Content note: This episode discusses domestic violence and financial abuse. Please take care of yourself while listening.

If you need support:
Women Empowerment Foundation (Virginia) · (571) 248-1575 · womenmpower.org
National Domestic Violence Hotline · 1-800-799-7233 · text START to 88788
In immediate danger, call 911
If your phone or computer may be monitored, use a device someone else can't access.

The women who walk through Seema Dixit's door are engineers. Doctors. IT professionals. Women with degrees, careers, and people who love them.

That was the first thing I got wrong about domestic violence.

In this conversation, Seema walks through how abuse actually begins, and it's almost never where you'd expect. Control comes first. Then isolation, one friendship at a time. The confidence goes long before anyone raises a hand.

We talk about what makes the situation different for immigrant women, where a dependent visa, a missing passport, and a lie about calling the police can close off every exit in advance. We talk about what to do tonight if you're afraid. And we talk about what to do when a friend tells you what's happening, where nearly every instinct a good person has turns out to make it harder.

Then we shift gears completely. Seema also sits on the Fairfax County School Board, and she got there starting as a classroom mom. We get into what it actually takes to run, what the job demands once you're in it, and how she stays motivated.

Seema Dixit co-founded the Women Empowerment Foundation nine years ago. She runs a federal consulting firm and represents the Sully District on the Fairfax County School Board.

Her organization lists fifteen signs of abuse. Most of them happen long before anything physical: womenmpower.org/domestic-violence-counseling/

00:04 Introduction to Women Empowerment Foundation

00:54 Sponsorships

04:17 Programs and Support Offered

05:32 Challenges Faced by Immigrant Women

08:27 Understanding Abuse and Its Signs

11:19 Empowerment Through Financial Independence

14:03 Success Stories and Community Impact

16:12 Safety Plans for Women in Danger

18:46 Advice for Bystanders and Support Systems

27:05 Navigating Bystander Intervention

31:52 The Role of Community in Domestic Violence Awareness

32:22 Balancing Multiple Roles: Nonprofit and Public Service

35:00 Running for School Board: A Parent's Perspective

38:49 Challenges of Public Office: Scrutiny and Responsibility

42:33 Educational Equity and Community Support

45:01 Encouraging Community Involvement in Public Service

47:39 Women Empowerment Initiatives and Support Groups

49:31 Legacy and Future Aspirations

Guest: Seema Dixit
Women Empowerment Foundation · womenmpower.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seemadixitsamyak

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We're taught to brag that 95 cents of every dollar goes "to the cause" — and Nehal Gandhi says that instinct is quietly starving the nonprofits we're trying to help.

Nehal has spent more than 20 years on every side of the philanthropy world: the funder writing the check, the nonprofit cashing it, and the consultant brought in to figure out why the system around the check keeps breaking. She started at the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, one of India's oldest philanthropic institutions, and went on through Aga Khan Services, the Institute of International Education, the International Youth Foundation, and years of USAID-funded work. In 2025, as USAID was dismantled, she wrote The Nonprofit Paradox.

In this conversation, she unpacks the "overhead myth" and why low overhead doesn't mean high impact; why a nonprofit's budget is really a blueprint of its values; what the end of USAID means for communities right here in the DMV, not just overseas; and the practical questions every donor should ask before giving — whether it's $100 or $10,000.

Whether you give, receive, or manage money for social good, you'll come away asking better questions about where your donation really goes.

Nehal's book, The Nonprofit Paradox, is available on Amazon.

Learn more at or contact Nehal at [email protected].

Follow South Asian Impact Project for more stories:

Instagram: @southasianimpact

Facebook: @southasianimpactproject

Or contact [email protected]. Episodes available on YouTube, Apple Podcast, and Spotify.

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Shreyaa and Esha Venkat started NEST4US at a kitchen table in Ashburn, Virginia when they were thirteen and ten. Ten years later, it's a global movement of 9,000+ volunteers, $6.5M+ in volunteer value, and hundreds of thousands of meals served.

