Our Constituency and Leadership
Jahajee Sisters’ constituency is comprised of a diverse group of inter-generational Indo-Caribbean women, ages 15-60, with ancestral roots in South Asia and born in the Caribbean and South American countries: Guyana, Trinidad, Suriname and Jamaica. Our constituency is also comprised of a younger generation of women, ages 15-35 born and raised in New York City, who identify as Indo-Caribbean. An Advisory committee that practices a consensus driven, collective decision-making process currently leads Jahajee Sisters. We embrace reflective practices, team-building and dialogue to establish a strong core group or organizers and leaders who recognize and identify with the challenges women in our community face and share a common vision for change.
Jahajee Sisters Steering Committee Bios
Simone Devi Jhingoor is an Indo-Caribbean writer, activist and educator. She entered the world of social justice at the age of 16 as the youngest member of Blackout Arts Collective, a national network of artists, educators and activists. It was through her youth development work with Blackout that she became grounded in an approach that utilizes the arts as an instrumental tool to catalyze social change in disenfranchised and marginalized communities. Adopting this method in all aspects of her work for the past decade, Simone believes in the integral connection of the arts to activism, and also to a transformative process that enables healing from personal trauma. She has led arts-based activism, political education and leadership development programs with youth of color and an inter-generational group of South Asian women city-wide through various community based organizations, including South Asian Youth Action, SAKHI for South Asian Women and Harlem Children's Zone, to name a few. As a spoken word artist, she has performed her poetry extensively in New York and in the Caribbean. In 2007, Simone had a strong desire to bring her arts and activism work back to her Indo-Caribbean community full scale and is proud to be a founding member of Jahajee Sisters.
Shivana Jorawar is a lawyer and policy advocate who believes in an intersectional approach to undoing oppression and unapologetically speaking truth to power. She currently serves as the Federal Policy Director for the National Abortion Federation. Previously, she directed reproductive justice priorities for the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF), the country's only national organization dedicated to social justice and human rights for Asian American and Pacific Islander women and girls. Her additional experience includes working with the the anti-domestic violence organization Sakhi for South Asian Women and co-founding a chapter of Law Students for Reproductive Justice. Shivana’s writing and commentary have been featured in The Hill, The American Prospect, Colorlines, the Nation, and the Associated Press. Originally from the Bronx, New York, Shivana now lives and works in Washington, DC. She holds a BA in Political Science from Fordham University and a JD from Emory University School of Law. She is licensed to practice law in New York state. Follow Shivana on Twitter @shivspeaks.
Vijai Kublall is an Elementary School Teacher in the New York City Public Schools. She graduated with honors from Brooklyn College with a MSC degree in Reading and a BA in Psychology/ Elementary Ed. from York College. Over the years she has been involved in many humanitarian projects ranging from medical out reach programs in Guyana to teaching summer camps in Jamaica, West Indies and at the America Sevashram Sangha here in Jamaica, Queens. Her affiliation with groups such as Guyana Watch, Project Aim High, New York Jamaica Mission and the Mahaicony Humanitarian and Cultural Association has given her many opportunities to serve the under privileged in Guyana and people here in New York. Vijai is a founding member of the Holi Sammelan and Hindu Festival Committee through which she has organized educational and cultural events to serve the Indo-Caribbean Community in New York. Presently she is an Steering member of the Jahajee Sisters: Empowering Indo Caribbean Women. Her goal is to continue to serve the Indo Caribbean people here and abroad. Vijai is a proud mother of four wonderful children and three grand children.
Taij Kumarie Moteelall has blazed successful paths in the arts, activism and philanthropy, consistently increasing opportunity and access for society’s most marginalized. As a co-founder of Blackout Arts Collective, she grew a local NY-based group into a national network, and was recognized with a Union Square Award. As the former Executive Director of Resource Generation, she helped to move millions of dollars to social justice causes. Taij’s work within her Indo-Caribbean community has lead to several awards, including a Proclamation from the City of New York. Much of her scholarly and artistic work reflects both her academic research and field study conducted in India and throughout the Caribbean, especially in Guyana and Trinidad. Taij has completed an extensive body of poetry, a full-length stage play, and a thesis on the history of Indo-Caribbean Women. She was recognized in the Guyana Chronicle as an artist that is "boldly carrying the torch of creative endeavor." She is currently the Director of Strategic Consulting at Media Sutra. Taij received her BA from Hampshire College in History and Cultural Studies, and completed her MA at New York University in Media and Communications.
Laura J. Persard is the newest Steering Committee Member to Jahajee Sisters. Laura is an activist, classically trained Indian dancer and promoter. Laura is an Indo-Jamaican woman who has performed for various shows and cultural events throughout the community. She has also choreographed numbers for pageants, cultural shows, and fundraisers. She has received dance training through the Dheeraj Cultural Foundation. Laura began work in the non-profit community at the age of 16. She is proud to have completed a domestic violence training for the "Project Speak Out" campaign by SAKHI for South Asian Women. During high school, Laura was involved with the Asian American Club which helped children overseas through UNICEF. She enjoys being involved with youth projects and tutors high school students in math, science and Latin. Laura graduated from Cardinal Spellman High School. Upon graduation, she plans to study Nursing at Florida International University.
Suzanne C. Persard is a queer Indo-Caribbean writer and activist from Bronx, NY. She has studied literature at Binghamton University, George Mason University and the University of Oxford, focusing on feminism and gender in the post-colonial Caribbean. A founding member of Jahajee Sisters, Suzanne is driven by anti-oppression social justice projects, and has prioritized centralizing LGBTQ issues and reproductive justice in the Indo-Caribbean community. Much of her reproductive justice work explores the impact of colonization and its relationship to reproductive rights for Indo-Caribbean women. As a writer, her work centralizes the role of memory, nostalgia, and exile. Most recently, her series of haikus on indentureship were excerpted in the exhibit "Fifteen Years of the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective" at the Queens Museum of Art. Writing has been her first love for as long as she can remember.
Shabana Sharif is a community activist, organizer, educator, children's author and proud Queens resident. From the instructive age of 16, she has invested and channeled her efforts to promote the welfare of Queens as a whole, by volunteering with local non-profit organizations. At Jahajee Sisters, Shabana organizes and facilitates monthly Sister Circles, co-facilitated and co-created the Muslim Sisters Leadership Institute the Young Women's Leadership Institute. In June 2013, Shabana organized the first Indo-Caribbean and South Asian Convene, which brought together over ten organizations for a day of collaboration, engagement and community involvement.
Shabana received a Bachelor of Science in Marketing, as well as a Masters in Education. She is currently enrolled at Baruch College pursuing an Executive Masters in Public Administration. Shabana is a Special Educator and an Early Intervention Therapist in Queens, NY.
Shabana received a Bachelor of Science in Marketing, as well as a Masters in Education. She is currently enrolled at Baruch College pursuing an Executive Masters in Public Administration. Shabana is a Special Educator and an Early Intervention Therapist in Queens, NY.
Pritha Singh is Executive and Artistic Director of the Rajkumari Cultural Center. She is a multi-disciplinary artist with an extensive work history in arts management, theater and television production and marketing. She studied Literature and Theater Arts at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Herbert Berghof Playwrights Foundation, Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and Pace University. As Director of the Rajkumari Center, she utilizes all her skills, knowledge and experience to create a vibrant cultural and artistic organization that is the vanguard of a cultural renaissance to revive Indo-Caribbean art and culture, and, to preserve, present and institutionalize these arts here in the United States.
