area?
Being born and raised here, I’ve always called the Bay Area home! To me, the Bay is a melting pot of diverse people, groundbreaking ideas, breathtaking landscapes and, most importantly, home to my closest friends and family.
What are you working on?
Through Shapers, I’ve had the opportunity to assist those who have had their employment impacted by the COVID19 pandemic. We’ve been hosting resume review workshops to provide feedback and interview advice which has been an extremely rewarding experience. I’m also currently working on a speaker series about leveraging data to optimize social impact initiatives!
I’ve seen such a large impact come out of our hub within the past few months and I’m excited to see the continued impact we’re able to make in our communities.
What’s your passion/what matters to you?
Ignorance is a quality inherent in us all; no one knows, let alone understands, all the minutiae of our ever-changing world. To me, knowledge, and the desire for it, is infinite: we can always know more.
Since childhood, I have unceasingly heard the expression “ignorance is bliss.” This phrase is often thrown around as an excuse, validating complacency since it’s easier to convince ourselves that ignorance is warranted than to take action to mitigate it. Accepting that there will always be room for enrichment, and knowing that I can infinitely expand my knowledge is my constant motivator towards success.
What are you hoping to get out of your Global Shapers experience?
To me, the Shapers is a global community of vibrant folks working to change the world. With a myriad of skill sets and experiences, together we can meaningfully accelerate change and impact. By joining this cohort, I aim to drive change in my local community, and in turn, push the needle forward in the global fight towards a more just world.
What is something you want readers to know about you?
In my free time, I love to explore the Bay Area — hunting for new viewpoints and a perfect cup of coffee!
5. Taha Ziaee
What brought you to the Bay Area?
Growing up, I lived a very nomadic lifestyle: I was raised across Pakistan, Dubai, Australia, and the United States, moving every few years. My tumultuous upbringing meant I never really had a place to call “home” — that is, until my family settled in the Bay Area a decade ago. The Bay has served as my home base, flooded with revolutionary technology, imaginative ideas and my closest loved ones.
What are you working on?
Within our hub, I’m currently involved in our “Big Switch” initiative where we host resume review workshops and assist those looking for jobs. In the midst of a world-wide pandemic, we all need to play some small-part to help those around us and I truly believe initiatives like this create a compounding positive effect in the communities we live in
What’s your passion/what matters to you?
Growing up, all odds were stacked against me. I was born in rural Pakistan, to a middle-class family in a nation stricken with poverty, income inequality, lacking infrastructure, and limited education access. Despite the enduring consequences of my early years, I won the lottery: my family scathed together enough money to move here, we were able to gain citizenship, I was able to attend college. Time and time again, I’ve won the lottery — allowing me to be where I am today. But I am committed towards using the luck and privilege I have to fight for social good — so that those like me no longer have to win the lottery and instead have power in their own hands.
What are you hoping to get out of your Global Shapers experience?
The sheer amount of diverse issues the global shapers sets on tackling in our communities is what fundamentally the organization was created for. While we all have different backgrounds and interests, what unites us is our excitement to be a part of an ecosystem that is able to cultivate explosive change.
What is something you want readers to know about you?
I love exploring new coffee shops, check out my blog on instagram @journeytoambrosia. COVID has cut my search a bit short so I’ve transitioned to taking barista lessons to instead make the best cup of coffee!
6. Helena Shi
What brought you to the Bay Area:
The adventure! I moved to the Bay Area for work as I transitioned from banking to private equity, but the move was also largely motivated by my desire to explore the Bay Area, to learn more about the tech scene here, and to be part of a place where everyone is striking to make a difference.
What are you working on:
I am currently on the strategy team at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, helping drive its global business strategies and evaluating the next tech trends and products. Previously, I was an investment banker, a private equity investor, and was involved with various VCs / incubators. I continue to invest in real estate and tech as I love to explore the intersection of both sectors. In addition, I am working to grow a non-profit that I co-founded called The Pacificlub, which is focused on building a community for young leaders in tech and investing.
What is your passion / what matters to you:
A supportive, inclusive, and diverse community matters a lot to me. With a community like this, people are happier, more engaged, and more connected. I have always longed to be part of a community like this, whether at work or outside of work, and this is part of why I joined the Global Shapers community. At the same time, I have been and hope to continue to build great communities for those who don’t have the privilege to access them.
What are you hoping to get out of your Global Shapers experience:
Community, inspiration, and impact. I want to be part of a diverse community, meet like-minded people, get inspired, and create more impact to the world through meaningful projects.
What is something you want readers to know about you:
I love traditional Chinese music and play an ancient instrument called Pipa. I also love meeting people and exploring new places (and hence was once a TV host and a travel blogger). I really look forward to meeting more Shapers from different hubs around the world!