In this episode: how a family full of volunteering became two kids running a nonprofit. Why they chose service over the doctor-lawyer-engineer script — without walking away from elite schools. How they got adults to take them seriously as kids, including the networking moment when Shreyaa was told, "I don't want to waste my business card on you." The homeless man in DC and the stack of handwritten notes he'd kept for months. And the sibling dynamic behind the CEO and COO titles.

Shreyaa is now CEO of NEST4US. She completed her M.S. in Global Health at Georgetown and works with GivingTuesday. Esha, the COO, is the 2026 student commencement speaker at Georgia Tech. Ten years in, they're still finishing each other's sentences.

Guest links:
NEST4US — nest4us.org
Instagram — @joinnest

—

For more stories from South Asians shaping American communities, follow The South Asian Impact Project:
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Facebook — @southasianimpactproject
Email — [email protected]

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Sarah Selveraj D'Souza never planned to become an advocate for unhoused neighbors. She came to the U.S. after a pseudo-arranged marriage, opened a ceramics and frozen custard shop in Vienna, Virginia, and expected a quieter life. Then a fight over unfair treatment of minority-owned businesses in Lake Anne lit a spark she couldn't put out — and by the summer of 2020, a Facebook event she thought would draw 500 people drew 5,000.

That was the beginning of Reston Strong, the Fairfax County nonprofit Sarah now leads as founder and executive director. What started as pandemic mutual aid around a kitchen table has grown into a food rescue moving thousands of pounds a week, a Sunday free market, and the Reston Remakery — a 5,000-square-foot, youth-led day space for unhoused neighbors built on donated furniture and one non-negotiable principle: dignity.

In this conversation, Sarah and Vidhi talk about what most of us get wrong about homelessness, why teenagers insisted on tablecloths and real silverware instead of plastic chairs, what it means to be "in the business to go out of business," and the one-woman support system behind all of it — her mom.

This one stays with you.

Learn more or get involved:
Reston Strong — https://www.restonstrong.com/
Reston Remakery — https://www.restonremakery.org/

Chapters:

03:02 Sponsorships

04:02 Honoring a Mother's Legacy

04:08 Her Saree Story

06:28 From Ceramics to Advocacy

08:10 The Birth of Rest and Strong

10:51 Community Response to Injustice

13:42 Navigating the Pandemic

16:20 Creating Safe Spaces

18:21 Empowering Youth Through Service

19:35 Addressing Food and Housing Insecurity

22:33 Advocacy in Action

25:09 The Remakery: A Community Hub

36:17 Youth-Led Transformation in Service

38:32 Innovative Food Rescue Initiatives

41:16 Building Community Through Partnerships

44:23 Understanding the Complexity of Homelessness

46:53 Challenging Myths About Homelessness

51:45 The Importance of Human Connection

54:37 Ways to Support the Unhoused

56:27 Rapid Fire Insights and Reflections

01:02:07 Future Aspirations for Reston Strong

Subscribe to our YouTube channel or follow us in Facebook (@southasianimpactproject) or Instagram (@southasianimpact) for more stories. Or contact us at [email protected].

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Cybersecurity expert and Code Her Rising founder Jasmeet Kaur joins Vidhi Bhansali on the South Asian Impact Project to unpack the conversations no one's having loudly enough: The $7.7 billion scammed from American seniors last year, how AI is reshaping both cybersecurity threats and career opportunities, and why the biggest barrier for women entering tech isn't skill — it's self-doubt.

Jasmeet's path is anything but linear. She started in microbiology and embryonic stem cell research, pivoted into IT, and rose to become a Lead Cybersecurity Analyst. Along the way, she founded Code Her Rising — a nonprofit training women in cybersecurity and protecting seniors from digital fraud — and authored a book by the same name.

