Rajasvini Bhansali is the President of Solidaire Network (c3) and Executive Director of the newly formed Backline Alliance (c4). She is a passionate advocate for participatory grassroots-led power building and a lifelong student of social movements. In a wide-ranging career devoted to racial, economic and climate justice. She previously led Thousand Currents; grew a national youth development social enterprise; managed a public telecommunications infrastructure fund addressing the digital divide in the Southern United States; and worked as a community organizer, researcher, planner, policy analyst and strategy consultant with various organizations.
Born and raised in India, Rajasvini earned a Master’s in Public Affairs with a focus on addressing the Rural Digital Divide from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor′s in both Astrophysics and Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities & Social Sciences from UC Berkeley. Vini also spent several years working in rural Kenya with community leaders, an experience she credits as having inspired her to work to transform philanthropy and international development to be accountable to communities. To that end, she currently serves on the board of Humanity United.
Vini co-authored Leading with Joy: Practices for Uncertain Times. She is a published poet, essayist, popular educator, yoga instructor and leadership coach.