Vartika Gupta
Founder
Vartika graduated as a Psychologist from the Christ University, Bangalore and certified as Arts-Based Therapy Practitioner from World Center for Creative Learning Foundation (WCCLF), Pune. She is also a Drum Circle Facilitator and works with children and grown-ups alike through various art forms like visual arts, painting, music, dance, drama, stories, drum circles, subtle energy work, and so on.
She has expertise in designing and executing campaigns and awareness programs for the masses, related to social needs and issues such as Road Safety, Drug De-addiction, Child Abuse, Open Defecation, etc. One of such awareness programs led by her was Drug De-Addiction Capsule in collaboration with the Indian Army in December 2019 at various remote locations of Kashmir. In this project she designed and facilitated open interactive awareness sessions for the local populace and focused group sessions for the youth on the menace of drug abuse and guided them towards the path of rehabilitation in a team of two.
She has always worked with children and adults at the grassroots with a vision and deep interest towards bringing about the holistic change and development in the lives of the children and adults at risk using diverse creative art forms.
Thus, with the intent of creating a safe learning space for children and adults, she founded Machhli in 2014 in Pune.
She was also a Founder of Protsahan India Foundation Pune chapter. A youth lead non-profit international organization that uses arts-based approaches to foster Creative Education and Sustainable Livelihoods at the most bottom of the pyramid and ran it for four years. She is also associated as a Consulting Psychologist and Arts-Based Therapy Practitioner with Aark Foundation, a de-addiction, and a rehabilitation center in Pune.
Yogesh Jagam
Volunteer
Yogesh is a practising filmmaker, more inclined towards documentary filmmaking.Been working as an independent filmmaker since a decade Yogesh is a storyteller who likes to bring out stories by implementing creative expressions and innovative ideas along with a rational approach.
Yogesh is also the Associate Director of Smita Patil Documentary and Short Film Festival
Gautam Kapur
Volunteer
Gautam is a strong & motivated thought leader, extremely quality conscious, having built in-house teams, committed to ensuring the best customer experience through quality and through trusted adviser engagements. With over a decade of strong client relationship management and strategic business development experience, he has been responsible for the oversight and strategic guidance of executive-level relationships across a portfolio of accounts and in providing leadership to the Client Success Practice. Gautam is graduated as a mechanical engineer from Maharashtra Institute of Technology and has done his masters in Industrial Engineering from The University of Texas Arlington.
Suyash Kamat
Volunteer
Suyash Kamat is an aspiring filmmaker & a photographer. Finding narratives in the mundane, he sees his camera as a way of understanding the reality around him. He has been awarded the 1st prize at Photoflare, an International Photography Festival & his short-docu Tales From Merwan’s was showcased at the prestigious Mumbai International Film Festival (MAMI) and won the Silver Prize at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2016. Shabash Pune listed Suyash among the ‘Young Achievers’ of the city as a part of their ‘Inspire Youth’ initiative. He short ‘Marisoul 1998’ premiered at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI 2017)
Santwana Bayaskar
Volunteer
Santwana A constant work-in-progress, she is a woman of many talents. Besides being a post graduate in commerce, she dons the hats of a lyricist, a vocalist and an on-location sound recordist. She had assisted on a Bollywood film titled ‘Mulq’ and also collaborated on an international short film produced by the renowned Tisch School of arts. She is currently working on multiple projects and seeks to travel, explore and find herself by engaging with her art.
Devraj Bhaumik
Volunteer
Devraj, Coming from a musical family he was always drawn towards learning new musical instruments. Every instrument fascinated him and he went on to learn few. His interest in music and technology grew when he tried recording his own flute recitals but he couldn’t record it in pristine quality which eventually motivated him to study sound engineering in Pune. Soon he started producing and designing his own soundtracks for various films and documentaries. Currently, he is writing background scores for few short films as well as learning the art of spatial sound design for 360-degree videos. He is technically sound and musically creative
Vishakha Moghe
Volunteer
An Indian at heart, she aims at propagating the goodness of the Indian culture across the seven seas and stimulating thoughts by creating a hunger for knowledge.
Sameer Srivastava
Sameer coming from the city of Nawabs, Lucknow with a big heart and a kind soul. He came to Pune to pursue masters in management studies with the specialization in Finance. He has a vast work experience with financial institutions. He says he is a big foodie and his cravings for food at times become a problem but he knows how to deal with it as he is a fitness freak too and always tries to engage himself in health and fitness related activities which encourage him to keep himself fit and happy. He loves to travel and interact with people from different walks of life. Whenever he gets a chance he loves to contribute towards the benefit of the society by engaging himself in various social projects and he wishes to continue this.