In this conversation, she shares:
🛡️ The 4-word rule everyone should teach their parents to stop phone scams
💼 Non-technical pathways into cybersecurity — no coding required
🤖 How AI is changing the threat landscape and where the new career opportunities are
🌱 The origin of Code Her Rising and the mentor whose loss inspired it
📚 The mindset shifts she teaches women returning to work or pivoting careers
👪 Her advice to parents raising college-age kids in an AI-driven world

Whether you're worried about your parents falling for a scam, thinking about a career pivot, or curious about how AI is reshaping work — this conversation has something for you.

⏱️ Chapters:

00:46 Empowering Others through Nonprofit Work

00:46 Navigating AI in Cybersecurity

01:10 Recognizing and Preventing Cyber Threats

01:10 Empowering the Next Generation in a Tech-Driven World

03:19 Sponsorships

04:19 Journey from Science to Cybersecurity

04:24 Pivoting from Microbiology to CyberSecurity

09:43 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

14:07 Empowering Others through Nonprofit Work

19:35 Navigating AI in Cybersecurity

24:33 Recognizing and Preventing Cyber Threats

28:15 Empowering the Next Generation in a Tech-Driven World

31:07 The Role of Mentorship in Personal Growth

33:18 Balancing Family and Career

35:15 Embracing Vulnerability and Learning from Failure

36:30 Leaning In: Overcoming Fear and Embracing Challenges

38:08 Creating a Vision for Personal Growth

38:23 Building a Supportive Community for Future Generations

🔗 Learn more about Code Her Rising: https://codeherrising.com
🔗 Connect with Jasmeet on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmeet-p-k-220801122/

🎧 Listen to the full South Asian Impact Project podcast.

📱 Follow us for more stories!
Instagram: @southasianimpact
Facebook: @southasianimpactproject

💌 Contact: [email protected]

Season 2 of the South Asian Impact Project is presented by Seva Global, The Sink Boutique (use code SAI10 for 10% off), and in loving memory of Late Retired Commodore Vijai Kumar Bhansali — sponsored with love by Kamal Bhansali.

#Cybersecurity #WomenInTech #AI #CareerChange #ScamProtection #Podcast #SouthAsianImpactProject

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Meera Pillai serves on three Northern Virginia nonprofit boards: Board Chair of Ronald McDonald House Charities, and board roles with the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia and Educate Fairfax. It all started more than a decade when Meera stepped away from her corporate IT career to figure out what was next. While volunteering at her kids' elementary school, she found a small grassroots program sending food home with kids who didn't have enough on weekends. When the neighbor running it moved away, Meera took it over, formalized it under the PTA, and named it Bears Care — it's still running over 15 years later.

In this episode, we get into the stuff most people wonder about but never ask:

• What a nonprofit board member actually does
• How much time it really takes
• The skills boards are quietly desperate for (finance and audit people — this means you)
• Why you're probably more qualified than you think
• And the one question to ask yourself before you ever look for a board

If you've ever thought about giving back in a bigger way but assumed the board room wasn't for you, this one's worth your time.

Looking for volunteer opportunities in the Northern Virginia region? Check out https://www.volunteerfairfax.org/

Learn more about Meera Pillai: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meerapillai/

Follow us on Facebook or Instagram for more stories: @southasianimpact

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This content is produced and owned by South Asian Impact Project. All rights reserved.

Seema Alexander grew up working in her family's businesses in Washington DC — a restaurant, a travel agency, a grocery store, all built from scratch by her South Asian immigrant parents. She watched both businesses close when the internet arrived. Not from lack of effort, but from not seeing the shift coming.

That experience became the lens through which she's seen everything since.

Today, Seema is the Founder and CEO of Disruptive AI, host of The AI CEO Podcast, Emeritus Co-Chair of DC Startup & Tech Week — one of the largest entrepreneur and investor communities in the mid-Atlantic — and a board member of CODESPA America, an international nonprofit that lifts communities out of poverty by teaching entrepreneurship, not dependency. She's also the co-founder of AI BusinessCon, the world's first AI business rewiring conference, coming to the DC metro area October 5–6, 2026.

In this episode, we cover:

— What "rewiring" your business for AI actually means, and why most companies are still thinking too small
— The rethink → reimagine → rewire framework she uses with CEOs and founders
— Why your data is your moat — and what to do about it
— What the AI era means for your career, your college-bound kids, and the choices they're making right now
— Her honest take on parenting in the AI era — including the conversation she's having with her own daughters
— And why she believes this moment is ten times bigger than the internet

This is a conversation for anyone building something — a business, a career, or a future for their family.

Connect with Seema Alexander:
🌐 Disruptive AI: www.getdisruptive.ai
🎙️ The AI CEO Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@AICEOPodcast

 🌐 AI BusinessCon (Oct 5–6, 2026): www.businesscon.ai
🌐 DC Startup & Tech Week: DC Startup & Tech Week 2026 | Facebook
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seemaalexander
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seemaalexander

Subscribe to this channel & connect with South Asian Impact Project:
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/southasianimpactproject
📸 Instagram: www.instagram.com/southasianimpact

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In this Season 1 Finale of the South Asian Impact Project Podcast, Vidhi Bhansali shares the 5 biggest lessons that anyone can use to start something new, build a vision, or make an impact.

Inspired by conversations with six leaders across food justice, healthcare, education, art, and legal advocacy, this episode breaks down what it really takes to move from idea to action: purpose, resilience, community, human connection, and service.

If you’re trying to launch a project, start a business, lead a team, or create change, these insights will help you take the next step with clarity and confidence.

👉 Subscribe for Season 2
👉 Share to support purpose‑driven work
👉 DM to nominate a community leader or changemaker

All episodes available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcast.

Follow me on this journey:

https://www.instagram.com/southasianimpact/

https://www.facebook.com/southasianimpactproject/

This content is produced and owned by the South Asian Impact Project LLC. All rights reserved.

Art therapist, author, and community healer Sangeeta Prasad has spent decades helping people express what they can’t always put into words. In this episode, she takes us inside her work with children navigating big emotions, seniors seeking connection and purpose, immigrants rebuilding identity in a new country, and military veterans processing trauma.

Trained in psychology, neuroscience, and fine arts — and shaped by her clinical internship at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital, where she supported veterans experiencing PTSD — Sangeeta brings a rare blend of rigor, compassion, and creativity to every session.

She shares powerful stories from her virtual senior art circle, her work with stroke survivors, and her sari‑based mixed‑media art that honors memory and migration. Through each story, she shows how a single brushstroke can spark healing, meaning, and belonging.

Learn more about Sangeeta Prasad and her work:

https://sangeetaprasad.com/

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This podcast is produced and owned by South Asian Impact Project LLC. All rights reserved.

In this episode, Speech and Language Pathologist Nidhi Tandon joins host Vidhi Bhansali for a candid, eye‑opening conversation about childhood communication, early intervention, and the rising impact of screen time. Drawing from her work with children and adults across the communication spectrum, Nidhi breaks down what SLPs really do, the early signs parents often miss, and why spoken and written language are deeply connected.

Together, Vidhi and Nidhi explore cultural misconceptions common in South Asian households — from the “wait and see” approach to the stigma around seeking help — and why early support can change a child’s entire trajectory. Nidhi also shares practical guidance on identifying red flags, navigating schools and pediatricians, and creating language‑rich, play‑based environments at home.

If you’ve ever wondered “Is this normal?” or worried about screen time, speech delays, dyslexia, or social communication, this conversation offers clarity, compassion, and actionable steps for every parent.

Learn more about Nidhi and her practice:
https://www.thinkspeechtherapy.com/

Check out these early intervention resources for parents shared by Nidhi:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hTzQ...

Follow me for new stories!
https://www.instagram.com/southasianimpact/

https://www.facebook.com/southasianimpactproject/

This podcast is produced and owned by South Asian Impact Project LLC. All rights reserved.